PS: See the exclusive story behind "The Essence of Rebirth", listen to more suggestions for the novel, pay attention to the official account (add friends on WeChat - add the official account - enter qdread), and tell me quietly!

In the days that followed, the carving continued, this time on a larger piece of wood, and he was going to make a small coffee table.

Liu Yunyao will follow her when she is free, and Li Le will go there alone if there is something.

That night, she happened to accompany Liu's mother to go shopping, so Li Le went to the warehouse alone.

The production of the coffee table is not like the tea table, and the whole piece is carved and molded. It is more about the craftsmanship of the craftsman, the production of the countertop and the table legs separately, and then skillfully combined.

The first process is to cut the material and use a chainsaw to cut it and divide it into the right parts. The next step is to smooth the surface of the part, draw and engrave the pattern. Then it is drilled, and then a variety of wooden joints made of leftovers are used to make clever splicing. Then it's time for the polishing and lacquering process.

The most difficult part of this process is the splicing of this piece, not using materials such as glue and hardware, but using traditional Chinese handicrafts.

Wood furniture was born thousands of years ago, at the beginning of the furniture structure positioned as a pure wood structure, abandoning any other non-wood materials, skilled craftsmen use a variety of wood joints to solve the splicing, orientation, movement, rotation and other structures. Its ingenious application of mechanical principles and knowledge of structure are amazing.

The Ming and Qing dynasties were the heyday of wooden furniture, and the study of furniture in this period is the easiest way to unveil the structural veil of classical Chinese furniture.

The structure of Ming-style furniture is developed on the basis of Song Dynasty furniture, with reasonable structure, smooth lines and delicate processing. Ming-style furniture is mainly based on the Soviet style, focusing on the use of lines, moderate proportions, strong integrity, and consistency.

The unique beauty of classical Chinese furniture, in addition to the shape, is the scientific structure. Only by fully understanding the most basic production methods of ancient Chinese furniture can we truly appreciate the subtlety of the mortise and tenon structure. There are many types of mortise and tenon inoculation, rich in combination forms, and many functions.

First of all, the mortise and tenon structure is stronger and more durable than furniture connected with iron nails. The mortise and tenon joint structure is a combination of tenon and tenon, which can effectively limit the twisting of the wooden piece. The iron nail connection will cause rotation or make the rectangle become parallelogram. Metal is susceptible to oxidation and rust, and if it is combined with iron nails, the furniture will fall apart due to the corrosion, fatigue, and aging of the connected metal. The mortise and tenon structure, on the other hand, can preserve furniture for thousands of years.

Secondly, the mortise and tenon structure of furniture is easy to maintain. No matter what kind of furniture, there will be problems after a long time and it needs to be repaired. Furniture connected with iron nails is not as easy to disassemble and replace as mortise and tenon furniture. And because ebony wood is hard, it is easy to cause wood splitting if you use nails. The use of mortise and tenon joints to connect mahogany furniture can greatly improve the intrinsic quality of mahogany furniture.

One of the biggest characteristics of traditional Chinese furniture that distinguishes it from Western furniture is the use of mortise and tenon structure to skillfully connect the various parts of the furniture together to form a strong and solid whole. The components of Western furniture are connected by a combination of metal components. The advantage of China's mortise and tenon structure is that the tenon itself is a conjoined body of furniture parts, and the material is consistent, and it will not be like Western furniture, metal fittings are oxidized and corroded, and the parts are naturally damaged and the furniture structure is loosened.

Today's furniture is more Western craftsmanship, which is simple and time-saving, but lacks the culture of our ancestors.

The mortise and tenon structure of traditional Chinese furniture reached its peak in the Ming Dynasty. Overseas hardwoods with strong and fine quality continued to enter China as a result of Zheng He's voyage to the West. The craftsmen have accumulated a wealth of experience in hardwood operation, and the complex and ingenious mortise and tenon structures are manufactured according to their intentions.

Between the components, metal nails are not used at all, and the fish bladder bonding is only an auxiliary means. All by mortise and tenon joints, you can achieve a reasonable connection up and down, left and right, and all aspects are covered. The craftsmanship is so precise and the fastening is so tight that it is almost seamless.

It is extremely rare for such a craft to be put into modern times in time, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a cultural material heritage.

