So I've been sharpening my chainsaw chain backwards for a year

Patricia Hayes · 2026-03-16T12:25:06.995094+00:00

I was cutting a big oak in Springfield last week and my buddy Dave just stared at my saw and said, 'Patricia, why is your file going that way?' The sound it made was like a sad zipper, and I'd been wondering why my cuts took forever. Has anyone else done something this dumb with a basic tool?

anna1656mo ago

Honestly, that's a new one. Tbh, I thought the file teeth had to face the direction you're cutting.

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the_robin6mo ago

Did you think you were training it to cut in reverse?

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alice_harris356mo ago

Remember watching my cousin try to assemble a whole flat-pack dresser with the little hex key turned the wrong way. He forced it so hard the cheap metal twisted, and he spent three hours convinced he was just weak. The whole thing was wobbly and wrong, and he only figured it out when his wife picked up the manual. Some of those basic tools really don't give you a second clue if you're doing it backwards.

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