Un-

Ok, so this is a meditation about reversibility. You know, there are some things that one does that can also be un-done. Of course, nothing is ever totally reversible, because the time spent doing it the first time is irretrievably and forever lost (sigh). But anyway there are many times that it is nice to be able to retrace one's steps. For instance, there are many knots one can tie with rope (I memorized about 2 dozen of them during my second childhood as a scout leader), but the really good ones are those that can readily be un-tied, like the bowline, or the slippery square knot that most of us use to tie our shoes. Back in the glory days of wind-driven vessels the sailors would carry a marlinespike to facilitate the untangling of a jammed knot. Damned handy implement, that. How about a marlinespike for the tangled strands of one's life?


Another very handy undoing type of tool is an end-cutting plier: This little guy is unparalleled for removing nails, especially finishing nails that don't have much of a head on them. If there is as much as an eighth inch sticking up you can grip the end and work the nail out incrementally, getting a fresh grip repeatedly so you don't bend the nail or damage your work. It actually worries me that this tool is called an end-cutting plier, rather than a nail-removing plier. I worry about weird stuff.

Another cool reversibility tool is double-sided carpet tape. It is really great for temporarily attaching things when woodworking. For example, if one wanted to bandsaw a bunch of identical shapes one could stack up the pieces of wood, taping them together to prevent slipping, and cut them all at once. It also really helps to prevent pieces from sliding around when you're trying to clamp them them together in just the right position. I could go on. Honestly, the more I use this stuff, the more uses I find. I get excited about weird stuff.