~ the saw ~

There is not much that need be said after having examined the accompanying illustrations. This saw is antique but cannot be associated specifically with the homonymous torture, a process that can be carried out with any large-toothed, four-handed woodsman's saw.
The saw is one that may be worse even than being burnt at the stake with a slow, small fire, or being dipped into boiling oil. Due to his inverted position, which assures ample oxygenation of the brain and impedes the general loss of blood, the victim does not lose consciousness until the saw reaches the navel – and even the breast, if one is to believe accounts of the early eighteen-hundreds. Fun fun!