Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-09-07
JAPANESE CARPENTRY.
Peculiar Ways They Have of Working
and the Tools Used.

ana the TOOLS NSSu.
Japan Letter in Chicago News.
Lumber is worth about twice as much In
japan as it is e'ith us. Common lumber.
which we sell for $40 and So thousand
feet, will bring 40 yen-that is, $50 gold
here. This is due chiefly to the scarcity OF
timber and the great labor required to
work it up by their primitive processes.
They have been cutting timber off their
mountains here for $500 years. and al
though the forests have been reproduced
again and again during that period 1t is
difficult and expensive to get logs down
from the mountain sides in the absence
of the necessary facilities. They usually
go into the woods and cut one log at a
time, which they haul out by hand or by
oxen for many miles. Where streams are
convenient they use them as We do but
they have no saw mills in the mountains,
although there is an abundance of water
power everywhere. 1 understand they have
tried them, but they have not been sue
ceSsful.
They cut all their lumber by hand with
a wide and thin saw during time of year
when they have nothing else to do, and
each man who is engaged in business that
requires lumber usually buys his own logs
and cuts them up himself at odd times.
Women and men both work at 1t. one
man or woman will work on the top of the
log while another works underneath, but
usually not with the same saw. L have
seen four or FIVE men working on the same
log, each saving off his own board. They
raise the log at an incline of forty-fve de-
grees, with one end on the ground and a
rest about the middle, and when they work
down to the rest they tie 1t up and begin
at the other end again.
All the lumber is dressed by hand. have
found but one planning mill in the country
That is in Yokohama. 1t employs about
plriOnSlE
product is made into boxes and shipped to
India. 1t does no business in the local mar
ket. The machinery is all from Boston
The manager tells me that the company is
thinking of charging the plant by adding
a sash factory and machinery for making
blinds and doors, also for the India market
1 do not know why they do not sell their
goods in the local market, but l presume
there is good reason for it; perhaps they
get better prices in India.
The Japanese make all the woodwork
about a house by hand, and most of their
houses are all wood. They are very skill
full in all kinds of cabinet and joiner work.
and are more rapid than our people. Their
tools are better adapted for doing close
work than ours, and are kept very sharp.
Besides, they give a great deal moro labor
and patience to an article than our car
penters and cabinet makers You never see
scratches from niciled tools in their planned
work. They use very few nails, but NOR
tise almost everything. 1t is usually 50
Well done that it is difficult to detect the
joints except by the grain, and ii lasts
forever Some of their ships are made
without bit of iron in their composition.
Everything is mortised.
What pay do they get? Skilled machin-
lists, carpenters joiners, cabinet makers
and the highest class of that sort of me
chanics get 10 to AZ sen day for twelve
hours work. That is equivalent to 20 and
p cents of our money: while second-rate
workmen get from 10 to 20 sen day, and
women, who work right along with the
men in the shops, receive from 10 to 10
sen. They do not accomplish as much in
twelve hours as our skilled mechanics will
in eight hours, but they do it better.
The japanese manufacturer and con-
tractor Usually prefer hand labor to ma
chine work-tirst because it is better fin
ished, and second because it gives employ
ment to more people. l find this to he true
in the government shops, with rich men
who are putting up large buildings and
with large employers generally. There is
no prejudice against machinery, and L do
not think there would be any difficulty in
introducing American machinery of every
kind into Japan if our manufacturers will
go at it in an intelligent manner.
The Japanese are very skllful in ham
ding machinery when they once learn
how. They learn best by imitation. 1t is
difficult to make them understand how to
use machine by explanation, but If they
can sit by and see some one else do it
they will learn very rapidly. And in copy
ing machinery they reproduce the original
with great eEactreSs and fidelity, even TO
any blemiSheS or ornaments that may
appear. j have seen some remarkable eX-
amples of their initiation. Usually the fin
ish. is little rougher than the original,
but the working parts are identical, and
they get the finish all right after a little
experience.