This kind of craft was learned by Li Le in his previous life and an old craftsman who made wooden furniture, although he did not learn much, but it was still possible to make a coffee table. Before being reborn, Li Le was very attentive to these old crafts, and he would go to great lengths to learn them if he could encounter them.

The process of this mortise and tenon joint is also extremely difficult, originally he insisted on visiting every day, lowering his status, and even just wanted to be an apprentice without being agreed by the master.

Later, I started from the old craftsman's wife, and it was slowly accepted. The old craftsman has devoted himself to the production of ancient furniture all his life, and his wife likes to believe in Buddhism. Knowing that he was about to die, Li Le spent more than a month making a white jade Guanyin statue for his wife, and finally won his favor, and then agreed to let Li Le study with him for a month under the side drum of his wife.

This month, Li Le can be said to be completely intoxicated with it, at first the old craftsman was still a little clumsy, and then gradually moved by Li Le's desire to learn, so he did not hesitate to pass on this craft to him, and told him to keep it well.

Compared with softwood, hard materials have particularly high requirements for mortise and tenon joints, which is determined by the characteristics of the hard material itself, which is not as resistant as other softwoods. As the name suggests, hardwood is a "hard" word, and most hardwoods are strong, brittle, and non-elastic. The mortise and tenon must be made tight, scientific and reasonable, if the tenon is small and the eye is small, it is easy to crack when the tenon is too strong, and the tenon is easy to fall off.

The cork mortise, generally the tenon is large and the eye is small, and the tenon is loaded with force, and the eye is not cracked and the tenon is compressed and reduced without damage. It must be so that the hardwood tenon can fit into the eye when gently struck with a hammer, that is, it does not crack and does not fall off. Then use adhesive to make it tightly fit and never fall off.

The golden silk nan gloomy wood used by Li Le to make the coffee table belongs to the list of hardwoods, so the difficulty is also quite high.

The adhesive used after the mortise and tenon is used as an aid to strengthen the bond.

In ancient times, yellow croaker bladder was steamed, crushed and beaten, which is characterized by being easy to use and easy to repair. If the material needs to be disassembled, as long as it is baked on the fire, it can be dissolved after heating, and it can be disassembled and replaced for repair.

The disadvantages are that it is easy to deteriorate, mildew and odor in the rainy season, unhygienic and not viscous enough. If the mortise and tenon joint is glued with deteriorated bladder glue, an obvious black line can be seen, which affects the appearance.

Now the invention of chemical adhesives for hardwood furniture has the advantages of easy use, strong viscosity, strong resistance, hygiene and beauty, but it is difficult to disassemble and repair.

The mortise and tenon structure of traditional furniture is transformed from ancient architectural structures. Three forms can be seen from the existing traditional furniture.

The first is the head tenon, which can be seen in the earlier Ming Dynasty furniture, and still retains the characteristics of making large wooden beams.

The second is the Ming tenon, which is more common in the furniture of the Ming Dynasty, also known as the tenon, that is, the eye is pierced, the tenon is worn out from the eye and the outside is flat, the tenon can be clearly seen on the outer side, and the traces of the wooden pin can also be seen in the middle of the tenon, the advantage is that the tenon is deeper, and the wooden pin can be added in the middle of the tenon, even if the wood shrinks, the tenon will not fall off. It makes up for the shortcomings of ancient processing techniques, processing tools and adhesives.

The last one is called dark tenon, also known as half tenon, which was used in the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, and almost all of it was used in modern times. The dark tenon structure makes the furniture look more beautiful, does not affect the overall effect of the wood grain on the wood surface, and the disadvantage is that it is easy to produce a false tenon, that is, the eye is deep and the tenon is short, or the eye is large and the tenon is small, and the glue is used to fill it, which affects the fastness to the bond and the durability.

From the perspective of detailed structure, there are nine common mortise and tenon structures.

The first is the edge knot tenon, except for the bed and frame, all furniture is composed of frames and panels. The combination of the frame tenon knot angle and the board surface forms the edge knot angle tenon, the wooden frame material is four, the two long and tenon are called "big edge", and the two shorter and chiseled eyes are called "trowel", which is the face of rectangular furniture. Traditional furniture is made of tenons, and rectangular furniture is mostly displayed horizontally, such as long tables, long coffee tables, large offering tables, and so on. The big side is made of tenon, the short side of the trowel is gouged, after the combination, the tenon is on the side, which does not affect the beauty of the front wood grain, and the tenon and the big side are also very firm, so the tradition of "big side" to do tenon is formed. Now the common half tenon (dark tenon) is also based on the "big side" tenon.

