Wood-Block Printing | Page 7

of the
preliminary stages are described.
CHAPTER III
Description of the Materials and Tools required for Block-cutting
The wood most commonly used by the Japanese for their
printing-blocks is a cherry wood very similar to that grown in England.
The Canadian cherry wood, which is more easily obtained than English
cherry, is of too open a grain to be of use. The more slowly grown
English wood has a closer grain and is the best for all the purposes of
block cutting and printing. Well-seasoned planks should be obtained
and kept ready for cutting up as may be required.
When a set of blocks is to be cut for a given design, the size of the
printing surface of each block should be made equal to the size of the
design plus 1 inch or, for large prints, 1-1/2 inch in addition long ways,
and 1/4 or 1/2 inch crossways. The thickness of the plank need not be
more than 5/8 or 3/4 inch. It is best for the protection of the surfaces of
the printing blocks and to prevent warping, also for convenience in
storing and handling them, to fix across each end a piece of wood
slightly thicker than the plank itself. These cross-ends should be
mounted as shown in fig. 2.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Block mounted with cross ends to prevent

warping.]
Both surfaces of the plank should be planed smooth and then finished
with a steel scraper, but not touched with sand-paper.
It is understood that the face of the plank is used for the printing
surface, and not the end of the grain as in blocks for modern wood
engraving.
The tools needed for cutting the blocks are the following:
1. THE KNIFE
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Drawing of the knife.]
With this knife the most important and delicate work is done. All the
lines of the key-block as well as the boundaries of the colour masses
are cut with it, before the removal of intervening spaces.
The blade lies in a slot and is held tight by the tapered ferrule. This can
be pulled off by hand and the blade lengthened by pulling it forward in
the slot.
2. CHISELS
These are used for removing the wood between the cut lines or colour
masses, and should be ordinary carvers' chisels of the following sizes:
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Sizes of chisels.]
except those under No. 9, which are short-handled chisels for small
work.
The Japanese toolmakers fit these small chisels into a split handle as
shown in fig. 5. The blade is held tightly in its place by the tapered
ferrule when the handle is closed, or can be lengthened by opening the
handle and pulling forward the blade in its slot. In this way the blade
can be used down to its last inch.

3. MALLET
This is needed for driving the larger chisels.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Short chisel in split handle.]
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Mallet.]
These are all the tools that are needed for block cutting. For keeping
them in order it is well to have oilstones of three grades:
1. A carborundum stone for rapidly re-covering the shape of a chipped
or blunt tool.
2. A good ordinary oil stone.
3. A hard stone for keeping a fine edge on the knife in cutting line
blocks. The American "Washita" stone is good for this purpose.
[Illustration: Plate IV. Colour block of a print of which the key-block is
shown on page 5.]
(To face page 23.)
CHAPTER IV
Block Cutting and the Planning of Blocks
The cutting of a line block needs patience and care and skill, but it is
not the most difficult part of print making, nor is it so hopeless an
enterprise as it seems at first to one who has not tried to use the
block-cutter's knife.
In Japan this work is a highly specialised craft, never undertaken by the
artist himself, but carried out by skilled craftsmen who only do this part
of the work of making colour prints. Even the clearing of the spaces
between the cut lines is done by assistant craftsmen or craftswomen.
The exquisite perfection of the cutting of the lines in the finest of the

Japanese prints, as, for instance, the profile of a face in a design by
Outamaro, has required the special training and tradition of generations
of craftsmen.
The knife, however, is not a difficult weapon to an artist who has hands
and a trained sense of form. In carrying out his own work, moreover, he
may express a quality that is of greater value even than technical
perfection.
At present we have no craftsmen ready for this work--nor could our
designs be safely trusted to the interpretation of Japanese block-cutters.
Until we train craftsmen among ourselves we must therefore continue
to cut our own blocks.
CUTTING
A