Traditional carpenter tenon and mortise tutorial video

Without nails, ropes and cement, the ancients could cross and fix six pieces of wood together, which was a clever use of tenon-mortise structure. Legend has it that it was invented by Lu Ban, so it is also called Lu Ban Lock. Some people think that the tenon-mortise structure originated from a toy invented by Zhu Gekongming in the Three Kingdoms period, so it is also called Kongmingsuo.

The tenon-mortise structure is one of the traditional civil construction technologies in ancient China. Civil buildings in China generally include columns, beams, arches, rafters and other basic components. China ancient buildings do not use nails in principle. If these independent basic components are to be connected together, they must be connected in some way.

The method adopted by the ancients is to use the bite between the cut tenon (tenon) and the groove (tenon) to connect firmly The simple "tenon-mortise" structure is to fix the cross shape of two battens in a biting way, and the tenon is matched with the groove, and the tenon is stuck in the groove of the batten. If tenons and mortises are used properly, the two wood structures can be firmly fixed together. In this way, six pieces of wood can be fixed crosswise.

The principle of complex mortise and tenon structure is the same, but the combination of mortise and tenon is not necessarily cross-shaped, but may be T-shaped combination, angular combination and cross-shaped combination. A clever carpenter must master at least dozens of different mortise and tenon methods.

In the same way, the appearance of Luban lock, in addition to the "six-sided lock", also appeared "twelve-sided lock" and "twenty-four-sided lock" and other complex shapes. The structure of tenon-mortise structure is stable, which accords with the viewpoint of modern mechanics. When many tenons and mortises are combined, there will be an extremely complicated and ingenious balance.

The tenon-mortise structure has a very long history in China. Archaeologists unearthed a large number of well-combined mortise-and-tenon cultural relics with different shapes about 7,000 years ago at Hemudu Cultural Site in Yuyao, Zhejiang. There is an all-wood ancient bridge in Youyang, Sichuan, China, which was built at 187 1 with a length of 32 meters. All parts of the bridge are connected and fixed by tenons and mortises, and it still plays a role today.

The wooden pagoda in Yingxian County, Shanxi Province is 68 meters high and was built in Liao Dynasty 1000 years ago. Although it has been hit by several major earthquakes and wars, it is still safe and sound, and it has to be said that it benefits from the stability of the mortise and tenon structure. All these have witnessed the magical function of tenon-mortise structure in ancient wooden structures.

Summary: In the new century, Luban lock, an ancient craft, has also given new life. At the Shanghai World Expo, the Shandong Pavilion we saw was in the shape of a Luban lock, consisting of 20 16 LED modules. These modules are divided into three groups, with 90-degree mortise to form different pictures. This is the ultimate application of tenon-mortise structure by modern people, and it also reflects the eternal vitality of tenon-mortise structure.