The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1868-02-07
From Tie San Francisco Bulletin.
japanese Joiners and Theiy.
Tools

The japanese calling themselves tn,
H@-ya ia kee Troupe are fitting up the
stage of the Metropolitan Theatre in the
simlItudh OF a Japanese temple for the ex
EDITION of their ents of strength and leg.
erdemalm. They are said to Re all of ono
amiIy, and the very carpenters who are
doing the joiner work are members of that
family. japanese carpenters have an ad.
vantage over Awerican mechanics in the
fact that they have four hands instead Of
two, their toe beiIg handy as their En-
gers But they gain nothing by it, be-
cause they make no use of work benches
or vises. If Japanese carpenter wants
TO sharpen saw, no squats on bis hams,
places the back Of the tool to be operated
on on the ground, grips one end of the saw
with his left hand, seises the other with
The toes Of his right foot, and goes to work
with as much confidence as a Yankee car
penter at a bench.
The tools are not like American tools.
though they have faint similarity, show
ing that all tools have one common parent.
aye, whether their Inventor was Tubal
Cain or some other arti6cer Japanese
saws are shaped like butchers cleavers.-
The handle is like the handle of cleaver.
but fattiSh as if whitfield out of inch board;
the metal shank of the saw is driven into
that handle, and the whole is secured BY
being wrapped with fue split cane. The
metal of the saw is about the substance of
our saws the teeth are narrower, giving
more of them to an inch, ana much !onger.
They are all pointed toward the handle,
and cut the wood like SO many hooks.
When japanese wants to rip a plank,
he places it across anything which will ell
evate the end few inches, then stands on
the wood, and cuts it by seiziug the clea-
yer looking saw in both hands and pulling
it toward him. Thus by a number of
short, quick up strokes, he gets through q
plank not 80 speedily, but quite as effec-
lively as an American carpenter would
with the long, slow, down stroke of the rip
saw. The planes are small, with single
irons, no handles. The planes are short
er, lighter, and the wood shallower than
ours, being generally not more than an
inch deep. To plane piece of wood they
lay it on the ground, squat on their hams,
hold it fast with their toes, and work the
plane with both bands toward them. To
drill hole they have short awl, inserted
10 the end of round stick eight or nine
inches long. They take the wood between
their toes, squat as before, and make the
hole by rubbing the handle of the awl be-
tween their hands, in less time than one
of our carpenters could drill one With
gmlet. Their hammers are so id oylu-
drlcal pieces, not made shapely with waists
and graceful outlines like ours. They
have the same fat-sided handles as the
saws. The Japs have iron squares, not
unlike American squares, marked with de-
grees. Their measures are brass, very
light, and futed On one side the inch,
or what stands for the inch with US, is one
and three.sixteenth inches, and divided
into ten parts. On the other side is a
different scale, measuring one and thir.
teen sixteenth inches, and divided into
twelve parts. Some of their tools appear
to be mere children's toys; for instance,
they have smoothing plane two and
half inches long, one inch broad, and half
an inch thick.