Development of productivity started in 1981

Chapter 8 Apprenticeship and Gunmaking
1981年7月11日，农历6月10日
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The weather was fine as usual, with a gentle breeze in the morning. Wang Jiankun and his father set off on a journey to Fengshan, where he would stay for six days before returning home.

When they arrived at the blacksmith shop, it was already open. Master Quan saw Wang Jiankun and his father and led them inside.

First, he introduced his three apprentices to Wang Jiankun. The middle-aged blacksmith was named Cha Gangbing, his son. The young blacksmith was named Yu Jianmin, from Fengshan Village. The youngest apprentice was his cousin, the grandson of Master Quan's younger brother.

Then he asked his son to take him to the room to put down the luggage, and then asked Cha Xiaoming to familiarize him with what each area of ​​the blacksmith shop did and where the dangerous places were. After the introduction, he followed Cha Xiaoming to pull the bellows.

After his father sent him to the blacksmith shop, he went home immediately without delay.

Throughout the morning, Wang Jiankun followed Cha Xiaoming to learn how to pull the bellows and check the temperature. Through chatting, I learned that Cha Xiaoming was two years older than Wang Jiankun. Because he did not pass the high school or technical secondary school entrance examination, he had been an apprentice here for a year. His main work was to pull the bellows, make sand molds, and roughly grind the blade edge. Because he was still young, it was difficult for him to swing the hammer, so he swung it for half an hour in the morning and afternoon every day, and then learned to use a small hammer to shape for another half an hour.

Wang Jiankun asked him why he lived in the blacksmith shop instead of going home. He said, "My house is small and there is no room for my four brothers and sisters. It is more spacious to live in the blacksmith shop. I can also help keep watch at night. The iron and farm tools in the blacksmith shop are valuable and need someone to watch over them at night. I eat at home."

Wang Jiankun thought that he should be relatively poor now, so he could ask him to help with some things at night. For example, he had learned how to make sand molds. To make an air gun, he could use a sand mold to first cast it and then polish it. The same could be done for the gun barrel, after all, it was just an air gun and not a gunpowder gun.

The whole morning was spent in busyness. It was quite tiring to pull the bellows manually, even though I took turns with Cha Xiaoming.

Wang Jiankun was thinking of building a mechanical power to pull the bellows in the future.

At noon, they went to Master Quan's house for lunch. There were some home-cooked dishes, including fried pork with peppers. Wang Jiankun didn't take too much. One reason was that the master had a big family, and the second was that there was only one plate of meat, and as an apprentice he couldn't eat or take too much.

After eating, Wang Jiankun said goodbye to his master and returned to the blacksmith shop. The key master asked him to use it to open the door first.

When Wang Jiankun saw that Cha Xiaoming had returned, he told him that he was going to do something and would be back soon.

It turned out that I forgot to give the bullets to Cheng Hongbing and others in the morning, so I went there while I had some free time at noon.

The handover process went smoothly. Cheng Hongbing gave him the money after he tried a few rounds. So he had more than 10 yuan in his hand, which was the starting capital for making the gun.

I chatted with Cheng Hongbing for a while and asked him if he had any books from technical secondary schools or universities. If so, please lend them to him. He was an apprentice in a blacksmith shop and read books when he was bored in the evening.

I didn't expect that Cheng Hongbing really had one. He is in his sophomore year of college and will be a junior in the second half of the year. He is majoring in mechanical design and manufacturing. I can lend him the books and let him choose from the room.

So Wang Jiankun followed in and picked two books from the bookshelf, one on Mechanical Drawing and the other on Principles of Mechanical Design and Manufacturing.

In fact, Wang Jiankun didn't have to take it. When choosing books, he would project all the books into his mind first. However, he could use these borrowed books as a cover to design and create some things for himself in the future.

This time, Wang Jiankun was not asked to make bullets again, because he had already made 2 bullets, and it was just one gun, which could be used for fun for a while.

When Wang Jiankun returned to the blacksmith shop, the young blacksmith Yu Jianmin had already arrived. When he saw Wang Jiankun bringing in a book, he asked him what the book was.

It turned out that Yu Jianmin liked to read storybooks. He graduated from high school but did not get into college. He could not find an easy job in the commune, so he had to learn a craft first.

