Sunday, April 21, 2019

Combs



They keep killing me all the time. They say "Aichi prefecture" like we're going to automatically know where that is, like saying Mississippi or Florida or California, and we'll go, "Ah, that one." And all things associated with the place instantly come to mind.


Cranes, Nagoya, castles, Tokoname pottery, beaches, festivals all the time all over the place.

The comments to this video on YouTube cracked me up. Imagining the people writing them. 

* Japan, the more I learn the more I love thee.

For some reason "thee" put me in stitches. 

* If I bought this my peasant hair would just destroy it.

* I had one made but by the time they delivered it I went bald.

4 comments:

The Dude said...

I have been doing some work in the shop, mainly moving stuff around, tossing out 40 year old pieces of boxwood wedges - they were just cluttering up the place.

What I liked about that video - the fixtures on the saw that control the depth of the cut for each tooth and allow for different length teeth to be cut in a symmetrical curve.

The patience required to make those combs is interesting. Fuming the blanks for 10 years is a fascinating process - who figured out that 10 years was right, 9 was not enough and 11 was right out?

The amount of hand work required to shape each tooth was also interesting. That's a bit much, and you sure better not miss one!

Testing the comb by holding it in your left hand and rubbing it on your left cheek is an interesting QC technique - again, why only your left cheek?

I don't like the idea of buying a comb with the old man's spit and dander on it, but that's just me. But they are draggin' down a cool 200-300 bucks per, so clearly that's not an issue with their customers.

I use a comb I bought back in the '70s. It too will last 100 years. It's plastic.

Chip Ahoy said...

You notice he went out and got some weeds that look like tiny bamboo (horsetail ferns?) Then soaked them, scrapped out most of it to get to the silica layer, pulled off square patches and glued them to thin shivs and used it as sandpaper.

The Dude said...

I did notice that. Making one's own abrasives from plant material is further than I am willing to go. Dedication above and beyond my commitment to a task. I'd rather shell out a few bucks and buy abrasives, and I say that as an extremely frugal person.

XRay said...

It's the process not the product that's important here. I currently own a wooden comb, made here in the US at some hippie shop I suppose. But it feels better on my head than the plastic comb it replaced. And it looks nicer too.