See Saw

Read time: 1 min 57 sec

Whatup Reader!

I am zero percent ashamed to admit that stay scrolling IG, and that’s largely because I’ve curated a feed that makes me want to be on there.

For those wondering, my for you search page thing is basically home renovation DIY accounts, volleyball, and golf accounts. No, I don’t play golf but I find the content that some folks create about it really fun to watch.

Anyway, as is the case with Instagram, the majority of the content on my feed is recommended Reels from people I don’t even follow (honestly, I’ve just accepted it at this point) and yesterday I got served a Reel of a woman showing off a Hikoki 5 3/8-in circular saw that she picked up in Japan. My immediate thought: I need that.

So, as one naturally does when they want to avoid work, I immediately took to the the interwebs to investigate the feasibility of acquiring a Japanese tool without going to Japan.

I quickly learned that eBay was basically the only option, and all of the saws listed were more than twice the MSRP and had certainly far less than half the assurance that they would actually work.

Buuuuut, my sleuthing also uncovered that DeWalt (you team yellow? Team red? Team green?) also makes a 5 3/8-in circular saw and that Lowe’s currently has it on sale for $99.

Did I immediately buy it? No.

But that was only because I don’t have a current house project that I could use to justify it, and as is more pertinent to this email, I realized that it is a 12V tool and I only have 20V batteries.

The reason I’m sharing this story?

Because of this review:

To his credit, the guy wasn’t a total dick (he did give it 3 stars and say it had its place), but his comment did get me thinking and searching.

Like this reviewer, most folks who have DeWalt tools have 20V batteries, and a decent number of those batteries. I am one of those folks, but I'm also aware that DeWalt also sells what is called FLEXVOLT batteries that can automatically change their voltage and switch between 20V and 60V. So I searched to see if the same existed for the 12V to 20V pairing.

No dice.

But through my searching I found that while a single flexible battery doesn't exist, adapters do exist, and they allow you to use a 20V battery with a 12V tool. And yes, they’re perfectly safe and perfectly legit.

Did I immediately buy said adapter and then head to Lowe's to pick up the aforementioned adorable saw? No. Again, I still don’t have a $40 home project that I can turn into a $200 project. I am however accepting gifts if anyone is feeling generous 😉. But seeing that saw did give me a story to tell for today’s email, along with a lesson to share:

We typically see what we look for.

Look for solutions and you’ll often find something that will work.

Look for problems and things to complain about and you’ll probably be busy for the rest of your life.

Happy Tuesday, Reader.

Maestro out.

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