Wang Dewen, an old carpenter with grandson from Liaocheng, Shandong to Wuzhou, Guangxi, does not need nails or glue to make Luban stools, wooden arch bridges, walking piggy Peppa and other woodware without nails or glue, so that Chinese traditional woodworking skills can bloom to Chinese and foreign people. Amazing brilliance.
In the quiet forest depths of Chentang Town, Mengshan County, Wuzhou City, Guangxi, the rustle of sawn wood echoes with the sound of gurgling streams. In front of the simple bamboo cottage, rose flowers and hydrangea blossomed in full bloom. An old man wearing a hat and a simple Tang suit was stepping on the ground with one foot, and stepping on the rope that fixed the wood, saw, chisel, axe, The matte paper...so handy in his hand.
The old man's name is Wang Dewen, and he is the "Grandpa Amu" who has recently become popular on the Internet at home and abroad.
Traditional woodworking skills take root in the heart
Don't look at "Grandpa Amu" Wang Dewen is over sixty years old, but he has millions of fans on the Internet at home and abroad. Only the domestic video site Watermelon Video has attracted more than 2.6 million fans. The video of his carpentry work has accumulated tens of millions of views on domestic websites, and the total number of views on external networks has already exceeded 200 million.
The reason why "Grandpa Amu" has attracted the attention of everyone is his unique skill-skilled traditional woodworking skills.
Wang Dewen is a native of Shandong, and his father died when he was young. In order to make a living, he has been learning woodworking since he was about 15. When he was 16 years old, when Wang Dewen was doing carpentry for a family, he found that there was a Luban stool on the head of the family's bed. The workmanship was very exquisite, and he was immediately attracted. After obtaining the consent of the owner, Wang Dewen took the Luban stool home and observed it carefully to understand the mystery, and made one according to the Luban stool.
"There was almost no market for traditional wooden furniture with cumbersome processes like that at the time." Wang Dewen said. Although he was full of love for traditional woodworking skills, because his family was relatively poor at the time, Wang Dewen had to travel every day to eat and wear warmth. As time passed, he didn't think much about Luban stool. However, the observation and attempt to make Luban stools planted a seed for studying traditional woodworking skills in Wang Dewen's heart.
In the subsequent time, Wang Dewen stayed in his hometown in Shandong. Whoever built a house would make beams, and whoever made furniture would make furniture. In order to earn more living expenses, in his spare time, he will make some wooden stools, small tables, cabinets, etc., and sell them on the market. During that period, Wang Dewen kept getting to know the old carpenters and new masters, learning from them. Over time, his woodworking skills have matured and he has become a well-known carpenter in his hometown.
Sixtieth old carpenter attracts attention online
As the years get older, in 2017, Wang Dewen, who has rarely taken carpentry work, and his wife, followed the entrepreneurial son Wang Baocheng, to his daughter-in-law Huang Chunmei’s hometown, settled in Chentang Town, Mengshan County, Wuzhou, Guangxi, and helped take care of them. Newly born grandson.
In 2018, while taking care of his grandson, Wang Dewen suddenly came up with an idea: Why not use his own craft to make unique toys for his grandson? Searching for materials on the Internet, looking for suitable wood, and buying handy tools... After a few days of tinkering, Wang Dewen used wood to make interlocking apple locks, walking wooden piggy Peppa, and cute waterwheels... Pieces of exquisite wooden utensils became exquisite and interesting toys in the hands of the little grandson.
From then on, Wang Dewen, who had already lived a life of a sweet-smelling grandson, also became "restless". The seed that he planted in his heart as a teenager gradually sprouted-he would use traditional woodworking skills to make another memory Luban stool in China.
Wang Dewen's dedication and love for traditional woodworking techniques attracted the attention of his son Wang Baocheng. Wang Baocheng is an Internet entrepreneur. Over the years, he and his wife have been shooting short videos on the theme of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers". "Since the old man has this craft, we want to make a video and post it online, so that people at home and abroad can feel the charm of traditional Chinese woodworking skills." Wang Baocheng said.
After uploading a piece of video to the Internet, Wang Baocheng soon discovered that the video of his father doing carpentry work received more attention than the previous video of his husband and wife. Perhaps because in the increasingly busy life, more and more people yearn for a natural and simple rural life and eager to get in touch with traditional Chinese culture. Starting in 2018, Wang Dewen's videos have caused more and more responses on the Internet.
The video first became popular on foreign websites, and many foreign netizens praised Wang Dewen's "mysterious Chinese technology". Immediately afterwards, some domestic media also forwarded related videos, triggering waves of heated discussions.
In the video, Wang Dewen draws lines on a piece of mahogany, and through processes such as sawing, planing, chiseling, and grinding, without a nail or a drop of glue, he simply and neatly produced Luban stools, Luban locks, rocking chairs, arch bridges and other exquisite woodware. Among them, Wang Dewen was praised by netizens as the "contemporary Luban" because of the production of a model of the World Expo China Pavilion composed of 42 mortise and mortise ribs, 4 mortise and mortise columns, 1 mortise and mortise base, and 27 interlocking lock rings.
Be careful, spread Chinese culture
Don’t look at Wang Dewen’s actions in the video. In fact, in order to make the Luban stool, he did a lot of work underneath. First, he collected detailed information on the Internet and tried repeatedly on the paper board. After many days of research and experimentation, he finally Success.
To Wang Dewen, carpentry work may seem simple, but in fact every step requires ingenuity. Many of his works use tenon-and-mortise structures, which show the ingenuity of the traditional Chinese woodworking skills, but are also very complicated and cumbersome, but Wang Dewen enjoys it.
"I have been particularly interested in carpentry since I was a child. I only need to do it well and meticulously all my life." Wang Dewen said.
In order to facilitate Wang Dewen to continue making works, Wang Baocheng built a bamboo cottage in a deep mountain in Chentang Town. Today, it has become a wood art studio. A set of handy tools and a piece of wood can keep Wang Dewen staying all day.
This year, Wang Baocheng also joined the production of woodware to lay hands with his father. With the cooperation of the father and son, wooden digital Huarong Road and Luban red heart lock were added to the toys of the little grandson, and the wooden art studio hidden in the mountains and forests added wooden arch bridges and wooden lathes.
From the Luban stool, the case of General Luban to the model of the World Expo China Pavilion with tenon and tenon structure, the Tower of Hanoi, the Apple Luban lock, the pineapple Luban lock, and the wooden piglet Peppa, Wang Dewen, who likes to ponder, often adds some new ideas to the tenon and tenon. The elements make traditional craftsmanship and the present collide with beautiful sparks.
Wang Dewen was very happy to see his videos being loved by young people on the Internet. In the process of shooting videos, he always asked Wang Baocheng to take every step of the production process as carefully as possible, "This will allow more interested people to follow along in learning and production, and traditional woodworking skills can also be used in video. The form of the record is retained, which will affect more people.”
Wang Dewen knows that his skills are still far from many woodworking masters, and what he presents is only a very small part of the traditional Chinese woodworking skills. In the future, he will continue to ponder, continue to study, and produce more styles of Luban stools and other wooden works, and develop into the production of wooden goods, so that more people can better feel the charm of traditional Chinese woodworking skills.
Meng Minying