Farming Comb Paintings Return Home

"Huh?" Xiao Xian glanced at Li Cong's outstretched palm towards him, then raised his head and stared at him puzzled.

Li Cong shook his hand that stopped in mid-air, lowered his eyelids and said, "It's not done yet, it can't be used yet."

"Oh!" Xiao Xian sighed suddenly, and forgot about it, hastily reached into the front of his clothes, and took out the things in his pockets.

What Xiao Xian held in his hand was a wooden comb the size of half a palm, which was made into a semicircle shape, with regular edges and corners, well carved, the roots of the comb teeth clearly visible, and it had begun to take shape; It is good wood, the color is simple, and there are no ugly tree grains and scars at all; probably because it is handmade, the gap between the teeth is a little thinner than that of ordinary wooden combs, and there are some barbs on the unpolished surface, but the carvings can still be seen When it comes to decoration, apart from the comb teeth, half of the continuous patterns are carved on the curved comb surface like auspicious clouds, undulating and graceful, stretching freely; when the comb is turned over, the back is flat and smooth, and the center is shallowly engraved A "string" word.

Xiao Xian rubbed the uneven word "string" on the back of the comb with his fingertips, remembering that when he first mentioned the comb to Li Cong, he said it was indeed long, and this comb was specially carved to look like a crescent moon, presumably It is to imply the "string" of the crescent moon.

Xiao Xian didn't say a word, just stared blankly at the things in his hands, lost in thought, Li Cong couldn't decide what was going on in his mind, so he twitched the corner of his mouth and explained: "You always say that it's troublesome to tie your hair."

The words stopped here, but it was enough for Xiao Xian to understand what he meant.Xiao Xian raised his hand and stroked the short hair on the back of his head, suddenly feeling extremely regretful.No wonder Li Cong was so surprised to see him cut his hair when he came back at noon, and he didn't say a word after that.I really didn't expect that the first gift I received in this world would be such a "gift from the Maggie". It would be great if I didn't cut off my hair on impulse, then I wouldn't let Li Cong make a comb for him I don't feel that there is a kind of unspeakable sadness in my heart.

Li Cong withdrew his hand, and saw that Xiao Xian was silent, neither saying good nor bad, and the expression on his face was even more displeased. He thought something was wrong, so he asked: "That's not the case." Is there something wrong?"

Xiao Xian froze for a moment, then came back to his senses and shook his head desperately: "No, no, that's right, it's like this, that's right at all." After finishing speaking, he stretched out his hand to pull the hair tie, wanting to put his hair down to comb it, but He was stopped by Li Cong.

"Wait, wait, you can't use it before it's ready, it's too prickly, it will damage your hair." Li Cong held Xiao Xian's wrist and put it down, took the comb in his hand and put it on the table, and said: "It's just out of shape, what's the hurry."

"Oh..." Xiao Xian scratched his head, looked at it over and over for a while with the comb in his hand, then curled his lips and said, "Then what else should I do? I think it's almost done."

Li Cong shook his head, seeing Xiao Xian's expectant face, he simply stopped talking about the mechanism, and sat down to prepare the comb for him.Xiao Xian also sat down next to Li Cong full of interest, holding his chin and preparing to watch the whole process.

Li Cong walked to the closet and took out the innermost wooden box from the upper closet.This wooden box is used to hold the knives. The previous one was used to store wood and finished products, but Li Cong made combs for Xiao Xian these days, took out a few carving knives, and put them on the shelf when they were used up. The box of the toy is convenient for the next time, so it's mixed up.

After Li Cong got his things back and sat down, Xiao Xian poked his head and saw a dozen or so screwdriver-like carving knives neatly placed in the box. The handles of the knives were all made of wood, not new, but they looked like they had been used often, and the knives were sharp. , of various sizes and shapes.

Li Cong took a triangular-groove file and placed it obliquely on the comb surface. Holding the wooden comb with one hand, he slowly pushed the handle of the file along the unfinished marks of the last time with the other hand, carving out the specific outline of the clouds, and then replaced it with a flat file. With a light knife, shovel off the excess corners bit by bit, and then cut across the carving knife like a pencil sharpener until the wood grain is smooth.Snowflake-like sawdust fell all the way with his smooth chiseling movements, and quickly piled up on the table.

Li Cong's familiar carving skills made Xiao Xian mistakenly think that woodcarving is a very simple job. He stared at it intently for a while, and gradually thought of doing it himself.

When Li Cong changed the carving knife, Xiao Xian patted his arm and said, "Brother, I want to try! Show me how to carve it, hehe." Then he waved to Li Cong confidently, motioning for the engraving on Li Cong's hand. Give him the knife and comb.

"You?" Li Cong raised his eyebrows, paused, then rummaged through the previous wooden box with his cross arm, picked up a piece of waste with knotted edges and threw it in front of Xiao Xian, saying: "Here, take it to play Bar."

Depend on!Xiao Xian twitched his middle finger in his heart, and glared at Li Cong angrily. Li Cong ignored him, making Xiao Xian grin his teeth in anger, but in the end he took the piece of wood obediently by his sleeve, intending to use it as a waste, and take care of it. Show your skills.