When he heard it was a university textbook, he took it and flipped through it, but found it difficult to understand, so he returned it to Wang Jiankun.

"This is a college drafting textbook and a book on mechanical design. You've only just graduated from junior high school. Can you understand it?" he asked.

Wang Jiankun replied: "Brother Yu, I just like mechanical things, and I plan to make something fun. I don't need to understand everything. If I encounter something I don't understand but need to know, I can ask the person who lent me the book." "Oh, you came here to borrow the venue and tools to make something. Although you are familiar with Master Quan, the raw materials are also very expensive."

"I'm going to make an air gun, modeled after the one that the person who borrowed my book had, with a few improvements. I have some money, which should be enough to pay for the raw materials."

When they heard that Wang Jiankun wanted to make a gun, Yu Jianmin and Cha Xiaoming, who had been listening nearby, became interested and said they could help him and lend it to them to play with after the gun was made.

Wang Jiankun agreed and discussed with them the steps of preparing to make the gun.

Wang Jiankun plans to use wood for the grip and buttstock, preferably camphor wood, which is insect-proof and strong. The barrel, bolt, magazine, high-pressure gas cylinder and other parts will be cast using the lost wax method, which will result in a more precise casting and only requires a little polishing.

Yu Jianmin said he had a piece of camphor wood at home that he could take out, and Cha Xiaoming said he could help with the sand casting and mold making, and there was wax in the shop that could be used, but it was Wang Jiankun who needed to figure out how to make the parts molds.

Wang Jiankun said that the dimensions had been measured, and he would be responsible for carving the wax model, Cha Xiaoming would be responsible for sand casting, and Yu Jianmin would be responsible for finding a carpenter to make the buttstock and grip. He would pay for the carpentry fee, as well as the iron and charcoal used.

Yu Jianmin and Cha Xiaoming both agreed. To be honest, they were tired of doing the same work every day and were very happy to be able to participate in making the air gun. They agreed to start making it tonight.

When Master Quan and Uncle Bing came to the blacksmith shop, Wang Jiankun told them that they would be making something in the evening that would require the tools and materials from the blacksmith shop, and said that he would pay for the materials.

Master Quan asked what he wanted to make, and Wang Jiankun did not hide anything. He told him his plan to make an air gun, how to make it, and approximately how much materials from the blacksmith shop and what tools would be needed.

After listening to Wang Jiankun's words, Master Quan was a little impressed. He didn't expect that Wang's grandson was not only good at studying, but also very organized in doing things. So he agreed and asked him to pay attention to safety.

With Master Quan's approval, Wang Jiankun felt relieved. As long as Master Quan agreed, it would be convenient for him to do anything in the future.

In the afternoon, Master Quan arranged for them to tidy up the foundry workshop, turn the sand over again, clean and inspect the wooden molds and wooden frames, and a batch of plowshares would be cast in two days. It happened that Wang Jiankun was also preparing to cast gun parts.

Master Quan and a group of apprentices were sorting out the materials while explaining the key points of casting to Wang Jiankun, such as the sand should have a moderate degree of dryness and wetness, it should be best if it can be squeezed into a ball without falling apart and not sticking to the hands, the mold should be slightly larger than the actual size required, and other experience and knowledge.

Master Quan did not explain why he did this. Perhaps he did not know clearly, he just knew to do it this way.

In fact, after listening to his explanation, Wang Jiankun understood the principle. The appropriate moisture content of the sand is to keep the sand cavity in shape, but if it is too wet, it will produce a large amount of water vapor when it meets the hot molten iron, causing pores in the parts.

The reason why the mold is larger than the required size is that the hot molten iron expands and shrinks after cooling. In addition, the cast parts generally need to be polished before they can be used.

After tidying up the foundry room, there was still some time, so instead of continuing to make farm tools, Uncle Bing took Yu Jianmin and Cha Xiaoming to sharpen the blades of the tools.

Wang Jiankun asked Master Quan for beeswax and prepared to make a wax model.

Wang Jiankun prepared the parts one by one, starting with the gun barrel. He compacted the sand and flattened it, then pressed it down with a rectangular wooden stick and took it out, leaving a rectangular depression on the sand mold. He then poured the melted wax into it, and took out the rectangular wax after it solidified.

At this time, Master Quan called him home for dinner and asked him to come back to work in the evening after dinner.

(End of this chapter)