Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1867-11-06
How Japanese Carpenters
work.

| A San Francisco ofrespOndent
writes: The steamship Colorado bro't
over a company of japanese perform
ers, calling themselves the Ha-ya-ta-
kee troupe. During the past week
they have been fitting up the Metro
politan Theater in the similitu6e of a
Japanese temple for the exhibition Of
their feats of strength. 1t is said that
the entire company, even the work
men engaged in putting up the stage,
belong to one family. 1t is a curious
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 a great advantage in
their having four hands instead OF two,
and although they seem to work with
great rapidity, yet they do not accom-
plish one-hslf so much as a good Amer
ican mechanic would in the same time.
A japanese carpenter makes no use of
either work-benches or vices. If he
wants to sharpen a saw, he squats on
his hams, places the back of the tool
to be operated on on the ground, grips
one end of the saw with his left hand,
seizes the other with the toes of his
right foot, and goes to work. Their
tools are not like American tools,
though they have a faint similarity,
showing that all tools have one COM
mon parentsge, whether their invent
or was. Tubal Cain or some other artifi-
Ger. Ali japanese saws are sharpened
like a butchers cleavers. The handle
is very much like the handle of a
cleaver, but ffattish, as if whitfield out
of a piece of inch board the metal
shank of the saw is irivel into that
handle, aud the whole IS secured by
being wrapped with fine split cane.-
The metal of the saw is Sbout the sub.
stance of our saws, but the teeth are
narrower, giving more of them to an
inch, and much longer. They are all
pointed toward the handle and cut the
wood like so many hooks. When a
japanese wants to rip plank, he
places it across anything which will
elevate the end a few inches, then
stands on the wood and cuts it by seiz-
ing the cleaver-looking saw in both
hands and pulling it toward him.
Thus, by a number of short, quick up
strokes, he get through a plank not
quite so speedily, but quite as
effectively as an American carpenter
would with the long, slow, down stroke
of the Iip-saw. The planes are small,
with single rons-no handles, The
planes are shorter, lighter, and the
wood shalloWer than ours, being gen.
orally not more than an inch deep
To plane a 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 a short awl
in a round piece Of stick eight or nine
inches long. They take the wood be-
their toes, squat as before, and make
the hole by rubbing the handle be-
tween their hands in less time than
one of our carpenters could drill one
with a gimlet. The hammers are solid
cylindrical pieces, not made shapely
with waists and graceful outlines like
ours. They have the same hat-sided
handles as the saws. The Japs. have
iron squares, not unlike the American
squares, marked with degrees. Their
measures are brass, very light and
futed. On one side the inch, or what
stands for the inch with US, IS ! BIG
inches and divided into ten parts. On
the other side is a different scale,
measuring 1916 inches. and divided
into twelve parts. Some of their tools
appear to be mere children's toys for
instance, they have a smoothing plane
two and half inches long, one inch
broad, and half an inch thick Their
chisels are light and small. The cut
ting parts of some are the size and
shape of half dollar-the square side
being the cutting edge, and a round
metal shaft connecting the convex side
with a wooden shaft.
The most ingeniSus article in their
tool chest is a chalk. line. 1t is a wood
en- cup containing q spongy substance
dipped in India ink. This is pierced
front and back, and the marking line
passed through it. The end of the line
is attached to a small awl the other
end of the line, after passing through
the cup is wound round reel, not un-
like tishing-rod reel, which takes the
place of the handle of the cup. To
mark line down a plank, the Japa-
nese carpenter sticks the awl in one
end of the proposed line, carries the
cup to the other the line paying itself
out as he does so; he holds the line
down to the 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 the awl The process of
paying out the line and of reeling it
up again both draws it through the
ink supply in the cup and keep it