So, I decided to finally tackle that bundle of tung lin wu I had lying around. Got it a while back, didn’t really know what to do with it. Just looked like some kind of dried stalk, kinda tough looking.
Getting Started
First thing, I tried to just snap a piece. Bad idea. It didn’t break clean, just splintered everywhere, made a right mess. Okay, plan B. Grabbed my old utility knife. Tried scoring it first, then bending it. Still messy, fibres went everywhere. This stuff was tougher than it looked.
I thought maybe soaking it would help? Put a few stalks in a bucket of water overnight. They swelled up a bit, got slightly softer. Took one out, tried the knife again. A little better this time. Managed to get a cleaner cut, but it was still a struggle. The core was dense.
Trying Different Tools
Okay, the knife wasn’t cutting it, literally. Rummaged through the shed. Found some old garden shears. Gave those a try on a dry piece. Success! Well, mostly. It cut through, but crushed the ends a bit. Better than the splintering mess from before, though.
So, the process became:
- Pick a stalk.
- Use the garden shears to snip it to the rough length I wanted.
- Then, carefully use the utility knife to clean up the crushed ends. Still took some patience.
It wasn’t fast work. Spent a good hour just prepping maybe a dozen short pieces. My hands got tired wrestling with those shears.
The Result (Sort Of)
What did I do with them? Nothing fancy. Just wanted to see if I could actually work with the stuff. Ended up just tying the prepared pieces together into a small, rough bundle with some twine. Maybe it could be part of some rustic decoration later? Don’t know yet.
Main thing is, I figured out a way to handle that tung lin wu without making a total disaster. Shears were the key, who knew? It’s definitely not easy material, but I got there in the end. Felt good to finally try it out instead of just letting it sit there gathering dust.