把毛笔做到极致

莱州保旺，位于山东省胶东半岛北部沿海，数百年来，这里世世代代传承着莱州毛笔的制作工艺。5 年前，年近不惑的王松伟，放弃省城几十万的年薪，回莱州老家接班了手工制笔作坊。不为别的，他只想用最传统的原料和手艺，做出传承匠心的毛笔。

王松伟的毛笔作坊在朱桥镇保旺王家村自家的院落里，笔坊名为「世匠」，意为「百年世传，匠心守艺」。除了自己的家人，王松伟还另聘请了原莱州制笔厂的三位资深笔匠，其中就有他的师父于同军。1984 年，莱州毛笔在全国毛笔质量评比中荣获第一名，于同军就是参赛的核心师傅（毛笔制作需要数名笔工分工合作完成）。着名书法家启功和刘海粟曾多次使用于同军参与制作的毛笔。

古稀之年的于老先生，本想在家颐养天年，却被关门弟子做笔追求极致的精诚之心打动，再次出山，支持王松伟的事业。由于市场上的毛笔制作良莠不齐，笔厂工人大多摒弃了费工费时的传统制笔工艺，毛笔原料上也多以化学纤维替代动物毛。笔的成本大大降低，笔的质量却大打折扣。

莱州， 历来以制作狼毫笔闻名。王松伟和师傅们商定，只选用东北最好的狼毫制作笔头，制笔工艺完全遵照古法，20 道大工序，160 道小工序，一道不能少。王松伟对毫毛的选用近乎苛刻，稍微弯曲、纤弱或者过硬的狼毫都会被剔除干净，力争每一个笔头都能合乎「尖、齐、圆、健」的最高标准。他深信「慢工出细活」，对师傅们从来没有数量的要求，只有质量上的严格把关。

因此，世匠笔坊的毛笔出产率极低，6 个人一天才能做出 30 多个笔头，不及其他笔厂一人所出的数量。古法手工做出来的每一支狼毫笔，最后一关必须要经过王松伟的精修和调试才能出售。有一次，本来已经给北京客户做好的一批笔，王松伟在检验时感觉笔头中间部分稍微健力不足，便决定销毁，跟客户解释后重新修改合同，重做一批。

这种近乎偏执的态度，虽没让王松伟得到相应的经济收益，却赢得了极佳的口碑，吸引了全国各地书家来订制毛笔。在王松伟看来，书友的肯定是他前行的最大动力。而今，王松伟最忧心的是莱州制笔业面临后继乏人的窘境，这个行业费力又不赚钱，每天都要跟膻臊气的动物毛打交道，很少有年轻人愿意从事此业，王松伟作坊里最年轻的师傅也已 58 岁了。

目前，王松伟正与几位老匠人整理编写《古法苘麻狼毫笔的制作技法》，打算无偿捐献给国家。咫尺匠心难，对王松伟来说，真正的快乐，是艰辛付出后的那份清心、安慰与喜悦。

Perfecting Writing Brushes

Baowang， Laizhou， is located on the northern coast of the Jiaodong Peninsula， Shandong Province. For centuries， there has been an old craft—brush making technique passed down from mouth to mouth for generations. Five years ago， Wang Weisong in his late thirties gave up his annual salary of hundreds of thousands of yuan， and took over a hand-crafted brush workshop in his hometown Laizhou.

In the workshop， in addition to his family members， Wang Weisong employed three senior brush artisans from former Laizhou Brush Making Factory， including his mentor Yu Tongjun. In 1984， Laizhou Brush won the first place at a national brush quality appraisal competition， and Yu Tongjun was one of the core members participating in the competition.（Brush making requires cooperation among several brush workers）. Famous calligraphers Mr. Qi Gong and Mr. Liu Haisu more than once have used brushes which were partially made by Yu Tongjun.

At the age of seventy， Mr. Yu originally intended to live an easy life at home. However， touched by his last student’s spirit of pursuing perfection， he decided to return to work in support of Wang Songwei’s cause. In Wang Songwei’s workshop， only the best-quality weasel hair is used to make brush tips， and the brush making technique completely follows the ancient approach， which requires 20 big procedures and 160 small procedures. Wang Songwei’s selection of hair is rigorous. Slightly bent， fragile or super-hard weasel hair will be eliminated. He strives to make each brush tip meet the highest standard of “sharpness， uniformity， roundness and completeness”. Wang Songwei believes， “Soft fire makes sweet malt.” He raises no quantity requirements for artisans， but strictly controls quality. Such an almost stubborn attitude has not brought corresponding economic gains to Wang Songwei， but won an excellent reputation for him， and attracted calligraphers all over the country to order writing brushes. At present， Wang Songwei and several old artisans are compiling Making Technique of Old Abutilon and Weasel Hair Brushes， planning to donate it to the country.

作者 陈文进