Legend has it that Lu Ban was the first carpenter in China. He is still well-known nowadays. Lots of furniture we use today was invented by him. He also invented tools used by carpenters such as the saw, plane, bevel gauge, and carpenters’ sink marker for drawing lines.
There is a story that goes like this: One day, Lu Ban planned to cut down some trees in the mountains to make furniture. While climbing the mountain, he suddenly found some small cuts on his hands. Spots of blood began to flow from some of the cuts. What was the matter? Lu Ban looked around and found that on the mountain slope were some blades of grass with thorns around the edges of the leaves. “Perhaps these thorns hurt me?” he picked up a leaf and brushed it over one of his arms. Sure enough his arm was scratched by the thorns. He never imagined this little tender leaf could have such power. Lu Ban thought, “If this thorn was made of iron, it would be very powerful. Cutting down trees with an axe is so exhausting and time consuming. Aha! Why not make a tool with a thorn-like edge to replace the axe?” He quickly went back down the mountain.
Lu Ban returned home and shared his idea with an iron smith. The smith did as he described. At last, a new tool - the saw came into being. Lu Ban tried it on the trees in the mountains. Indeed it worked very well. Since that time, the saw has been widely used to cut down trees instead of the axe. It was a most useful tool which saved time and energy. We owe Lu Ban a debt of gratitude for this invention.
