Student carpenter Chen Shih-kai wins gold at WorldSkills Competition 2022

Student carpenter Chen Shih-kai wins gold at WorldSkills Competition 2022

2023-03-24

Taiwan’s craftspeople are renowned worldwide. Now, an up-and-coming carpenter has made his first big splash in the world of woodworking. Chen Shih-kai won gold for professional woodworking in the World Skills Competition 2022. The prestigious event is a major gathering of elite craftspeople from all round the world. Chen created an elaborate window frame to clinch his medal, working flat-out over four days.

Chen saws a plank of wood up, only to reassemble it. He uses various textures and colors of wood to create many different types of products.

Woodworking by hand majors on the texture of the finished product, which is very different to machine work, and requires consummate skill. Chen has been honing the craft for years.

Chen Shih-kai
WorldSkills Competition gold medalist
You have to train this as soon as you start in the workshop: how to saw, sawing straight. You might have to do 10 or 20 planks in one day. It’s something you must do every day – you have to maintain the feeling for it.

Chen first got into carpentry at vocational college, then studied Wood Science and Design at university. Over seven years he’s perfected the foundational skills, and last October he was finally chosen to represent Taiwan at the WorldSkills Competition in Switzerland. He beat competitors from around the world to win a gold medal in the Windows and Doors Professional Woodworking contest.

Chen Shih-kai
WorldSkills Competition gold medalist
You only find out the task the day before the contest. The whole contest is 22 hours long, spread out over four days. The hardest thing is managing the time well, and completing your task within the time limit, and making it as flawless as possible.

The task set this time was a window frame, but not just any window frame. It had to be possible to disassemble, open both inward and outward, and feature a lattice with an irregular curved edge. It had to be asymmetrical, both vertically and horizontally. And contestants were forbidden to use nails. Phew! A technical and artistic challenge.

Chen Shih-kai
WorldSkills Competition gold medalist
The hard part was these mortise and tenon joints. You have to saw them by hand. On the surface it looks like they’ve just been cut and stuck together in a simple way. But inside they’re actually very complicated. They have to be divided into many equal parts, and then you must stick the two materials together.

During the contest, Chen made a major error, but managed to fix it and complete the product within the time limit. The gold medal is a triumphant conclusion to his time at university, and a good omen as he heads out into professional life.

代表台灣! 陳詩凱赴瑞士"國際技能競賽"奪金

2023-03-24

屏科大木材科學與設計系學生陳詩凱，去年10月代表台灣到瑞士參加國際技能競賽，勇奪”門窗木工職類”金牌，創下我國史上最佳成績！陳詩凱從小就愛樂高和模型，唸高職時接觸到木工，一頭栽進木工的世界，終於在世界大賽中發光發熱。

陳詩凱把木材切割，再重新組裝，不同木材的質地、顏色都能搭配出不同的成品。

手做木工強調的是不同於機器做出來的質感，要有純熟的技術，陳詩凱下了不少工夫。

[[國際技能競賽門窗木工職類金牌陳詩凱]]
“一到工廠剛開始就是要訓練這個，練怎麼鋸，把它鋸直，可能一天就要鋸十幾二十條，每天都要做的事情，要保持那個手感。”

陳詩凱從高職開始進入木工的世界，大學就讀木材科學與設計系，七年多來一點一滴打好基本功，終於被選拔為國手，去年十月代表台灣到瑞士參加國際技能競賽，擊敗各國好手，勇奪門窗木工職類的金牌。

[[國際技能競賽門窗木工職類金牌陳詩凱]]
“比賽前一天你才知道題目要做什麼，整個比賽時間是22小時，然後分4天，最困難就是你要把時間調配好，然後把你的題目在時間能夠完成，又可以做到接近完美。”

當時競賽的題目就是這個窗框，為可拆式的內外雙框，窗櫺的木條呈現不規則的弧型，上下左右都不對稱，而且不能使用釘子，考驗的是參賽者的工藝和技術。

[[國際技能競賽門窗木工職類金牌陳詩凱]]
“難的部份其實是在於它這些榫接接合，可能就是要用手工去鋸，你雖然表面看它是很簡單的切線這樣子接起來，但它裡面其實是很複雜，它要分好幾等分，然後去把這兩根材料去做接合。”

比賽過程中，陳詩凱雖一度出錯，最後還是在有限的時間內完成作品。比賽的佳績也讓他的大學生涯最後一年，劃下完美句點。

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