Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1867-11-23
How Japanese Carpenters WorR,

A San Francisco correspondent writes ::
The steamship Colorado brought over a
company of japanese performers, calling
themselves the Ha-ya-ta-kee troupe
During the past week they have been fit.
ting up the Metropolitan Theater in the
sifnlitude of 4 Japanese temple for the
exhibition Of their feats of strength. 1t
is said that the entire company, even the
workmen engaged in putting up the
stage, belong to one family. 1t is curl
Gus sight to see these japanese carpenters
at work. They use their hands and toes
at the same time, the latter being as
handy as their fingers. At first there
/ seems to be 4 great advantage i'll their
having four hands instead Of two, and al
though they seem to work with great
rapidity, yet they do rot accomplish one
half so much as a good American me-
chanic would in the same time. a Japa-
nese carpenter makes no use Of either
work-benchcs or vices. If he wants to
sharpen saw, he squats on his hams,
places the back of the tool to be operated
on on the ground, grips cne end Of the
saw with his left hand, seiz(s tie other
with Ike toes of his right foot, and gees
| to work. Their tools are rot like AmCrii
can tools, though they have faint SINH
larity, showing that all tools lave Gre
common parentagc, whether their invent
or was Iubal Cain or some other artlti-
Ger. All Japanese saws arc shaped
| like butchers cleaver. The handle is
very much like the handle Of cleaver,
but fattish, as if whittltd cut of Il p ecc
of inch b,ad; the rIetal shank Of the
saw is driven INTO that handle, and tie
whole is 5, cured by being wrapped with
fine split cane. The metal of The saw is
about the stbStan:e Of our'saws, but the
teeth are narrower, giving more ofthem
to an inch, and much longer. They arc
all pointed tow: RI the handle and cut
the wood like SO many hooks. When
japanese wants to rip a plank, he places
it across anything which will elevate the
end Il few incl es, then stands on the
wood and cuts il by scizing the clcaver-
! looking saw III both hands and pulling it
toward him. Thls, by 4 number of
short, quick up strokes, he gets thr( ugh
plank not quite so speedily, but quite
as effectively as IN American carpenter
would with the long, slow, down stroke
o" the rip-saw. i he planes are small,
with single irons-no handles. The
planes are shorter, lighter, and the wood
shaliowcr than ours, being generally not
more than an inch deep. To plane 4
piece of wood they lay it on the ground,
squat on their hams, hold it fast with
! toes, and work the plane with both hands
turned forward. To drill hole they
have short awl in round piece of stick
eight or nine iEchcS long. They take
! the wood between their toes, squat as be-
fore, and make the hole by rubbing the
! handle between their hands i'll less time
than one of our carpenters could drill one
with gimlct The hammers are solid
cylindrical pieci $, not made shaIcly with
waists and graceful outlines like ours
| They have the same flat-sided handles rs
the saws The Japs have iron squares,
not unlike the American squares, marked
with degrees. Their measures are brass,
very light and fluted. On one side the
! inch, or what stands for the inch with us,
! is l 5 inches and divided into ten parts.
On the other side is different scale,
measuring | 1916 inches, and divided IN
to twelve parts. Some of their tools ap
pear to be mere children's toys; for III
stance, they have smoothing plane two
and Il half inches long, one inch broad,
and half all inch thick. Their chisels are
light and small The cutting parts Of
scmc are the size aud shape OF Il half dol
lar-the square side being the cutting
edge. and a round metal shaft connecting
the convex side with wooden shaft.
The most ingenious article nil + tool
! chest is a chalk-Iinc. It.is a wooden cup
containing spongy substance DIPPED i'll
India ink. THIS is pierced front and back,
and the marking line passed through it.
! The end of the Inc is attached to sm i'll
awl; the other end Of The line, after pas
sing through the cup is wound round
reel, not unlike tishing-rod reel, which
takes the place of the handle of the cup.
TO mark line down the plank, the Japa-
ncse carpenter sticks the awl i'll one end
of the proposed line, carries the cup to
the other line paying itself oHt as he does
so he holds the line down TO she board
when he reaches the desired spot, strikes
the mark, and then takes his cup and
reels up the line as he walks back to the
spot where he inserted tie &%I. The
process of paying out the line and cl reel
ing it Up again both draws it through
the ink supply in the cup and keep it
| 31-f fI,r .tIp