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Tools
The tools used by bamboo scaffolders are simple, few in number and have changed but little over centuries. They comprise a timber bow (frame) saw, about 30 inches long, with a steel blade and a cord, made up of several strands, stretched along the back of the saw. A piece of timber, about four inches long, is inserted in the strands of the cord. This is turned around so the cord is twisted, tightened and thus shortened. As a result, the blade becomes taut. The bowsaw is used to cut bamboo to appropriate lengths. Other tools include a rule, a pair of snips to cut wire used to secure the scaffolding to a building, such as for cantilever scaffolding. Wire is also used, for additional strength to fasten China Fir poles together. A folding knife with a hooked end, to cut through lashings when dismantling scaffolding, is also used by scaffolders. The hook is employed to unravel knots. A length of rope is used to hoist lengths of bamboo up to the upper floors of a building. A narrow-bladed spade is sometimes used when uprights are sunk into soil.
Types of scaffolding
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In addition to ordinary scaffolding forming working platforms for a building, bamboo may also be used for a variety of other purposes. For example, to construct a frame for a 'matshed' in which to perform Chinese opera (see Plate 5). The frame for the stage inside the matshed will also be fashioned out of bamboo. Years ago the matshed would have been 'clad' with palm leaves, canvas or rattan mats. Today, thin steel sheets are normally used with their greater fire-resisting qualities.
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Bamboo may also be used to form raking or flying shoring for strutting up a building which is in danger of collapse. In addition, bamboo may be used for constructing ladders or trestles, to build a spectators' stand at a public function, or to construct a pai lau, a celebratory archway. Sometimes bamboo is used to form a frame on which to mount fireworks or it can be used to fashion a screen to protect property when blasting of rocks is carried out.
A variety of types of scaffolding are used to form working platforms. These include a cantilever ('truss-out' or 'flying' scaffold, fei paan,