He held the crude saw, laid a piece of bamboo horizontally on the ground, and then propped the piece he needed to cut diagonally on top of it, holding it steady with his foot to keep it from rolling.
He lined the saw up with the white mark, took a deep breath to suppress his unease, and began pulling and pushing with force.
Because the sides of the saw's teeth had been hammered inward, only the very tips were sharp. This made it slip a little as he cut.
Furthermore, the tips of the teeth were relatively thin and bent easily during cutting.
He was only halfway through when several teeth bent out of shape, requiring him to hammer them straight again before he could continue.
'This... doesn't seem to work very well, does it?'
He frowned, raising the saw to eye level and staring intently at the teeth.
'Maybe I should work on it some more? Try sharpening the sides of the teeth?'
