Do only one thing in your life: Tong Xinhai tells you what ingenuity is with experience.

Tong Xinhai is the first traditional carpenter I am familiar with. Born in 1960s, he has been engaged in the maintenance of classical furniture for nearly 30 years and has rich experience. At that time, I had just resigned, studied furniture and prepared for Akiyama. I have many questions and ideas about the manufacture of solid wood furniture. Like an inexperienced student, he urgently needs the teacher's guidance. Tong Xinhai is a teacher. I often ask him for advice, and he is willing to share.

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If there is nothing particularly urgent, I will spend about half an hour with Tong Xinhai every day. I watched him repair furniture and asked all kinds of questions. Repairing furniture will face many problems, such as furniture defects, structural reinforcement, repairing deformation and cracking, etc. More complicated are size adjustment, shape modification and function increase. Many times, it is necessary to unbind, repair or remanufacture the previous tenon and mortise before assembly. This process can clearly understand the manufacturing structure and technological level of furniture. In fact, most of the furniture he needs to repair today is not very good. He will say that the workmanship is really rough and deceptive, and then feel that there is too little good furniture.

I really want to ask Tong Xinhai to make a piece of furniture, but he will refuse me. He said that new furniture had better be assisted by machines, and table saws, planers, planers and band saws would be more efficient. I only need hand tools here, which is too laborious to do. Every once in a while, I ask questions with drawings. Finally, I always ask: don't you want to be one? Finally, when he was not too busy, he made me some furniture. The first trapezoidal bookshelf was made by himself.

Tong Xinhai often said that he was impatient and anxious, but I was not in a hurry when I saw him repairing furniture. Chatting with me doesn't affect his orderly work at all. This is due to his years of woodworking experience. Besides furniture, we will also talk about past experiences. Master Duan is from Hebei. Like many carpenters of that era, his family was poor. He learned carpentry from the younger generation and suffered a lot. I worked as a door and window worker in Tianjin, and came to Beijing to work outside in the 1980s to repair old furniture for others. At that time, the classical furniture circle in Beijing was very small, with dozens of stalls facing outwards, all of which were bought by foreigners. Tong Xinhai restored hardwood furniture, including valuable Huang Huali, rosewood and mahogany furniture. This restoration lasted for more than ten years. He has two planes made of old mahogany, both of which were left behind at that time.

With the development of domestic classical furniture, more and more people come in to start businesses. Around 2000, Tong Xinhai started his own business and, in his words, set up a stall. Tong Xinhai sells wooden furniture. Collect furniture first, then repair it, and finally sell it. Many carpenters stay away from tools such as axes, chisels and planers, which used to be the basis of their lives. On the contrary, although there are several carpenters, I can repair furniture and even help debug other woodworking tools. The daughter and son also grew up and began to help him. Daughter can talk, be a salesman, and son runs errands to deliver goods.

In those years, Tong Xinhai had a German customer who sold classical furniture in Germany. There is a great demand every year, and they are all shipped in containers. Tong Xinhai's wooden furniture has a low profit, but if the quantity is large, the business can continue. Later, there were fewer and fewer old furniture with good appearance and fewer foreign businessmen. German customers have stopped doing it, and the competition in the local market is becoming more and more fierce, making it difficult for Tong Xinhai to do business. He intends to leave this business to his son. Because my son was not interested in this business at that time, he simply closed the stall. Tong Xinhai picked up the toolbox and continued to repair the furniture.

According to our custom, we can't buy wood for coffins. Our son must have stolen it, and it must have been in the dead of night. Of course not. This is not real stealing. Because most people will go to the mountain to see what kind of tree (usually fir) is suitable before going, and then estimate the price. After cutting down a tree, you will put a red envelope in the pocket of the tree.

When preparing wood, he usually greets the coffin maker in advance, and then he will pick a day to take the tools home.

I won't say hello to anyone when I come to the door. Pick up the axe and start "unloading" (cut the log into cuboid wood by hand). Chop the first one and chop the axe hard on the bench. Just say hello to the host for tea.

It is said that the coffin maker can tell how long the person who sleeps in this coffin can live with the first axe-fortune tellers are always vague and most of them are not allowed. But when the coffin maker said it, it was almost there.

There are many things in the countryside that seem unreasonable, but the facts make people have to believe. Therefore, even Confucius said: Yuzi and Machamp were distracted. Don't say it doesn't mean there isn't.

A man in our village fell from the mountain and was seriously injured. When I was sent to the biggest hospital in this city, I often vented my anger. The doctor made it clear that there was no hope, so he took it home while he still had a breath and left him at home to die.

This man is about forty years old because he is very young. There must be no coffin ready. So the family set out again and again to pick up the patient and told the coffin maker to build the coffin quickly-our ordinary morgue for two days. Then the painter applauded and painted some colors (dark colors) as soon as he finished.

After finishing the first material in the door, the coffin maker threw an axe and said to go home and do something first. The people who supervise the coffin building here are very anxious. Besides, it is his brother who is dying. When he saw the coffin manufacturer, he ran back. The fire broke out suddenly and ran to the coffin manufacturer's house to curse. The coffin maker listened and did his work without looking up.

The painter came out for a week and said, "Boss, if you don't get it out soon, I won't have time to paint!" " "

The coffin maker stopped and said, "It's no use making this material! What's the hurry! "

The dying man's brother is also grumpy and says, "You are a fairy!" " "

The coffin maker said slowly, "The gods are not. Well, if your brother doesn't use this birthday material, buy some bottles of wine and invite me to dinner with Laojiu (the painter). If I delay your business, I won't get paid! "

The dying man's brother said, "Unless there is a ghost, don't say a few bottles, ten bottles will do!" " "

The dying man took it home and all his relatives and friends came. After all, they are still so young and their children are still young. It's really hard. The woman cried at once. While working slowly, the coffin maker smiled and said to the painter, "Pour your paint into the dung cellar, it's too messy here!" " "

In the afternoon, the head of the family almost arranged the funeral, and the dying man suddenly moved. At dusk, he can whisper and ask his wife to cook some rice soup for him. He also said, be strong.

In less than a month, people who say "once failed" in the hospital can work in the fields. War has always been like this.

When I met Tong Xinhai, he had been away for a long time. For some time, I have been looking for a reliable furniture factory, which is difficult to satisfy. I asked Tong Xinhai if he would like to start a new business and make modern furniture together. Tong Xinhai wanted to think, and said it would be nice to go on for ten years. I didn't ask again. I think so, too. Fifty knows destiny, and Tong Xinhai is over fifty. He will also say that he will retire soon and wants to take care of his grandchildren and enjoy life.

I didn't expect this day to come soon. In the middle of 20 16, I was injured in the process of moving furniture and went home to rest for a long time, but the injury was not thorough enough. I decided not to do it after I came back.

Tong Xinhai has a loud voice and is full of confidence. I still remember seeing him during the Spring Festival. He smiled and said to me loudly, Happy New Year. It's hard for me to see him again after he goes back.

When I met a well-made piece of furniture before, Tong Xinhai would say: This work is very beautiful, made by a master. Deliberately raise the volume of the word "master". Now when I think of him, I also think of the word "Mr. Fu". For more than 30 years, he has repaired hundreds of pieces of furniture, which he deserves.