How to carve jadeite in ancient times

1. In ancient times, jadeite was cut with special lines: natural jade was irregular. At first, people used ropes. This inspiration may come from the friction fire at that time, rubbing jade repeatedly with a rope, and breaking the jade after heating. It's just that the density of jade is quite high, and ordinary ropes can't achieve this goal. At that time, people repeatedly studied in failure, and finally came up with a good method: choose cowhide rope or hemp rope, then stick gravel on it, rub jade repeatedly through gravel, and finally cut jade. But the choice of sand and gravel is very particular. Generally speaking, craftsmen like to use quartz sand, because the density of jade is generally less than 6, while the density of quartz sand is above 7. Only by rubbing harder gravel can jade be successfully cut. Because quartz sand is also difficult to purchase, it was also given a charming name at that time: Xie Yusha. Later, with the development of bows and arrows, clever working people began to decompose jade articles with rope bows, which would come faster than the friction of ropes.

2. Cutting with flaky objects: During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the rapid development of people's labor force led them to invent many simpler equipment in real life, including a "hammer" specially used for cutting jade. Tuo is still widely used by people today, because it is actually the core part of an iron machine, which can run quickly. With the support of electricity and the skillful hands of jade craftsmen, it soon had a beautiful jade. Archaeologists found "mounds" that people used to cut jade articles in many unearthed ancient tombs. In fact, it is an assembled cutting machine, and the speed can be controlled manually. In ancient times, people called this cutting machinery and equipment: hammer, or water. People made a simple cutting machine with hemp rope, rotating shaft, wooden bucket and a hollowed-out desk, and only needed to control the machine manually. Craftsmen usually sit in chairs and pedal with their feet. At this time, the metal shaft piece will start to work. As long as the jade is placed next to the metal shaft piece, the rotating metal shaft piece will start to grind off the excess jade chips. The invention of "Tuo" makes it easier for people to cut jade, and at the same time, the quality has been improved rapidly. Because the rotating "mound" can repeatedly cut and polish a place like grinding, so that the whole jade remains intact after cutting, which plays a vital role in the later jade carving.