The angle tenon is divided into four types: single tenon, double tenon, back and forth tenon and angle tenon.

The single tenon is made in the middle of the thickness at both ends of the "big side", and the eyes with the same tenon specifications are chiseled in the middle of the two ends of the "trowel";

The double tenon is made of two tenons, and there is an equal gap between the tenon and the tenon, and the two ends of the opposite trowel material are chiseled with the same two eyes;

The tenon is made at the two ends of the "big side" and "trowel" material respectively, and the tenon and the eye are close together. There is no gap in the middle, after combining, the two tenons intersect into a right-angle cross, the force is equal and flat, if you do the Ming-style furniture of the legs, the face frame is locked in the middle of the leg cross, which is particularly firm and durable, and it is not easy to disassemble, it needs to be pulled away in four directions, which is more advanced and practical than single tenon and double tenon;

The angle tenon is on the basis of a single tenon on the tip of the "big side" tenon to open a slanted eye, in the tip of the head to open the eye to leave a small tenon, so that the two materials combined with its function and like a tenon. The difference is that on the same plane, the eye and the tenon are divided before and after.

The tenon and tenon are divided up and down with the eye in the same position. The tenon is suitable for the combination of wide frames. Make the face frame not easy to seesaw.

Single tenon is easy to make; The double tenon is tighter than the single tenon, firm and flat; The tenon is tight and smooth, and the process is complex; The angle tenon is the same as the tenon, and it is more difficult to make.

The second is the shoulder tenon, which is a structure used when the legs with the waist furniture are combined with the waist and the tooth strip. Square tables, strip tables, square tables, and long strips with a waist are mostly used. The leg is cut at a 45-degree angle below the girdle, and chiseled into a triangular mortise to match the 45-degree oblique tip of the strip and the triangular tongue. The slanted shoulders are either left or left behind with a dovetail hanging pin that is narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, and the notch sleeve is hung on the back of the tooth strip, and some hanging pins can make the tooth strip and the waist tightly combined with the legs and feet. The upper mouth of the hanging pin is inclined inward, so that the tooth strip is tightened more and more, and vice versa. It can not be pulled from side to side, but it is not separated from front and back

The third chuck tenon is the most commonly used mortise and tenon structure for case-shaped furniture. The four-legged tenon is at the top of the tenon, which is combined with the bottom surface of the case. The upper end of the leg and foot is open, and the tooth head is embedded in the tooth strip, so its appearance is that the leg and foot are higher than the tooth head. This kind of structure clamps the tooth strip on four legs, connects it into a square frame, bears the case surface, fixes the case surface and the legs and feet at a certain angle, and can evenly transmit the weight of the desk to the four corners well, so that the furniture remains stable and firm.

The fourth raglan tenon is also the mortise and tenon used in case-shaped furniture, which is different in appearance from the chuck tenon, but there is not much difference in structure. It is at the top of the leg out of the tenon and the case surface combined, the upper end is also open, embedded with the tooth strip, but the upper end of the leg and foot skin is flattened out of the oblique shoulder, the tooth strip and the leg foot intersection out of the notch, when the tooth strip and the leg and foot are together, the oblique shoulder of the leg and foot is clamped up to form a flat surface, which is different from the chuck tenon. The strip of the raglan tenon bites more tightly with the oblique shoulder of the leg when the weight is pressed down, which is different from the chuck tenon.

The fifth wedge mortise is a very ingenious mortise and tenon used to connect the curved parts. For example, the armrests of the circle chairs, the surface of the round table and the clay support.

The wedge nail tenon is basically a two-piece tenon joint hand-holding, but the two tenons have their own small tongues, and the small tongues are put into the groove to make the two tenons close together, and they cannot move up and down. Dig a rectangular hole in the middle of the lap, and run through a tenon with a rectangular section with a thick head and a thin tail, so that the two tenons can not be pulled apart in the left and right directions, so that the two arc-shaped bends are tightly connected into one.

