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While working on my kitchen last Saturday, I had to cut a notch in the butcher block countertop to fit the apron-front sink in place. One side of the counter was long enough and therefore heavy enough to stay in place as I sawed (and had sufficient overhang into the sink area to allow me to work), but the other side was smaller and moved easily. It it was, however, still heavy – so I didn’t want to carry up to my bench on the second floor.
I’m not lazy – really! It’s just that between running downstairs to use the power tools in the basement and upstairs to use the hand tools and bench on the second floor – not to mention hauling out to the backyard the heavy piles of termite-barf old cabinets and countertop – I’m worn out.
Instead, I grabbed four cans of Campbell’s soup (I believe it was two cans of tomato, one of French onion and one of chicken noodle), the bottoms of which nest nice and firmly inside the lids of one another, then placed them against the wall. Perfect. The counter stayed firmly in place as I cut the notch.
I offered this trick to Chuck Bender for our Tricks of the Trade column, but he turned it down. Crazy, right? (So I guess I’ll consider this as errata for “Handsaw Essentials.”)
