Old wood requires no special handling for hewing the ch'in. But because original materials are limited, most ch'in makers use new wood. But it's necessary to get the liquid out of the new wood by sub mersing the embryonically carved wood in lime water to soak for a month or two.
以古木材斲琴不須特別處理，但因原料取之有限，因此一般斲琴者多以新木材斲琴；但新木必須去除木液，將雕成雛型的木頭放入石灰水槽浸泡一、兩個月。