The sixth is the puzzle dragon and phoenix tenon, when the panel of the table or table is very wide, when two or more thin plates are needed to put together, it is necessary to use the "dragon and phoenix tenon" splicing and wearing belt. First, one long side of the board is planed into a dovetail-shaped long tenon, and then the long side of the board adjacent to it is cut out of the big and small notches, and the two boards are put together by the method of pushing and inserting, this structure is called "dragon and phoenix tenon". Its advantage is to increase the glued surface of the mortise and tenon joint, prevent the joint from being warped up and down, and ensure that the assembled pieces will not be pulled apart.

After the sheets are put together one after another, in order to increase the strength, a strip of wood is threaded on the back of the board, which is called a "belt". The method is to open a large notch on the back of the cross puzzle, and wear a wooden strip made into a trapezoidal long tenon, which is called "wearing belt". The trapezoidal tenon with mouth and body is narrow at one end and slightly wider at the other. The long tenon is pushed from the wide part to the narrow part so that it can be worn tightly. Wear the belt at both ends, leave it as a tenon, and then combine it on the face frame. This kind of size of the buckle tenon is called dovetail, commonly known as "fishtail buckle", named because of its shape, this kind of buckle tenon because the dovetail will tightly buckle the panel, and the thickness of the tenon is thicker than the panel, so it is much stronger, and the plate surface will not fluctuate and bend deformation.

The seventh clamp tenon structure is simple and easy to make. The cutting edges of the four surface frames are sawed at 45 degrees, leaving no tenon and no chiseling holes. As long as it is tightly combined, then sawn into a groove of the same width and depth at the top of each corner, and then a piece of wood with the same width as the groove is sawn into a right-angled triangle, and inserted into the groove where the two corners meet, and the right angle coincides. On one side, the wood surface is compatible, and the wood grain is beautiful, and on the other side, the wood mouth and the wood surface are compatible, and the wood grain is very different and uncoordinated. However, it is easy to process, so it is an easy method. There is also a semi-circular inner card, which is the opposite of the triangular outer card, and is suitable for small and medium-sized round surface frames. At the seam of each panel, a semicircular notch is sawed out from the inside to the outside with a circular saw blade, and then a circular wood chip with a slightly thinner thickness with the same arc as the groove is inserted into the groove and glued together. Coupled with the panel, the circular inner card is stuck in the middle of the panel and the face frame, and the outside is invisible, which is both beautiful and firm.

The eighth overlord is not connected between the four legs of the table, but tries to connect the legs and feet with the table, so that there are no other obstacles between the legs and the surface, so that it is more convenient to use and very firm. This structure is called the "Overlord Tree". The upper end of the overlord is supported by the strap of the tabletop, which is fixed with a lock stud, and the lower end is supported in the middle of the leg and foot, and the tenon is used. The tenon at the lower end of the table is hooked upwards to make a fishtail buckle. The tenons on the legs and feet are large and small under the top and buckle downward. The tenon is inserted from the large part of the lower part of the mortise, and it is firmly attached to the tenon by pushing upwards. If the gap below is corked, the fir will be stuck, which can produce a large supporting force.

The ninth horse pin is not a tenon made of the component itself, but a tenon made of another wooden board and planted on the component, which is generally installed between the two parts that can be mounted and detached. The method is that the tenon pin is large and small, and the opening of the mortise is half large and half small. The tenon pin is inserted from the large half of the tenon opening, and the pin is fastened when pushed to the small half of the opening.

Compared with the modern process of using iron, hinges and other materials to fix the furniture made of traditional handicrafts, the overall shape is more beautiful and simple, and the value will be higher.

Nowadays, many high-end mahogany furniture is made using this process. For craftsmanship, Li Le has never lowered his requirements, since he can understand such skills, he will ask himself to do his best.

This does not mean that they are rushing for the price, but a state of mind of the craftsman and a professional quality.

With such a traditional mortise and tenon craftsmanship and good carving technology, the overall appearance of the furniture will be more beautiful and artistic, which is also what he pursues as a manufacturer.

It's like a company leader who strives for perfection rather than being satisfied with the status quo. In the same way, as long as Li Lehui agrees, he feels that he can make his works more perfect and better, and he will not hesitate to blend them together. (A good event for pie in the sky, cool mobile phones are waiting for you!) Follow the ~ point / Chinese network public account (WeChat add friends - add public account - enter qdread can be), participate now! Everyone has a prize, now pay attention to the qdread WeChat public account! ）