Thailand Kitefliers Association
Materials and Equipment
The Bamboo
The spars of a traditional Thai kite are made from split bamboo and, as with the string, the material is prepared by hand in a slow, careful process.
Only one type of bamboo, that of the Sisuk variety, meets the demands of Thai kite-makers and has the necessary size, strength and flexibility. Even then it must be selected with care. It is important that the plant is mature at least 10 years old and it should be cut only some four or five months after the end of the annual rains, around February or March. It is then split and stored away for 10 months to allow it to dry out completely.
Split bamboo, however carefully selected, will never be perfectly straight and so, once it is thoroughly dry, it must be bent into shape. This is done by heating each joint individually over a charcoal fire and bending the bamboo into line.
In fact the heating process serves a dual purpose as it also kills the white ant eggs that are embedded under the bamboo skin. If this were not done the little creatures would hatch out and reduce the pole to powder in a matter of three months.
Once dry and straightened the bamboo is ready to be shaped as required. The work is done with wood files and demands skill and precision.
For example, the wing spar is something of a challenge in that this one piece of bamboo must be filed so that it runs in thickness from 3mm at either end to 15mm in the middle.
Moreover, it must be perfectly straight and give a perfect bow.
A side from the time needed to dry and straighten the bamboo, it takes many hours to shape the spars according to specification. It is work that cannot be hurried and even a
skilled craftsman will need a month to build one kite.
The boy and the kite line
Up Date Jan 17,2002
The String
Thailand is the only country in the world where kite string is still made by hand. The craft, like many others in which the Thai are adept, involves a time-honored and slow,
painstaking process. It starts from scratch with the raw material provided by nature and ends with a cord that will have no stretch and will be strong enough to pull an ox.
The basic material is the bark of the Ban tree which grows well only in the northern part of the country. The bark is first stripped from the trunk and then soaked in water for two weeks in order to soften the fibers. After this the pulp is pounded with a wooden mallet and combed to separate the individual strands of fiber which are about 8? to 10? long.
Now considerable patience is required as the fibers are joined and twisted together a intoa 3 ply cord. And so the complicated process continues, a few inches at a time until the required length is produced.
To give an idea of the time involved, an experienced cord-maker can produce up to six meters a day while a Pakpao kite will need 300 meters of string (three sets of 100m) and the big Chula, which has to do all the chasing, must have at least 900 meters (three sets of 300m).
Once the string has been spliced to the appropriate length, it must be soaked in water and then strung out between two trees so that it will shrink and tighten. If it has been well made it will last for four or five seasons.
Assaccessories
In Chula and Pakpao competitions two accessories are brought into play a pulley and a stool. The former is used for both kites, while the stool is employed only by the Chula team.
Pulley:
This is a hooked-shaped piece of wood, roughly 40 cm long for the Chula and 35 cm
for the Pakpao and with a pulley wheel inside the curve. When an opposing kite has
been caught, it must be quickly pulled home so immediately the pulley is snapped
over the victor?s string creating an angle between the kite and the runners-in enabling
the haul down to be done as quickly as possible.
Stool:
This is a four-legged stool with pulley wheels on each leg and two more underneath the seat. It is used to assist the running-in of a Chula. When the captain calls for the kite to be brought in, the stool-boy rushes up with the stool, places it over the string and sits on it to keep it steady while the line is raced in.