Culinary God in Wilderness

Chapter 356: Chapter 227: Conceiving the Saw, Part 2

This meant he would have to find two bamboo stalks, one thick and one thin. Then, he would need to insert the thin stalk into the thick one and repeatedly ram it through to break the internal nodes, creating a hollow tube.

But the thin bamboo couldn’t be too thin. If it was, it wouldn’t be sturdy enough and would likely snap during the process.

If he chose a thicker one, it would be hard enough, but that would mean the outer bamboo stalk would also need to be much larger in diameter—at least twice the size of the thin one.

A bamboo stalk that thick... ’Can I even cut it with the bamboo knife I have?’

If he didn’t use that method, the only other option was to cut the bamboo into individual sections and pickle the shoots separately.

Although this method sounded easier, it required cutting countless bamboo sections, making the actual workload several times greater than the first option.

Unless he could fashion the metal can into a saw.

’A saw, it’s always the saw. Life is so much harder without a saw.’

’Since I can’t pickle them for now, I’ll just set them aside. I just gathered them yesterday, so it hasn’t even been a full twenty-four hours. They should last for at least two more days at room temperature before showing any signs of spoiling.’

He heated up last night’s leftover mashed potatoes with some water and ate them, a simple meal to fill his stomach. Afterward, he began the main event of the day.

The construction of the bamboo raft.

The overall construction process for a bamboo raft wasn’t difficult. It was similar in principle to the walls of his bamboo hut—bundling several, or even a dozen, bamboo stalks side by side to increase buoyancy and prevent it from sinking.

However, the construction process for a bamboo raft was slightly different from that of a log raft.

A log raft floats simply due to its natural buoyancy, whereas a bamboo raft relies on its hollow structure and waterproof properties.

To reduce drag when cutting through the water, the front ends of the stalks needed to be bent upwards by heating, creating a slightly upturned bow.

This part wasn’t too difficult. He just had to roast them over a fire. The bamboo was freshly cut and full of moisture, so there was no need to soak it in water beforehand.

After deciding on the required length and width, he laid the bamboo stalks on the ground one by one to get a sense of the raft’s final shape. Then, he propped the thicker end of each stalk over the charcoal fire to heat it.

As the bamboo’s temperature rose, the once incredibly hard stalk slowly became pliable. He pressed it against the ground to bend it gently, and after cooling, it would hold its new shape.

The curve of each bamboo stalk had to be nearly identical, ensuring the finished raft would be responsive while moving. This was a true test of a craftsman’s skill.

He spent the better part of an hour bending the ends of all twenty bamboo stalks to the same curvature. After laying them side by side and aligning them, he moved on to the most difficult and time-consuming part.

Trimming them to length.

With the bottoms all curved and aligned, the tops were now uneven.

His task was to trim the stalks to a uniform length before lashing them together.

Using the shortest stalk as a reference, he scored a white line on the surface of each stalk that needed cutting, then tackled them one by one.

After cutting just two of them, the web of his hand was already aching and numb, threatening to cramp at any moment. The muscles in his forearm were pulled taut.

’This won’t work. I’ve still got more than a dozen to go. My hand will be useless by the time I’m done.’

’A saw. I have to have a saw!’

’It’s not just for the raft. I’ll need it for building other furniture and tools in the future. Most importantly, it will drastically increase my efficiency when cutting bamboo.’

’That settles it. I have to find a way to turn that can into a saw.’

The can itself wasn’t very hard; a knife could easily pierce it. Back when he worked in a kitchen, if the can opener ever gave out, he would just cut them open directly with a knife.

The top and bottom lids of the can were indeed softer, but the body of the can had some hardness to it. He had yet to try and see if he could pierce the body directly with his knife.

He went into his hut and dug out the can. The metal lid on top was twisted and deformed, but it was still open.

The edges of the cut were smooth and flat; it had definitely been opened with a proper can opener.

He tried using his survival knife first and found he could actually cut the bent part. A few saws back and forth and he easily detached it.

