Page:Village life in Korea (1911).djvu/164

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138
Village Life in Korea.

ing of building a house. In the first place, let it be understood that there are no sawmills in the country. There are two or three that have been brought in by foreigners for the purpose of doing their own sawing, but the ordinary carpenter never saw one and has no idea of any such thing. When he wants lumber, he finds his fellow-craftsman whose business it is to pull a whipsaw and talks to him. A log is secured, one end is raised, and a block is placed under it so that one man can squat under it while another stands on top, and they pull a saw up and down till the work is done. The saw is about two or three inches wide and five feet long, and is fastened in a frame with a rope the twisting of which makes the saw tight. All the carpenter's saws are made on this same pattern. His adz is a block of wood with an iron point. He uses an adz where an American carpenter would use a hatchet. His planes, chisels, and all other tools are of the same simple make. As for brace and bits, he never heard of such things. The wonder of it all is that he, with so few tools and of such poor quality, is able to turn out as good a job as he does. Every one who visits Seoul is likely to be struck with the beautiful cabinets which are to be seen in the shops, many of them trimmed with brass and nickel and inlaid with mother-of-pearl. These are all made by our village carpenter with his poor kit of tools. Another line of work for which Korea is far-famed is its brassware. This is made in the same crude way, without any modern machinery. The whole plant for making the fine brassware can be built for fifty dollars, including