It’s all about efficiency.
For us hobbyists it is interesting to see how full-time hand tool users perform the dreaded task of stock preparation.
It is important to note that Liu Shifu currently does not have an apprentice who would possibly be helping preparing stock. Yes, he would like to see someone take over his shop, continue his life’s work so to speak, but this is not an option at this point. In some way it is lucky that we met Liu Shifu at the end of his career: early in his career a Chinese Shifu will hardly ever allow outsiders to watch them work, not to mention photograph. In fact, Liu Shifu was very interested in the prospect that his life’s work could find a forum in the United States.
Stock preparation starts with the equivalent to a broad ax which, with enough pratice, get’s you fairly close to the final dimensions of the board.
View Image View Image
The ax is, like many tools in China laminated and for obvious reasons a-symmetric
View Image View Image
Next is the equivalent of the Jack/scrub plane.
View Image
After that the equivalent of a fore plane, i.e. a long plane to smoothen out the hills and valleys left by the Jack plane.
View Image
And finally the smoothing plane. Without asking Liu Shifu explained that the smoothing plane is shorter than the previous planes and has a steeper bedding angle.
View Image View Image
Similar to Western planes with Chinese planes you start the stroke with pressure to the toe of the plane and end the stroke with pressure to the heal of the plane. Of course since the ergonomics of Chinese planes are very different to Western planes this shift of pressure is nothing more than a simple movement in the wrist. So instead of coordinating left hand/arm/shoulder and right hand/arm/shoulder to adjust the down pressure distribution just about right, you only have to put a bit more pressure on your index fingers or your thumbs.
Checking for squareness. Notice the position of the feet realtive to the workbench. When using Chinese planes you stand almost directly behind the pice you are planing. This probably contributes to the excellent performance of this type of plane.
View Image View Image
Replies
Chris,
You should write an article for FWW. This is GREAT stuff.
Mel.
Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
Thanks Mel,
I am not much of a writer and something like that might be more of a commitment than I can make right now.---Chris ScholzDallas/Fort Worth, TXGaloot-Tools
Edited 7/3/2009 7:06 am by chscholz
Chris,
Do you have any pictures of finished products?
JImhttp://www.jimreedy.com
Hi Jim,
The only finished product is the small stool that you can see in some of the photographs. Closeups at a later time
Chris
---
Chris Scholz
Dallas/Fort Worth, TX
Galoot-Tools
Great post. .. At least for me.
I was in China for work several times but no time for visiting on those trips. I was there twice when I had time to roam around (which I was told not do do?) Not sure why. I never felt I was in harms way from anyone there. I felt safer in China than walking around some parts of Chicago or LA!
On my two trips (about three weeks long for each trip) I always tried to find local woodworkers. Very hard to find! Some would not let me watch them work. I was OK with that.. Some would allow but most wanted nothing to do with my camera while they worked. Great fun! I hired the same young lady to interpret for us. I traveled with my middle daughter on these two trips. We had to travel to several areas (mostly by plane) and it was the best money I have ever spent taking her along. Yes, I had to pay all her expenses and she stayed in the same hotels we did. A wonderful young lady and insisted she call home to her parents every day. Maybe she was just calling her boyfriend?
I would love to go back to China but my 401 funds are about depleted because of the huge amounts they lost in recent years...
I'm lucky I still can purchase hardwood these days!
One of my old posts..
http://forums.taunton.com/fw-knots/messages?msg=10052.1
Edited 7/2/2009 12:51 pm by WillGeorge
As compared to the US, China is much save by a huge margin especially for non Chinese. Need to watch out for pick-pockets though. I also saw a fake monk in front of a temple who had quite aggressive methods to separate Western tourists from their money.
Penalties for crimes against foreigners committed by Chinese are far more severely punished than the same crime committed against a Chinese.
I envy you, wish I could take three weeks in a row off work for travel. I actually like my job so I should not complain too much.
Yes, it is very common that you accommodate your tour guide (I have been lucky not to need one), I do not doubt that she actually called her parents. You must have been a wonderful time.
If you do it right getting to China is the only really expensive part of a trip. If you are willing to stay in non-"Western-tourist" hotels, take the hard-seater train, the sleeper bus or even better, public transportation, eat the local food (I am sure your tour guide could have cooked outstanding meals for you, too), you can travel very inexpensively in China.
Thanks you also for accepting the local customs (i.e. if someone does not want to be photographed not to photograph him/her). I wish every Western tourist would act like you!
This tomb is amazing and I completely missed your original post. Do you know where it is?
Chris
---
Chris Scholz
Dallas/Fort Worth, TX
Galoot-Tools
Do you know where it is?
Hunan Provincial Museum. City of Changsha, Hunan.
