In the early 1970s, in order to build the Taihe Reservoir, 13 migrant villages in the reservoir area had to be relocated to the newly built village site, and my family was also in it.
To build a new house, the first thing to do is to sort out the wood, and it is necessary to find carpenters to work. There was no money to buy new wood, so my family chose the right materials from the wood removed from the old house to make the doors and windows of the new house.
Construction has begun in the village, there are more people building houses, and a few carpenters in the village can't work overtime. So my father recruited a few carpenters from the neighboring villages that had not been relocated, and prepared to sort out the wood and make new doors, windows, and furniture.
The master carpenters were working feverishly, and I was spinning around between them to help. Sometimes they were seen holding a shovel, stepping on the wood with one foot, and wheeling the wooden hammer with both hands, constantly planing on the wood, and in a short while, an irregular piece of wood would be flattened in the carpenter's hand and become a useful material.
I saw them working with a shovel very easily and wanted to experience the fun. The carpenter took the hammer aside, did not let me move, and said: "It is dangerous to use the hammer, and if you are not careful, you will rot the soles of your shoes if you do not master it well." ”
Sometimes I watched the two of them take the ink bucket, pull out a long line, and draw something with a turning ruler at both ends of the wood. Curious, I stepped forward and said, "Shall I help you pull the line?" The old carpenter said, "Yes! I'll give you a good size, and you can press it on the drawn line here. He went to the other end to draw the line, and pulled up the ink line with a flick of the hand, a straight ink line, which was printed on the wood, and then sawed the wood according to the size according to the needs. Sometimes the ink in the ink bucket is dry, the lines are not clear, and the carpenters will let me take out the ink I used to write the brush and pour it into the ink bucket, and the lines will be clear again.
Sawing small pieces of wood, a person can pull the saw, or on a stool, or on a triangular bracket specially used to saw wood, the foot is on one end of the wood, holding the saw in the right hand, pulling the saw hard in the direction of the drawn straight line. When sawing wood, it will make a "whooshing" sound, as if playing a symphony, one after another, as the wood chips continue to fly down, the aroma of the wood will also be emitted, overflowing with fragrance. I especially like to smell the smell of pine wood, that kind of incense, rich and fragrant, refreshing.
(Image from the Internet)
Sawing a large piece of wood, such as when unpacking the board, two people must work closely together to pull the big saw, tie the wood to the tree, two people each stand on a stool, you pull me to send, when you send, the left foot behind will be lifted, and the two arms will push hard. When pulling, the front right foot will be lifted up again, pulling hard into the arms, pulling, sending, just the long distance of the big saw. However, sawing is a kind of physical work, the physical exertion of people is quite large, and people with small strength can't really pull such a big saw.
In order to get the carpenter to make me a toy wooden gun, I always ran forward and backward to give my hospitality. When they were tired and sat down to rest, I would pour them tea, and if there was a cigarette, I would hand them a cigarette, and when they lit it, they would talk about the jokes that happened in the village. After drinking enough tea, the smoke was addicted, the fatigue was eliminated a lot, the body slowed down again, and it began to pull the big saw again, repeating the same action.
Once, when a carpenter's family could not come, and the saw was missing an "opponent", the old carpenter hit my idea, and even coaxed me to tell me a story, let me pull him down below, and he grasped the direction of the saw's travel above to prevent it from deviating.
As he pulled, he told me the origin of the saw. Legend has it that when Lu Ban led his apprentices into the mountain to cut down trees, he passed a small slope, and pulled a cane by hand, and he did not expect to be pulled by it, so Lu Ban carefully searched for the reason out of curiosity, and saw that there was blood on the vine, so he picked it up and observed, and the whole vine was covered with thorns with barbs. So, when Luban returned home, he imitated the thorns on the vines and asked the blacksmith to make a saw. This invention has brought great convenience to people in later life, and I was deeply attracted by the story and unconsciously helped him finish the saw.
Unwrapped wooden planks are made of furniture and are cut to different specifications according to different uses. There was no electricity in that period, let alone modern tools such as chainsaws and electric planers, and carpenters could only rely on two hands and use superb craftsmanship to complete the exquisite crafts.
In the past, carpentry was a very popular craft in the countryside. Because in the past, whether rich or poor, every household would ask carpenters to make furniture. Employers will do their best to take care of the carpenter's life, afraid of not taking care of it well, the carpenter master will play tricks on them. But that is a very small number, everyone will have three relatives and six friends, a carpenter with relatives, all of them are face work, besides, carpenters are still for a good reputation, and they will do more work in the future.
However, there are exceptions, when building a new house for the third brother, the father found one of his distant cousins to help with carpentry work, when sorting out the purlins, he only measured the size of the room, did not calculate the size of the wall, and made a ruling, when the purlin was put on, it fell down, let him go to see, dumbfounded, said "The tiger still has a nap time." He turned around, got on his bike, and ran away without turning his head back, and his father did not persuade him to come back. There was no way, the father cobbled together seven pieces, only to make up enough purlins in a room, can only be the big one in the bright room, and the small one in the middle. This incident is still spread among carpenters as a joke, and it is also a lesson for young carpenters to be conscientious and responsible for whatever they do.
In the countryside now, if you need to untie the large wood, you use the car to pull the wood, go to the wood processing plant, use the wheel saw, dissolve the wood, the thickness is uniform, convenient and energy-saving. With the change of the times, there are now small multi-functional chainsaws, which can both saw wood and planars, but also chisel and mortise, easy to carry, fast and good furniture, and beautiful, liberating the manual labor of carpenters and improving production efficiency.
Now the wood furniture, go to the furniture market can buy anything, ask the carpenter master to make furniture by hand, the days are gone, but in the past, the old carpenters industrious and wise, hard-working spirit will always remain in the hearts of our generation.
Written on November 15, 2021
Zhai Suoxiang, male, Han ethnicity, born in April 1963 in Nanxiacheng Village, Taihe Town, Zichuan, is a member of the Communist Party of China with a college degree. He is currently a staff member of the Zichuan District Tobacco Monopoly Bureau. Since 2015, he has published more than 80 articles in newspapers and magazines.
Yanagiizumi Financial Literature