Honestly I used to think the same way about it being a lot of fuss. But I saw a show where they found a piece with a super rare factory mark mixed in with a common set. That grad student might be checking for something like that, a tiny detail that changes everything. It seems over the top until you realize what they could be actually looking for.

Honestly, a good old hand saw. My cordless circular saw battery died once while cutting trim, and the backup was dead too. Grabbed the handsaw from the bottom of my toolbox and just finished the cut. It's slow, but it always works.