Trainers?

[FarmGirl]

I'm having a few friends over later and we'll be eating everything (jello, chicken, popcorn, etc.) with chopsticks.
Not all of them are trained in the ways of chopstickiness, and I was hoping to rig up some trainer sets for them.
The only problem would be, of course, that I have never used or seen any, and have no idea what is required to make a set.
Any ideas?

[Taka]

google it.
if no luck, go down to your local asian market/restraunt and ask someone there. i'm sure little chineese kids don't inherently know how to use chopsticks just because of where they are born, they all have to learn i'm sure.


(only in caa would a thread called "trainers" be about chopsticks and not bodybuilding/working out)

[EricTheFred]

Some Asian restaurants do a thing where they make a kid's chopstick set by tying the other ends together with a rubber band. At the same market/restaurant, you may find someone who knows how to do that, correctly.

[FarmGirl]

Google hath failed me for the first time in... oh, has to have been a couple of years. So many possibly helpful links broken.

I might experiment with rubber bands or clothespins. ...Or strap a chopstick to each finger with duct tape (*stranded*).

[Raiden no Kishi]

You want to put some sort of cylindrical object (a rolled-up strip of napkin would work) between the chopsticks and rubber-band it in place.

Crappy ASCII diagram GO!

---------------------
O
---------------------

The dashes are your chopsticks, and the O is your cylindrical object - a fulcrum, if you will. It's sort of an exploded view, and without the rubber band. I can't tell you how to wrap it, though - I haven't seen a trainer set in a long time and even if I did, I'd have to show you. But I'm sure you can figure it out.

.rai//

[TurkishMonky]

i learned from reading the top of david crowder's "Sunsets and Sushi" cd... maybe passing around somthing like that would work (or duct tape/tie/bolt the far end together, i believe is the way to go)

[Lynx]

they sell sets like that at my local chinese restaurant... make a few phone calls and see if any in your area sell some

[FarmGirl]

Thanks, all. I think I have a solution.

[EricTheFred]

You want to put some sort of cylindrical object (a rolled-up strip of napkin would work) between the chopsticks and rubber-band it in place.

Crappy ASCII diagram GO!

---------------------
O
---------------------

The dashes are your chopsticks, and the O is your cylindrical object - a fulcrum, if you will. It's sort of an exploded view, and without the rubber band. I can't tell you how to wrap it, though - I haven't seen a trainer set in a long time and even if I did, I'd have to show you. But I'm sure you can figure it out.

.rai//

This is essentially what they do for kids at our local Benihana's, now that I think of it. I think they actually roll up the paper sleeve that the chopsticks come in to make the cylinder. I can't remember if they were using a rubber band or something else to hold everything together.
The rubber band thing I mentioned worked like this: There is a solid chunk of rubber-band knot inbetween the chopsticks, holding them apart to create a fulcrum, then the rest of the rubberband holding them together.

[EricTheFred]

i learned from reading the top of david crowder's "Sunsets and Sushi" cd... maybe passing around somthing like that would work (or duct tape/tie/bolt the far end together, i believe is the way to go)

I had it beaten into my thick skull by a Korean lady when I was eight years old. Worked like a charm.

[Sweet Mercury]

I'm having a few friends over later and we'll be eating everything (jello, chicken, popcorn, etc.) with chopsticks.
Not all of them are trained in the ways of chopstickiness, and I was hoping to rig up some trainer sets for them.
The only problem would be, of course, that I have never used or seen any, and have no idea what is required to make a set.
Any ideas?

Hmmm, if they can manage to put a pen to paper and form coherent letters, I'm sure they will pick up on how to use chopsticks in no time. It's more of a mental block than anything else.

Good luck!

[Kaligraphic]

I picked up a pair of chopsticks long ago, saw how other people were holding them, and figured it out accordingly. I know people who are better with them than I am, but I also know a lot of people who are worse.

I don't think it would be too hard to teach your friends how to use the chopsticks, as long as you have spoons available for the jello.

[FarmGirl]

True, I'll just put them through a chopstick bootcamp. As for the spoons... maybe.

[Uriah]

One episode of csi shows you how to make learning chopsticks easyer. You take
a small but thick piece of cloth for padding, and slip it between the chopsticks near the top (right after where you hold it). Then wrap a rubber band around them beyond that.
At least I think that's how they did it.... they also teach you how to make a shotgun out a steering wheel lock.