Amulet Maker - Xi'an China

This gentleman has been making amulets from this cart for thirty-five to forty years. He turns the lathe using a stick with a hinged handle and a leather thong in his left hand, while holding the blade against the stock with his right.
He keeps tension on the stock by a loop of cloth between the lathe and his foot.
Other shots of Xi'an street scenes may be seen at www.pbase.com/caljimw

Enjoy!

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Interesting shots Jim, and it is interesting just how basic his "workshop" is.

rudgej wrote in post #2173180
Interesting shots Jim, and it is interesting just how basic his "workshop" is.

Thats what i call craftmanship John,awesome.

How cool is that!

A hand run lathe!

Thanks for the thoughts.
I made prints of several pictures and presented them to him. He could not understand why I would give him a "gift." As I was speaking to him, the police came and made him shut down. He crawled out of the box of his cart (a tricycle), and slowly pushed it off down the street. The next day he was back at the same spot, as though nothing had happened. As we often say here: "That's China."
Enjoy!
Jim

someone needs to take that guy into home depot.

good capture! =)

Very nice shots and story. It surely helps connect people around the world when we can see them working and understand how they work. Here in the US that would require at least a ShopSmith for tools and probably about 5 years of permit applications....

Interesting pics!

Why did the police shut him down?

Street vendors are "officially" discouraged. Enforcement teams roam the city. shutting them down as they find them. There was a young man immediately adjacent to the old gentleman, selling trinkets on a hand towel. He saw the enforcer coming, and in less than three seconds, had folded his wares into the towel and walked nonchalantly away, doubtless to set up again within a few steps of his originial location.
just before the enforcer came, I had switched from auto-focus to manual (29-135 IS), and forgot to switch back to auto focus before getting grab shots of the enforcement activity - dumb - not a salvagable shot in the bunch.

Enjoy!

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Remarkable work, both his and yours.