Khongor Dzhavinov, Crafts: Leatherwork and Smithery

Khongor talks about his skills. He can make boots, keys, and do iron work and carpentry: To sew boots, Khongor says, one needs to have skillful hands and be smart. He still has his boots that he made in Siberia. Now they are displayed in a museum. Khongor also keeps his instruments that he got in Siberia in 1945, including a hammer, wire cutters, a knife, and tailoring patterns. Khongor can also make keys, he learnt this skill from an old man. Masters usually disassemble locks, but Khongor made keys without opening locks. The old man praised him for that skill. Khongor made mowing equipment pulled by a camel or an ox. He learnt how to make it from another old man. In the past there was no welding equipment and people heated iron on the coal. In the fifth grade, Khongor worked as a carpenter.Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwi