How to Make a Rudimentary Survival Saw
Have you thought about what you would do if you lost your knife? That can be a more unthinkable scenario than facing the situation itself. It’s important to know how to use cave-man style tools in case you ever need to rely on rudimentary items in an emergency. Let’s take a look at a simple way to make a basic saw that can be surprisingly useful in the field.
Required Items
All you really need for this project is some fibrous material, string or cordage, a couple of rocks and a decent stick that’s about 16 inches long. When choosing the rocks, you want one that is thick enough to be sturdy, thin enough to fit in the stick, and wide enough that you can fashion it into a triangular-shaped blade. The other rock should have a narrow, sharp end on it while the back is smooth. You will use this one to fashion the blade, and it will need to fit comfortably and rest in the palm of your hand. Be choosy, as the quality of the rocks will translate into how much time it takes to make the blade as well as its effectiveness as well.
For the string material, you will quickly discover that thin, stringy, fibrous forest material works better than cordage. It simply gives you more string to use for wrapping, and the fibers tend to fill in nooks and crannies that will make the connection more secure as well. Try to use fibers from palm fronds, tree bark, ivy or any other similar forest material you come across. You can also cut your cordage into strips of thin string as well. Get yourself a good handful of the material as you be doing a lot of wrapping later.
Fashioning the Blade
The next step is to fashion the blade. All you need to do is hold the rock that will be used for the blade in your non-dominant hand. Have the edge that will be cut facing outward. Take the rock that you will be using for cutting, and hold it in your dominant hand.
Work the tip of the edge of the cutter into the front-edge of the blade rock and start cutting away at the front side of the tooth. Keep whittling until you get the angle right. Then, whittle out the back-side of the tooth by moving the cutting rock about ¼ inch back. Keep repeating until you’ve cut out enough teeth.
Preparing the stick
The easiest thing to do is take a stick that is study, yet slightly moist and pliable. Fold it in half by bending it backward and allow the wood to break. However, try and keep some of the fibers and bark intact as a way to reinforce the stick later.
Place the rock vertically into this bend so the narrow side of the rock is situated between each piece of branch. Take a piece of cordage, braid it if necessary, and secure the rock to the stick by wrapping at around the center. Align the rock so that the teeth are oriented at the proper angle and add another strand of string.
Next, start weaving or wrapping the material around the base of the rock and work downward. This stub will secure the blade in place. Then, keep wrapping the cordage around the bottom half of the rock to finish things off. You can now wrap some cordage around the handle-end of the tool in order to make it easier on your hand while using it in the field.
Try this method out, and feel free to improvise as necessary. Keep in mind that you can also use duct tape as a way to reinforce the handle as well. However, learning how to use cordage from nature is an important skill to have on hand. However, at the end of the day, the important thing is to produce the most efficient tool, so how you do it is up to you.
