peekofhistory:

Making Guqin - part 0 (preparing lumber)

My Guqin teacher usually buys pre-cut wood but a few days ago he took us to see how they cut everything.

Nowadays, most handmade Guqin are made using wood from old buildings that have been taken down or are being renovated. The wood needs to be fully dried to prevent shape changes (even with old wood it will still sometimes change shape but not to the degree of new wood), so these lumber pieces from old buildings that have been shade-dried (not set out under direct sunlight which can cause cracks) are perfect. China has a lot of older buildings that are hundreds of years old.

(Two pieces of wood from a temple that was being renovated)

My teacher and us along with 3 other Guqin makers loaded up a rental truck with the lumber and headed to the lumber workshop (video start).

Before sawing, all the pieces need to be checked over for any metal nails and removed. The lumber seller was supposed to have removed them, but we still found a lot so it took several hours with hammers and pliers to get it all done.

Then the lumber is loaded onto the sawing machine and secured. Each piece can be cut into about 2-4 pieces depending on its thickness. My teacher says you never know exactly what the wood is like inside until you actually cut it open, so buying lumber is a bit like a guessing game. Some you open it and there’s worm holes all over (not a big deal), or knots, some can be completely hollowed out inside, others don’t look great on the outside but when you open it it’s beautiful.

(Worm holes left, knots right)

Knots in the wood make it difficult to carve or shave, so we need to cut them out then fill the hole up using lacquer mixed with a special paste. It’s more time-consuming than if the wood is completely without them.

We left at 1pm and worked until 6pm before we got back to the Guqin studio. Now my teacher’s storage room has enough wood for 2-3 years 🤣