Early Access Video: Chinese Workholding
Added 2024-12-14 12:00:11 +0000 UTCFriends:
To go with our recent video on the traditional Chinese workbench, I've put together a quick video on traditional Chinese workholding. The rural Chinese carpenter had all kinds of ingenious methods of holding wood and I've learned a few. I present these humbly, as I am a mere beginner in this tradition.
In the video, I mention inexpensive Chinese planes you can buy on Amazon. Here's a smoother from a company I like: https://amzn.to/3ZwDYJ7 (That's an affiliate link to keep it short.) The jack I showed in the video is out of stock.
Happy Saturday!
--Rex
Comments
Question—how would a Chinese carpenter set that up to flatten/face-plane boards significantly wider than the bench? Just by keeping the area being planed over the bench?
Andy
2025-01-01 20:39:11 +0000 UTCKind of, but the object would be held in the jaws on the small side if it was a hemostat so it's not too similar. I think it's a really ingenious tool. Thanks for showing us how it works. I bet someone could make a versatile planing stop that's very similar with a scissor action that anchors to a bench less destructively too. I wouldn't be surprised if someone in China already has.
Lacci Battafarano
2024-12-17 02:53:09 +0000 UTCThat makes a lot of sense. Thanks for responding.
Christopher Hopkins
2024-12-16 18:04:20 +0000 UTCSince your video on Chinese wood working came out nearly all copies of China at Work have been sold say for a few in the $200+ any chance you want to talk to MIT press about reprinting and selling it on your website?
Peter
2024-12-16 17:45:16 +0000 UTCThat upload can do some wonky stuff. I've had that happen with some of my stuff before. I'm not losing sleep over it. I have plenty of other things to lose sleep over, apparently. LOL
Tom K
2024-12-16 16:52:58 +0000 UTCI can’t speak for everyone, but I see it as an opportunity for us to help vet you videos before they go public.
Todd Maurer
2024-12-16 16:46:32 +0000 UTCWe're super sorry about that drop out in the sound. We've been having trouble with gliches in the upload. Things look fine in the edit, but there's a problem after putting it up on YouTube. Still, it's on us to get it fixed.
Rex Krueger
2024-12-16 16:40:30 +0000 UTCWe're super sorry about that drop out in the sound. We've been having trouble with gliches in the upload. Things look fine in the edit, but there's a problem after putting it up on YouTube. Still, it's on us to get it fixed.
Rex Krueger
2024-12-16 16:40:23 +0000 UTCWe're super sorry about that drop out in the sound. We've been having trouble with gliches in the upload. Things look fine in the edit, but there's a problem after putting it up on YouTube. Still, it's on us to get it fixed.
Rex Krueger
2024-12-16 16:40:16 +0000 UTCWe're super sorry about that drop out in the sound. We've been having trouble with gliches in the upload. Things look fine in the edit, but there's a problem after putting it up on YouTube. Still, it's on us to get it fixed.
Rex Krueger
2024-12-16 16:40:09 +0000 UTCAmazing the solutions other cultures come up with, isn't it?
Rex Krueger
2024-12-16 16:40:01 +0000 UTCWe're super sorry about that drop out in the sound. We've been having trouble with gliches in the upload. Things look fine in the edit, but there's a problem after putting it up on YouTube. Still, it's on us to get it fixed.
Rex Krueger
2024-12-16 16:39:30 +0000 UTCRegardless of that era, it seems that there's always been a interplay between Chinese and European woodworking. The handplane seems to have come to China through European trade and European furniture was deeply influenced by Chinese styles.
Rex Krueger
2024-12-16 16:36:08 +0000 UTCThanks! I'm going to knock out one more video this week and then we'll go on Holiday break.
Rex Krueger
2024-12-16 16:34:43 +0000 UTCI guess glue is pretty common now, even in traditional carpentry. These benches were often made of Elm (or a similar wood) with interlocking grain, so the damage was minimized.
Rex Krueger
2024-12-16 16:34:11 +0000 UTCYou have it exactly. Chinese benches are more disposable. (Honestly, I see my benches that way. I never use one for more than a few years).
Rex Krueger
2024-12-16 16:33:14 +0000 UTCI guess it is similar!
Rex Krueger
2024-12-16 16:32:29 +0000 UTCThat device looks like it's a hemostat that is meant to be locked closed and held in place by sticking those two projections into holes that also hold the hemostat in place.
Lacci Battafarano
2024-12-15 07:18:49 +0000 UTCWhat do you do about the potentially hundreds of holes that the planing stop puts in your bench as you keep hammering them in and digging them out? That seems like a way to chew up your bench. Are they considered more effemeral in this tradition than in European ones?
Christopher Hopkins
2024-12-15 06:02:24 +0000 UTCI can see how a pragmatist like you can get into the Chinese wood working style. It is direct and to the point. There's not a lot of money tied up in it. The only issue is the durability of the bench as you reuse the plaining stops several times. I guess the solution is knock it apart, replace the top and contimue on. After all, they didn't use glue.
Richard C von Brecht
2024-12-14 21:49:44 +0000 UTCGreat to alternate methods of woodworking. Keep the videos coming but after the holidays. Enjoy some time with them and friends
Dave West
2024-12-14 14:41:28 +0000 UTCI'm really excited about this journey into Chinese woodwork. It's not really your thing, but I'd be so curious how the techniques overlap with the "100 years of humiliation" the Chinese suffered under Western and Japanese colonialism, impoverishment, and war. It'd be so interesting to see the difference between the tools of the great craftspeople of pre-British and colonial times.
judd
2024-12-14 14:17:38 +0000 UTCOthers have commented on the sound, so I won't. But I will say I was a little bummed that there wasn't a link to a planing stop like that. It's an ingenious design that I'd love to incorporate into my low bench work.
Tom K
2024-12-14 13:53:17 +0000 UTCBut in general: This was a very interesting video, and I think I will adopt some of the workholding technique for my own woodworking! It's always good to look into other cultures for inspiration.
Daniel Bohrer
2024-12-14 13:28:12 +0000 UTCI thought it was my computer !
Josué Nodarse
2024-12-14 12:55:30 +0000 UTCHey Rex, there seems to be an issue with the sound from 7:24 to 8:00.
Ilias Kantzaris
2024-12-14 12:39:28 +0000 UTCRex, the sound seems to cut out from around 7:23 to around 8:00. See there are people how watch a video longer than 2 minutes!
Todd Maurer
2024-12-14 12:33:45 +0000 UTCThank you for this! There's a short half-minute audio dropout from 7:23, maybe you want to address or voice-over in the public version.
Daniel Bohrer
2024-12-14 12:32:21 +0000 UTC
