Megan Fitzpatrick at Popular Woodworking Magazine has posted a video tour of the 1505 Holy Roman Workbench that was filmed at Woodworking in America last month. Roy Underhill has also shot an episode of “The Woodwright’s Shop” about both of the Roman workbenches I built this summer. I’m not sure when that will air during season 36. When I get news, I’ll post it here.
— Christopher Schwarz
Several commenters to yesterday’s post about the origin of the Chinese planning stop, known as the palm, offered some additional information and a Western version.
In the wheelwright’s shop shown in the 12th-century scroll “Qingming shanhe tu” we see a palm at the end of the bench. It is made of two pieces of wood nailed to the bench.
The palm was later known as the Lu Ban qi, or Lu Ban’s wife, because the palm was the brilliant idea of Lu Ban’s wife. (Not to mention she no longer had to act as the planing stop or sustain injury when Lu Ban got a little crazy with the planing). Ban Qi is still used as a term for a planing stop. A modern version of the V-shaped palm is below and is adjustable.
A Western planning stop with similarities to the palm comes from “The Young Mechanic” by James Lukin published in 1872:
Another version using two pieces of wood and wedges to secure the work piece:
My thanks to our readers for joining the discussion and offering more ideas!
-Suzanne Ellison
Lu Ban, born some time between 770 and the 5th century BC, is the divine protector of Chinese carpenters and artisans. He is credited with inventing the basic tool kit of the carpenter and the rules, measurements and rituals associated with building construction. He and his wife* are featured in many Chinese folktales. One story, as told by the Bai ethic minority of Yunnan Province involves how the palm, or planing stop, was invented.
The Origin of the “Palm”**
When Lu Ban needed to plane a piece of wood he would call his wife to come and hold one end of the wood with both hands. She would use all her strength to hold the wood steady. But this was not a good way to evenly plane the entire piece of wood. Too light a hand and the wood would not be smooth and too heavy a hand and the plane would run into his wife. Once, Lu Ban’s strength on the planer was too heavy and the head of the plane hit his wife in the chest, the blade cut her hands and she was pushed to the ground. Lu Ban dropped the plane and rushed to help his wife.
Lu Ban’s wife sat dazed on the ground gazing at her bloodied hands while Lu Ban fretted and did know know what to do. His wife suddenly smiled and realized what she should do. She got up, grabbed a saw and cut two pieces of wood in the shape of a palm. Next, she nailed the pieces on the bench top. She had Lu Ban place the wood to be planed between the two pieces to hold it steady and there was no longer any need for a person to hold the wood while the carpenter used the plane.
Lu Ban admired this idea of his wife and he called the two pieces a “palm.” Later, carpenters changed from wood to iron but still called this invention a “palm.”
Finding the “Palm”
I asked Chris if he could visualize the palm and he suggested placing your hand palm-up (that was the bench surface) and bend four fingers pointing towards the ceiling (the stop). But that configuration didn’t help me see a “palm.” Many images of the low Chinese workbench are hand-drawn and do not show a huge amount of detail. So, the next step was to check through the images I already had and also look for new ones.
The Arrowmaker has a planing stop, but it doesn’t look as though it would be termed a “palm.”
Four benches but no “palms” here.
In this 20th century Chinese comic strip Lu Ban’s wife nails what looks like a doe’s foot to the bench. The doe’s foot, a work holding appliance, is featured in Plate 14 of the forthcoming “Roubo on Furniture” and you can read a blog post Chris did about using one here.
The notch in the doe’s foot seemed to be closer to what the “palm” might look like. The answer came from “Qingming shanhe tu,” a scroll done with ink and brush by Zhang Zeduan during the Song Dynasty in the first quarter of the 12th century. The scroll is 25.5 cm high, 5.25 meters long and is in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing. The scroll shows the gatherings for the Qingming celebration in a vibrant riverfront city. The image at the top of this post is one of two where a woodworker’s bench can be seen.
In a short passage in a book about 15th-century Chinese carpentry there was mention of a wheelwright’s shop in the scroll and whether the workman at the bench is using a drawknife or spokeshave.
Find the large tree just off center in the scene above. The wheelwright’s shop is just to the left of the tree and partially under an overhanging roof.
Given the large size of the scroll the scene is too small to discern which tool is in use but what can be seen is the workman is pushing the tool as evidenced by the V-shaped wooden ‘bench stop’ nailed to the end of the bench. This ‘bench stop’ is called a “Lu Ban qi” which translates as Lu Ban’s wife. As Lu Ban’s wife knelt at one end of the bench she held her hands on either edge of the wood. Placed together her hands would form a V. This is the “palm.”
*In the folktales of the Bai Lu Ban’s wife is not given a name, but in other stories she is called Yun.
**This story is based on a Bai folktale translated by Jessica Marinaccio for her thesis for a BA with honors in Chinese at Williams College in 2006.
–Suzanne Ellison
I hope that Labor Day means free time around your house and not “try to catch up day” like it it is here. I’m not complaining though. When catching up consists of picking up after a fun weekend and reading through a bunch of Lost Art Press folks sharing ideas and builds then life is good. Hopefully you are doing the same. Remember, if you have a question about our products, procedures in our books or anything related to Lost Art Press, the fastest way to get an answer is our forum. Check it out here.
Rehandling a Hammer
Jacob has a ball peen hammer that he loves using, but it has a crack in the handle right near the head that makes him a little nervous. (picture at right) He is looking for advice from anyone who has tried re-handling a hammer. Help him out here. And learn about a tool that can fix the problem.
Kitchen/dining Table Finish
Have any suggestions on a durable finish for a beech kitchen table? Martin wants the table to maintain its natural look but still be able to stand up to his family’s nightly dinners. Let him know what you think would work best.
Softwood Chop
Jason is building a knockdown Nicholson bench and is getting to the point where he needs to figure out his plan for the chop on the leg vise. He is thinking he will laminate 2×12 Douglas fir boards but hasn’t decided on the final method yet. Vote for one of his two proposed plans here.
Left-Handed Workbench
Are you a lefty? Are you a lefty who has a preference on whether your bench is built for a lefty or not? Perfect. Marvin wants to know what you think. He is building his own bench and can’t decide which route to take.
Repair My Ash – Kerf on the Wrong Place
Nathan originally posted looking for help on how to repair a few dings to his bench build. As it turns out, the LAP community pretty much all suggested he leave them and and let the bench have the early battle scars that it has earned. I think it was the right move and the final product looks sweet (picture above). It gets my vote for best build of the week. See the story here.
— MB
Editor’s note: Below is the first post from Will Myers, a woodworker who teaches at Roy Underhill’s school and specializes in teaching a class on building a Moravian workbench and researching and reproducing Shaker pieces. Both John and I are huge fans of Will and are very excited to welcome him to our blog.
I am back at Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, Mass. I came up last fall for a quick visit and figured out that this was not a “quick visit” type of place.
There is so much to see; around most every corner are rooms and furniture pieces that give me a bit of déjà vu. Perhaps the feeling comes from seeing so much of this stuff in furniture books and articles over the years. Even so, the genuine articles are so much better than the photos.
On this trip I am attending the annual woodworkers and iron workers weekend. I will be doing demos on making one of the candlestands in Hancock’s collection all day on Aug. 6-7. I brought along a Moravian workbench as well (they have not kicked me out…yet!).
If you are in the area stop in and have a look around and experience the only genuine Southern hillbilly accent in Massachusetts!
— Will Myers, host of the “Building the Portable Moravian Workbench” DVD