Chopsticks

Why?  Why indeed would chopsticks be worth a woodworking project? Truth be told I've never researched a woodworking project as much as I did with this one.  But not so much about how to make them; besides, there is hardly much of a reference material on "how do they do it" out there.  It's chopsticks!

I merely began wondering why chopsticks continue to be in use today - in the 21st century, and for all the centuries past, and by over a billion people in a handful of countries in the Far East. It should be, by now, an anachronism - in the eyes of those from the western hemisphere. More than a fifth of the world's population still use them from a region where by now 90 per cent of the smartphones are made, and TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, etc. are all part of a long list of manufactured goods coming from there.  Immediately I knew it is neither here nor there to make such an unfair connection because there must be something to chopsticks usage that is far more than just pure utilitarianism.  Although it is indeed utilitarian, in its own right. But what is it about chopsticks?  It is far more interesting than I thought after examining the subject more closely. 

Like a lot of people worldwide I was an occasional chopstick user.  We've always had several of them in the kitchen drawer.  Recently, however, I have become a frequent user (almost daily now) after my wife and I have been binge watching Asian cooking on TV as a result of the Covid 19 lock down.  My wife ignored what she thought was merely a passing fascination on my part. Then I went into and completed this woodworking project, a dedication more serious than she thought.  But first let me finish sharing my research.

One of the major evolutionary adaptations that not only distinguished our species from the others is the development of opossable thumbs, thus having prehensile hands. That alone was very crucial because that allowed for fashioning and using tools, and a host of other capabilities not many other species can do, including our ability to write, draw and do myriad delicate operations with our hands that are denied to other species.  Tools ultimately led to eating utensils.  Surprisingly though, it was really not until about 2400-1900 B.C. that forks and later spoons (another surprise that spoons came later) were used, according to historical records and archaeological evidence.  In other words, for millennia our ancestors used only their hands to consume food. 

Now, hands were not clearly a requirement for sustained survival of species.  We are in fact surrounded by species that not only are without hands, they actually managed quite well.  In fact, one species that  are hardly in the endangered list are without hands and feet nor wings (you all know which species are those, right?).

Today, on the other hand, birds (now considered to have descended from dinosaurs) use only their beaks - natural chopsticks! to eat, build their nests, preen, fight with them, etc.  Before you start rolling your eyes, I point you to the blue heron, king fishers and fly catchers.

Of all bird species, the blue heron exhibits the most pronounced beak structure to come close to the chopstick and they use it effectively to spear-fish, catch crustaceans, insects, worms and even snakes.  The king fisher dive bombs for fish and fly catchers catch insects,  and how do they do it?  How else but on the fly!

Natural chopsticks all!  The most expensive handcrafted watches would be impossible to put together without using delicate tweezers that are the ubiquitous tools of master watchmakers. Those tweezers are nothing more than micro-chopsticks  when you think about it.

In the west, during the railroad building expansion that begun in late 19th century America, "chopsticks" was often a pejorative word ascribed to imported workers who brought them, thoroughly ignoring spoons and forks that were available at the local stores. The same culture from whence those workers came from, as a reminder, produced the first manufactured paper, the most exquisite garment in silk, invented the gunpowder and fireworks, noodles and Mahjong  and calligraphy of over 100,000 characters and several other items still in use or consumed today. 

Story has it that chopsticks came out of a true utilitarian beginning.  It is told that in the midst of an overwhelming population growth and an untimely shortage of food that  later led to famine, meat and vegetables were cut into small pieces for quicker cooking to save on firewood  together with an austere  use of spices and condiments since small portions allowed for flavor to be readily absorbed. Use of chopsticks was encouraged since smaller portions at a time made for a slower eating practice that naturally made people feel fuller more gradually before they could over eat - a new eating habit that dis-allowed  gobbling food in huge chunks that tend to make people over-consume. Dare I say a good tool to consider for dieters?  That's the story but whatever the real reason, chopsticks are still here even when that part of the world is now well provided for by a much stronger economy.  Over a billion people can't be wrong, setting aside the geopolitical attachments, focusing only on their cultural affinity and effusion to the chopstick.

So, I decided to make my own chopsticks and more than just that, I did some small innovations - if that is at all possible. I would like to think I did succeed.  First, I used different species of wood and by laminating them together, I came up with a far stiffer, more rigid pieces that may come close to the stiffness of cast steel without the weight, although I will not claim even remotely approaching the metal's tensile strength but these chopsticks are almost feather weight (less than a gram for a pair).  Secondly, for one of the two pairs I modified the shape of the handle from the standard rounded or squared ones to a delta or triangular cross section of walnut and marble wood.  I feel that it allows for a more secure contact with my thumb and forefinger and hence, a better feel and control.  The other pair was from four laminated pieces of walnut and zebra wood.

It is believed that for aging brains hand-eye exercises or maintaining good hand-eye coordination regularly may improve maintaining brain functions. Using chopsticks will make you do that and I think it is worth a try.  Oh, by the way, making these chopsticks definitely called for extensive hand-eye coordination.  It is always with small projects that test the woodworker's patience and perseverance.

Often these days I rummaged through my scrap wood inventory.

First I glued up long wide thin pieces together, then ripped them to narrower pieces after the glue dried.

By now I have enough work pieces for two pairs.

The delta profile as shown after blacking out what needed to be shaved away

A belt sander is very useful here but I had to really pay close attention and used a lot of hand-eye coordination.

More scrap wood of Pecan

Old parts from an old project I dismantled

I created a small  "crater" to nestle the bottom of the shell with epoxy

Dry run

Preparing and applying epoxy and fine saw dust

One dry positioning earlier had the other shell  facing down differently but settled on the final position as shown below. By the way, I used food grade beeswax conditioner used on butcher blocks to finish the project. Alternatively, cooking oil is just as effective 

Why seashells for an auxiliary motif? I was born and raised on a Pacific Island, for one, where food was mostly from fish and clams, etc.  Secondly, I worked and retired from a company whose early beginnings came from exporting kerosene to the Far East from Europe and  other parts of the Western Hemisphere. On the return trip  they brought back sea shells for the European market on the same ships that would otherwise have come back empty.  Petroleum exports and imports of seashells were the early beginnings of what became a major oil trading, exploration and production organization. 

Chopsticks was a worthwhile project that I will use regularly.  I can actually use them both right handed and left handed; I am ambidextrous with tools anyway. By the way, chopsticks are used in the far East more than just for eating.  They use it to stir, mix and even beat eggs and mix almost every thing with it - hot or cold. I think I will keep using these.

The pair weighs 3/4 gram