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Chapter 82

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    After the bamboo has completely entered the gate, it is placed in the center of the courtyard dam.

    Looking at the bamboos of different lengths, I have to sigh for the strength of my grandfather and the spaciousness of the courtyard dam, hehe.

    "Grandpa, how many catties does the bamboo weigh? It feels so heavy." After helping Grandpa down a few bamboos, I felt a little out of strength.

    "It's more than three hundred catties. I wanted to cut more. The bamboo is not old enough, and the others can't be used." After the bamboo was finished, grandma had already made lunch. During the meal time, I can take a rest to relieve the fatigue just now ?¡­

    "Grandpa, how much is a catty of bamboo?" I asked curiously.

    "1 cent 2 a catty"

    "Oh, how much bamboo does it take to weave a backrest?" I asked while picking up vegetables.

    "A back strap needs about 10 catties of bamboo," said the grandfather after an estimate.

    "Ten catties is about one yuan and two. If you sell a backpack for 5 yuan, you can earn more than 3 yuan."

    "How can you calculate like that, you have to consider the loss, and you may encounter broken bamboo, and you can weave up to 2 back straps a day, so you can't make much money," Grandpa explained.

    2 a day, that is, ten yuan. Calculated in this way, the cost of going out may only earn 7 yuan. Thirty days a month, the income of two hundred and ten yuan is indeed very little, but it is better than nothing.

    "Back-weaving is hard work, and you can only earn some pocket money. Your dad learned it when he was young, but later he felt that he couldn't earn money, so he went out to work." There was a little helplessness and loneliness in the words of the grandfather.  .

    This may be the most helpless place for craftsmen of their generation.  As a well-known back-carving craftsman, his unique skills can only be used as pocket money, and he can't even guarantee his basic life.

    No one in the future generations is willing to learn this craft. It is estimated that it will be lost in a short time

    After the meal, grandpa put many tools in the courtyard dam, and planned to roughly process the bamboo for storage.

    "Ren Tao, help me lift it up"

    At this time, grandpa put the bamboo on the "wooden horse" (this wooden horse is not a merry-go-round for children to sit on, nor does it have the shape of a horse, it is made of three crossed wood, which is equivalent to a bracket). After measuring the specific size, use a saw to  Saw back and forth.

    After the front end of the bamboo was about to fall off, I held it with my hands, and as the saw went deeper, I slowly turned the bamboo so that I could continue sawing.

    "Pa" the bamboo snapped, I took the bamboo tube, put it aside, and then went back to my grandfather to continue with the next section of bamboo.

    One by one, the bamboo was sawed into the required size, and the time passed by every minute.

    "Grandpa, there are so many bamboos, can you finish sawing them today?" Looking at a large pile of bamboos on the ground, I was deeply suspicious.

    "Soon, I will weave a little more after sawing," said grandpa confidently.

    After sawing all the bamboo into the specified size, my task is considered complete.  By this time the sky was no longer hot.

    Grandpa took a ruler and a machete, picked out a bunch of sawn bamboos, and then returned to his usual place where weaving back sash.

    The 2-meter-long bamboo was cut open by the grandfather, split in half, and then cut in half again. After a few times, the bamboo strips needed for the back sash were ready.

    A bamboo strip that is one finger wide must be divided into two pieces on the thin body.  Each piece is less than two millimeters thick.  But for grandpa, 2 slices is a bit overkill, and he usually divides it into 4 slices directly.

    The surface of this layer of bamboo skin, grandpa called it: Qingmi.

    The inner layer below is called: deadly contempt.

    Both materials come from bamboo, but the value is not the same.

    Qingmi with skin has high strength, good corrosion resistance, and good ductility, so the price is several times more expensive.

    I asked my grandpa. Generally, the back straps are woven with two kinds of bamboo strips mixed. At the corners or the seals, green mites are used. This will increase the service life of the back straps for a long time.

    Occasionally, I will meet people who come here to order custom-made back straps. These are generally big families who are more willing.

    Directly customizing a pure green back strap not only consumes several times the material than ordinary back straps, but also takes a lot longer to weave.

    Qingmie is very thin. During the weaving process, if you don't pay attention to it, your fingers will be cut.

    Grandpa's palm is the most distressing palm I have ever seen.

    ?Hundreds of scars, large and small, are covered layer by layer on the palms and fingers.

    Especially the index finger and thumb are wrapped in adhesive tape to stop bleeding almost every day.

    old injuryAfter the mouth healed, it left shallow marks, and the wind and frost invaded, and the bamboo scab penetrated into the palm of the hand, and the entire palm looked like a black spider web.

    It's okay in summer, but in winter, the palms are affected by the temperature difference, cracked and bleeding, and the people watching it feel distressed.

    But I can't help solve the problem. The children of the poor family are in charge of the family early, and the old people of the poor family are running the house all the time.  Find ways to rely on what you can, earn some pocket money, supplement the family, and reduce the burden on children who go out to work.

    Turning bamboo into bamboo strips is only the first step, because a backrest needs more than just bamboo strips.

    Bamboo slices that are long, short, and thin, like a shoulder pole, are made into the bottom frame of the back.

    Bamboo pieces are used to make brackets on the frame and extend outward.

    After weaving about 30 centimeters, bamboo strips will be used to continue to enrich the depth of the back.

    When you get to the mouth, it's time for Zhusi to come out!

    Bamboo threads as thick as chopsticks are used to seal the mouth. After tightly sealing the mouth of the back, a blank is ready.

    Grandpa will make 16 or 20 blanks at a time.

    After the blank is ready, it is the last step.  Hit the wall!

    The so-called wall-hitting is to strengthen a layer of bamboo at the bottom of the back strap to prevent the back strap from being damaged by moisture on the ground for a long time.

    First raise a pile of fire, and burn the bamboo thread on the surface of the back sash to prevent hands from being cut.

    Then buckle the back strap upside down to the ground. There are four feet at the bottom of the back strap. Bamboo slices baked with fire are bent to the length of the four sides of the bottom and fixed to the bottom respectively.

    After it is fixed, all the processes are completed.  All that is left is to wait for someone who specializes in picking up the backs to come to your door.

    In the first few years, my grandfather used his bicycle to drag the back to sell on the street of Yangma.  Can't pull a few at a time.  But gradually, some sellers took a fancy to Grandpa's craftsmanship, so they left their addresses and came to collect them directly on a three-wheeled fire.

    Although a back strap is one yuan cheaper than selling it yourself, it is also a good thing that you don't have to travel so far and you don't have to worry about selling it.

    But in fact, I hope that grandpa can weave less back straps, at least there will be no new wounds on his hands.

    You may not understand the hard work of weaving back tapes.  In the winter, the bamboo is cold, and it is not bright in the morning, so we have to get up to make bamboo strips.  Sometimes at night, I have to light a lamp to catch up with work.

    Most of the processes need to be done outdoors.  It's cold, so don't work too hard.

    Fortunately, after vacating a piece of the kitchen at the back, grandpa can weave backs in a slightly warmer place at night.  And my grandma and I will also talk with him (Remember this site URL: www.hlnovel.com
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