If a worker wants to do a good job, he must first sharpen his tools.After the material is selected, the second most important thing is to choose the tool at hand.Xiao Xian stood up, standing on one foot, and put the other foot on the stool, propped his elbow on the table and began to rummage through the wooden boxes. He just took the small one and looked at the big one. He thought the big one was better, so he changed it. Big ones feel less flexible than small ones.

Li Cong saw Xiao Xian's entanglement, and kindly reminded him: "The one in your hand is a blanking knife, which is used to strike with a hammer, and it is used to shape. Generally, a small knife is used for carving."

"Oh..." Xiao Xian nodded. He only needed to carve and play with it, so he continued to search and find a crank knife with a round neck and an upturned blade. Outlined by his curiosity, he held it up to Li Cong and asked with great interest, "What about this one?"

Li Cong raised his eyes: "That's a shovel knife..."

"It's for shoveling, right?" Xiao Xian interjected impatiently.

Li Cong nodded slightly, saying that the shovel was right, and added: "Well, it is used to chisel concave surfaces. But generally speaking, there is no fixed way to use a carving knife. It all depends on how you use it. .”

Xiao Xian held the strangely shaped shovel knife and studied it for a while, then grasped the handle of the knife with his backhand and poked it twice on the wood, making two vertical marks. The table was also shaken, causing Li Cong's hands With a flick, it almost broke the comb.

Li Cong sighed, put down what he was doing, took a triangular knife with grooves and handed it to Xiao Xian, and said: "Take this, watch, push it slowly like this, the lines will come out, and then use a small knife Repair the circle."

Li Cong demonstrated on the comb while talking.The face of the comb is engraved with auspicious clouds. He holds the comb with one hand and pushes it with the carving knife in the other. The triangular knife gently drives across the surface of the wood, scoops up the excess wood, carves a groove in a short while, and then changes direction appropriately. , the groove turned around, and the outline of auspicious clouds appeared. Finally, a flat knife was used to trim the sharp corners into a smooth arc shape, and a full cloud pattern appeared on the comb surface.

Xiao Xian saw it interestingly, and said with a giggle: "Hey, this is fun." After speaking, he picked up the triangular knife on the table and started to cook it in the same way.

But what he didn't expect was that the wood was so hard that he didn't feel it when he looked at it, but it was difficult to handle it.But now he has changed his body again, his strength is more than a little smaller, it is completely different from before, even carving a small piece of wood is very difficult, which made him sigh in his heart.But he didn't believe in this evil, he gritted his teeth and pushed the carving knife hard, until his knuckles turned white, but the wooden block didn't give him any face, and the carved lines came out crooked, as ugly as they could be.Xiao Xian was furious, and he gripped the carving knife fiercely and shoveled down with all his might, but he lost his strength suddenly, the block slipped, bounced far away, and fell to the ground with a "slap", and the gurgling sound kept going. Rolled twice before stopping.

Xiao Xian was startled, and stood there dumbfounded, until Li Cong frowned and looked over, then came back to his senses, chuckled awkwardly, threw the knife on the table, pushed the stool away with his heels, and bent over to get in. Picked up pieces of wood under the table.

However, the figure disappeared in just a moment, and Li Cong was also shocked. He put down the things in his hands and stood up to look for someone. After seeing it, he realized that he had rolled under the table, like a newly weaned puppy. , as soon as you don't look at it, you start jumping here and there, it's really dumbfounding.

Xiao Xianmao crawled a few steps with his waist down, finally found the piece of wood that fell on the ground, clapped his hands and stood up, hanging his head, with a look of bitterness and hatred on his face.

Seeing Xiao Xian's angry face, but frowning and determined to get rid of this stubborn thing, Li Cong shook his head, told him to be careful not to hurt his hands, and let him go without saying anything.

Xiao Xian let out a long breath, clenched his fists and sat down to continue. He buried his head in tinkering for a long time, and finally carved a pattern. He quickly put the wooden block in front of Li Cong, and shouted like offering a treasure: "Brother, look quickly. Look, are you okay?"

Li Cong glanced at it, then smiled and said, "You are... a snail."

Xiao Xian was taken aback for a moment, then burst out laughing, collapsed exaggeratedly, leaned over and grabbed Li Cong's shoulder and said unbearably: "Snail, hahahaha snail... really..."

Xiao Xian laughed almost out of breath, looked at the pattern he had carved with tears in his eyes, and felt that it was more like a lump of poop, but he didn't have the nerve to say it, so he just laughed harder.

After a while, Xiao Xian stopped smiling, and continued to shovel and carve according to the wood. Finally, he didn't know what shape he made, so he simply stopped, held the wood block up and down and looked back and forth for a while, then raised his head and asked Li Cong: "Brother, what kind of wood is this?"

Li Cong raised his eyebrows: "Huangyang."

"Boxwood?!" Xiao Xian raised his voice.

"Yeah." Li Cong nodded.