The box shown is just the outer coffin. As I recall it is from the early Han dynasty (2100 years ago?). From the western Han Tombs at Mawangdui. I believe excavated in 1972/1974. The body found was female. They called her Marquise (Lady?) Dai.. Xin Zhui.
Links with some info.
http://blog.hmns.org/?tag=xin-zhui
http://www.flickr.com/photos/drs2biz/2774370439/
Edit: We were in Hunan for my second adopted granddaughter.
The first trip was to Guangzhou (one year earlier) for the first granddaughter.
They are my sweethearts!
Edited 7/3/2009 12:51 pm by WillGeorge
Whanks WillGeoge,Thanks for sharing. Have been to Hunan a few times (pronounced Fulan in the local dialect) and visited Changsha. But I never made it to the museum. To put this in perspective, the province of Hunan is a bit larger than France. So the minister who build that tomb might be roughly compared to the King of France.Chris---
Chris Scholz
Dallas/Fort Worth, TX
Galoot-Tools
To put this in perspective, the province of Hunan is a bit larger than France..
Geee no wonder it was a half day walk getting there.. :>)..
I forgot to mention we had a guide (China Government?) for the Adoption. Her name was KoKo.. I think. She was a great representative of the Chinese Government and she spoke better English than I could! KoKo was our helper on both trips for the babies... I needed the other guide for after hours.
The guide I hired was separate from KoKo. KoKo was just for the little babies! She was great also!
I loved China!
By the way.. KoKo told me my last granddaughter needed to be watched as she grew up.. She was from Hunan and a 'Spicy Girl' LOL.. Yes she is!
Edited 7/3/2009 8:00 pm by WillGeorge
Did you get to see any of those mega Factories China has? The ones where the timbers come in at one end and containers of furniture come out the other? Run by a tiny handful of people?
There's a few shows on satelite that show such factories..
I understand getting a tour is nearly impossible.
Not sure but I think the best factories, NASA would be proud of! The Chinese are NOT stupid! Even the farmers OR US WOODWORKERS!
Frenchy,
I worked for a company that manufactured furniture in China and was responsible for visiting the factories and working with them to get the furniture build to our specifications. I have been to China many times. Some of the factories are ultramodern with state of the art German or Japanese machinery. CNC machines perform may of the milling functions and they do it flawlessly. Every factory has a CAD designer and they provide detailed drawings for approval before starting work. The factories are set up as production lines with extensive quality control checks at various stages of the manufacturing process. Many of the factories have their own kilns, so yes, raw lumber comes in one end and the finished product comes out the other. They have plenty of workers, though. Labor is cheap in China and the government wants to provide employment for as many workers as possible.
On the other hand, there are many more smaller factories that make furniture primarily for the domestic Chinese market and they tend to be dirtier and more dangerous and rely less on CNC and more on table saws, shapers, etc.
I have found the Chinese people to be courteous, friendly and very curious about Americans and America. I always felt safe wherever I went. There are cultural differences between Chinese and Americans that you need to take into account in doing business there. I once had a three-drawer chest made and when the sample came it, it had four drawers. I called the factory and they told me that it was a "surprise" and they were giving me the fourth drawer at no extra charge!
China has made an incredible leap from a largely pre-industrial economy to the 21st century in a few decades. A population equal to that of the US moved from the countryside to the cities (primarily in the south) in ten years. If you think about that, you realize that they had to provide food, housing, transportation, sanitation, education and all the rest of it for 300 million people in a very short period of time. Although the average Chinese workers don't make a lot of money by our standards, they are much better off than they were when they lived on small farms.
Jimhttp://www.jimreedy.com
Well said.. I have not been to China since the 70's however I have followed with a great deal of attention especially in the last decade..
I used to be able to buy black walnut for pallet wood prices from my local sawmill. at the time there was no market for the darker woods. Light or white was popular and black walnut simply laid in piles. about 2004 the chinese found my local sawmill and within a year the price of Black walnut went from 17 cents a bd.ft. to $ 3.65 (mill run
Where previously the sawyer had to be carefull not to include any early (white) wood for fear of degrading it, now they paid $3.65 for the whole log and it the log warrented being made into veneer they paid an extra $1.50 a bd.ft.
When I found out they were putting whole logs into containers and shipping them all the way to China and shipping them back as finished furniture I wondered how they could do it.
I then found out about all the automation etc.. and how advanced they were. and it began to make sense.. Especially if you go to our biggest furniture factories. and see men pushing carts of componants around and back and forth etc.. That plus the cleanup people and mind set of the 1950's
I know a few people who own large factories and they've all been handed down from grandparents etc. They're proud of using machines made in the 1930's and how it only takes a new set of bearings etc, periodically to keep running..
They ignore the output versis man hour numbers because they focus on return not what really matters.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled