Ronco Super Saw

When I was a kid, school wasn't very far away so I used to come home for lunch. While eating my food I'd watch TV and most of the time it was the commercial channel. The only thing I really remember about it were the adverts for products by Ronco.

I suppose to a young lad, Ronco products looked exciting. For a start they were orange, a colour of the future and no mistake. Then they all seemed to be very clever. The record cleaner would polish up both albums and singles. Better still, the Buttoneer^TM attached buttons to your clothes without sewing using some sort of plastic clip.

But the one I always desired more than any other was the Supersaw. This miraculous tool was like a normal saw except that it could cut through bricks and steel as well as boring old wood. It was all the cutting equipment you could need. Better still, the blade folded back into the handle for easy carrying. You could have it in your pocket for those emergency chopping situations.

And now I have one. As per the advert, the handle does fold back on itself. Except that the blade is longer than the cover. That means a rubbery cover for the pointed end. And to unfold it you have to undo a wing nut at the top, wiggle things about a bit and then it will open. I don't recall that from the telly. I'm sure it was a much slicker process when the man in beige slacks did it.

Worst of all, the blade is blunt. Too much cutting through bricks and diamonds or something. Still, at least I have my dream addition to the toolkit. Now, I wonder if I could find a Buttoneer...