Rant: I spent 2 years using a drywall saw backwards for cutouts

I was doing a bathroom reno over in Medford and my helper asked why I was pushing the saw away from me instead of pulling it. I laughed it off, then he showed me the teeth are angled for the pull stroke. All that time I was fighting the tool and leaving ragged edges. The cutouts after that were smooth and took half the effort. Has anyone else had one of those facepalm moments where a basic tool trick clicked way too late?

2 comments

2 Comments

blake_kelly195d ago

Man I gotta be honest, I always thought you pushed a drywall saw because that's how you get the blade started without tearing the paper. Pulling it felt wrong, like the saw would just skid across the surface. Took me way too long to realize I was basically doing double work and making a mess of every corner box. Once I flipped my grip and tried the pull stroke on a test piece, it was night and day. The blade bites in clean, you get way more control, and honestly now pushing it feels completely backwards to me.

charlieh745d agoMost Upvoted

You ever have one of those moments where you realize you've been fighting a tool for years and it was just a grip thing? Yeah, that was me with a jab saw for way too long. I felt exactly like you, like pulling would just skate across the paper and do nothing. But once I actually let the teeth do the work and pulled back, it was like a whole new tool. Makes you wonder how many other simple things we've been doing backwards just out of habit...