Next, the bottom.

Again, he used the bamboo knife as a hammer and the survival knife as a chisel. After a few strikes, he punched a hole in the lid. Now, all he had to do was patiently cut this layer off, staying as close to the edge as possible.

He was extremely careful while cutting the metal can, afraid that using too much force would snap the blade of his survival knife. That would be just his rotten luck.

A task that would have taken ten-odd seconds with a chef’s knife took him a full twenty minutes with his small survival knife before he finally, safely, managed to cut the bottom metal disc off whole.

Without the support of the top and bottom discs, the body of the can became flimsy and easily deformable. He felt that even a slight squeeze would warp it into an oval.

’No doubt about it, to ensure the saw is sharp and hard, I have to use the body of the can for the blade. These two discs are too soft. They might work for a fish spear, though.’

’But the can’s body is so hard. How am I supposed to create the serrated teeth?’

The can wasn’t huge—it had a three-liter capacity and was about as tall as his forearm, a typical size for wilderness supplies.

’Using the survival knife is out of the question; it would definitely chip the blade. The bamboo knife... I don’t think it can handle metal. Maybe I should try a rock?’

Out of caution, he decided to try striking it with the bamboo knife first anyway.

As expected.

The hard can was merely dented, but a noticeable nick had appeared on the blade of the bamboo knife.

’Nope, definitely not. I’ll use a rock.’

He immediately abandoned that plan. After all, sharpening a new bamboo knife was a laborious task.

As he headed to the stream, he turned the can over and over in his hands, examining it.

’It looks like the top and bottom of the can were sealed. This rim is especially hard, but the body itself seems less so.’

’I feel like I should work on the body of the can. If I can just smash a hole in it, things will be much easier.’

’This can is almost wide enough to fit around my thigh. If I flatten it out, the length would be quite impressive. But I’m worried a single layer won’t be strong enough to cut bamboo or wood. Folded over, though, it might be just right.’

’But if I fold it first, it’ll be nearly impossible to create the saw teeth.’

’That means I have to create the teeth first and *then* fold it in half to get the kind of saw I’m imagining.’

Arriving at the stream, he found a palm-sized rock near the spot where he had previously sharpened his bamboo knives. First, following the same process he’d used to make his Acheulean Hand Axe, he struck it with another rock to get the rough shape, then further knapped it to form a blade-like edge.

This time, though, he didn’t need to grind it smooth. A blade that was too thin would be detrimental for chiseling.

He found a large boulder and laid the can flat on it, with the edge hanging over. The stone hand axe came crashing down.

SCRAPE!

With a sharp, metallic scraping sound, the bottom edge of the can visibly deformed but didn’t break.

He had just been thinking that trying to punch a hole directly in the middle of the can seemed unrealistic. During the chiseling process, the can would just get flatter and flatter. By the time he was done, he’d have a flattened can with no hole, essentially a double layer of metal, which would be inconvenient for the next steps. The effort would not be worth the reward.

So, he came up with another method: smash open the thickened rim at the top of the can. He didn’t need to destroy it, just break through in one spot.

SCRAPE!

SCRAPE!

SCRAPE!

He held the middle of the can with his left hand while his right hand brought the stone axe down again and again, striking the same spot.

Whenever the metal in that area was hammered completely flat against the boulder, he would flip the can over so the bent surface faced outward again, and then continue striking.

Through this continuous process of striking from opposite directions, the initial dents on the can slowly turned into creases, and finally, a tiny tear actually broke through the metal.

He quickly picked it up and held it to the sunlight. Upon confirming that he could see a sliver of light through the tiny opening, his confidence surged.

After a solid half-hour of nonstop chiseling, he finally managed to split the entire metal can open, turning it into a rectangular sheet of metal.

"Whew... I’m exhausted!"

His back was already soaked with sweat, and the hand gripping the stone axe was trembling uncontrollably—a clear sign of exhaustion.