Xiao Xian was excited.Boxwood has always been the first choice for making combs. According to the "Compendium of Materia Medica", boxwood is tight and greasy, and it is the best for combing, gouging out, and printing. It has the effects of clearing heat, dampness, and detoxification.Xiao Xian is a scholar, and he doesn't know much about medical theories, but at least his hometown is famous for making combs. If you don't have knowledge, you should have common sense. He also visited the comb factory when he was in school, and he knows a little about the selection and production of combs and grates. Moreover, although the boxwood combs of good material and well-made in the shopping mall are small, they can cost dozens or hundreds. Now that the comb Li Cong made for him is made of boxwood, how could he not feel rare.

"Boxwood! Boxwood is good. It's the best comb to use. Boxwood should be used..." Xiao Xian danced and talked about the boxwood comb. What "hypnotizes the nerves, cures all diseases, and is a must for travel at home" "Preparation" has come, and I am not afraid of blowing the cowhide.Li Cong was concentrating on the task at hand, and gave him a funny look while changing tools. Xiao Xian blushed, closed his mouth in embarrassment, lowered his head, rested his chin on his arm, and concentrated on Look at Li Cong's carvings.

After Li Cong finished carving the patterns on the comb surface, he raised the comb to shake off the sawdust, then picked out a long file, and began to polish the rough gaps between the teeth one by one.After seeing it, Xiao Xian shook his head violently, pulled Li Cong's arm and said, "No, it's not like that!" Then he pulled the wooden box over and searched impatiently for something.

Li Cong stopped without knowing why, but saw a carving knife in the box with a cold light shining between Xiao Xian's slender fingers. "What are you looking for? Turn slowly, and be careful not to cut your hands."

"Uh..." Li Cong finished his sentence, there was a sound of metal crashing, Xiao Xian raised his hand, and a blood mark was already drawn on the palm.

Li Cong glared at Xiao Xian angrily, then pouted towards the pillow on the bed and said, "Go and apply the medicine yourself."

The gash on the palm was not deep, but quite large, dripping blood drop by drop. Xiao Xian raised his hand and did not dare to move. He glanced at Li Cong aggrievedly, but the other party was unmoved, so he could only wrinkle his nose with a bitter face, He licked his wound and crawled to the bedside to look for medicine.

After applying the ointment, the bleeding stopped quickly. Xiao Xian lay on the table with his hands spread out, limp and silent. Li Cong stretched out his hand and rubbed his head, asking, "What exactly are you looking for?"

"Triangle file. How long do you have to grind one by one like this? A triangular file like this can grind both sides of the teeth, very quickly!" Xiao Xian regained his energy and straightened up. He puffed up his cheeks and argued hard, and raised his hand to make a triangle while talking, that action was really silly.

It is not unreasonable for Xiao Xian to say this, there is indeed such a process in making combs.First use a coarse-toothed triangular file to roughly grind from right to left to remove the burrs between the teeth.Since the lower mouth of the triangular file is only two-thirds lower, and its shape is wide at the top and sharp at the bottom, it can make each tooth from thick to thin while expanding the gap between the teeth during the grinding process.After coarse grinding, change to a fine-toothed triangular file and use the same method for fine grinding. Finally, stand up the wooden comb and grind the tip of the tooth in the order of rough grinding and fine grinding. The round shape, this kind of fine processing program is called tick square.

"That's true." Li Cong lowered his head and thought for a while, and finally nodded in agreement with Xiao Xian's statement.But now I don't have a triangular file at hand, so I can only do it bit by bit.

The room was quiet, Li Cong was holding the file and slowly grinding his teeth, while Xiao Xian was propping his head, flipping the wooden blocks on the table in boredom, suddenly remembered something, and asked: "By the way, brother, you Did you work as a carpenter before?"

Li Cong looked up at Xiao Xian, and remained silent, noncommittal.Xiao Xian was not an idiot either, seeing that Li Cong was unwilling to speak, he simply kept silent and stopped asking.

Xiao Xian couldn't get his hands in on the side, so he could only help pass the knives and blow the wood chips or something, but Li Cong moved very quickly. After filing the comb teeth smooth, he scraped them off with a narrow-bladed scraper, and finally wiped them clean with a cotton cloth. Push it in front of Xiao Xian.

"Is this done?" Xiao Xian stared at the wooden comb and asked.

Li Cong nodded: "Well, it should be usable, but it's better to polish it again."

Speaking of grinding, the word "sandpaper" blurted out, and seeing Li Cong staring at him in confusion, Xiao Xian realized that he must have said something that was not here again, so he quickly changed the subject and asked, "What grinding should I use? "

"Filing grass." Li Cong paused, seeing Xiao Xian blinking at him in confusion, so he continued to explain: "Filing grass is also called horsetail and knotty grass. It has a rough surface and is used to file and polish wooden utensils." It can make the light clean. Now that spring is blooming, it should grow. Go to the foot of the mountain tomorrow to have a look..."

"I'll go too!" Before Li Cong finished speaking, Xiao Xian slapped the table excitedly, almost wagging his tail.