|
Post by kaijinbutsu on Sept 27, 2009 23:54:34 GMT
I received a daisho recently from ebay for really cheap. It turned out to be less quality than I thought, which is fine. The seller said he had it for about 25 years. It is a decent set of replicas. Which I new was a possibility. I was hoping for a iaito set. Either way, the ho on both the katana and wakizashi were made from molded plastic...WOW. I have never seen this before. None the less, I took it all apart and started the process of making new wooden ho for them. I already had the notion to re-wrap them. So this turned into a way more fun project, as I get to make a set of ho from scratch for the first time. I have tried in the past, but failed due to the quality of wood. I got some wood scraps from my land lord, whom pretty much own half of the buildings on our island. He's always renovating his properties with fantastic types wood. He has a huge stack from the old canneries that lined the shore of the island from the 1800's to 1950's. Here are some photos of the ho for that katana. I don't have any of the wakizashi, because the batteries for the camera were charging and I was too eager to start the project. Plastic ho:Ho blanks that I made: Carved ot the nakago-ana:Gluing the blank togetherFinal ho:Keep in mind this was made solely with a chisel and sandpaperHere is the tsuka for the wakizashi - carved and wrapped w/ samegawaEdit: an addition Here is the final set wrapped with samegawa and ready for tsuka-ito/tsuka-maki. That has yet to come. It is in the mail as we speak.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2009 0:13:19 GMT
Ha. Man. I didn't even realize what you meant exactly by plastic ho until I saw that second picture. Nice work, once again.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2009 18:05:46 GMT
wow good job man!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2009 0:13:23 GMT
Good effort! But the tsukas is gonna look and feel chunky with ito on. Remember the ito will add 4 mm to the thickness of the tsuka and 8-10 mm to the turnings. The edges of the samegawa should be 2 mm beneath the edges of the fuchi/ kashira after applying samegawa to be flush with the edges when the ito is on. You can use a whittling knife and coarse sandpaper to shape the tsukas. In the beginning it's very common not to remove enough wood and the tsukas become very thick. You have some exellent templates there in the plastic tsuka. I've shamelessly stolen this pic from Swords Of Might forum to illustrate my point:
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2009 1:28:28 GMT
yea... he's right.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2009 4:55:32 GMT
Rob-- Wow, I think you have purchased what looks to be the very same wall hanger daisho I bought as a kid. I was sorta amazed at the plastic tsukas when I found and tore them apart. I thought I might use the fittings but I've found they are copper plated under the blackened finish and the copper is over what looks like zinc. So I'll probably just try to make the tsubas look nice and leave it at that.
Work looks good so far, as always.
|
|
|
Post by kaijinbutsu on Sept 30, 2009 0:13:02 GMT
Good effort! But the tsukas is gonna look and feel chunky with ito on. Remember the ito will add 4 mm to the thickness of the tsuka and 8-10 mm to the turnings. The edges of the samegawa should be 2 mm beneath the edges of the fuchi/ kashira after applying samegawa to be flush with the edges when the ito is on. You can use a whittling knife and coarse sandpaper to shape the tsukas. In the beginning it's very common not to remove enough wood and the tsukas become very thick. You have some exellent templates there in the plastic tsuka. I've shamelessly stolen this pic from Swords Of Might forum to illustrate my point: Thanks Ichiban, or should I say 1st/#1...lol...I'm learning nihongo. I noticed that once I put the samegawa on. I think I'll give the ho another go with the the sand paper. The fittings are thin too, so I'll have to go a bit deeper. I came up with another way to shape the ho for my next project. I do the same thing I did here, which was get the scraps and run them through the planer, then use a table router to get the edges perfect and even. I did pretty good with the chisel, but they could be better.
|
|
|
Post by kaijinbutsu on Sept 30, 2009 0:15:31 GMT
Rob-- Wow, I think you have purchased what looks to be the very same wall hanger daisho I bought as a kid. I was sorta amazed at the plastic tsukas when I found and tore them apart. I thought I might use the fittings but I've found they are copper plated under the blackened finish and the copper is over what looks like zinc. So I'll probably just try to make the tsubas look nice and leave it at that. Work looks good so far, as always. You know, they probably are. The guy said they were about 25 years old. The funny part was, when I got them, I noticed that the blades were chrome...LOL. In the photo, they looked like they had a really nice polish on them. Either way, they were $30 for the pair and something cheap I can work on to get better at mounting. They'll look good in the end on the wall.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2009 1:29:37 GMT
I don't think you need a whole lot of practice anymore man. Your stuff is pretty top notch. I'm sure when you get done with them they will look just as good as everything else hanging there.
|
|
|
Post by kaijinbutsu on Oct 2, 2009 8:26:19 GMT
I finished the tsuka-maki and the saya today. I need another couple coats of lacquer, and put the kurikata back on and it's finished. Then on to the the saya on the wakizashi. The tsuka-maki on the wakizashi is finished. I'll post photos when it is complete in its entirety. I also sanded down the ho, as Ichiban had suggested. Edit: Replaced photos. Now complete - "Futatsu Furui Seishin" (Two Old Souls)wakizashi still being worked on
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2009 23:02:28 GMT
Looking good, Kajin! The tsuka still looks a little chunky, I think it's because the ha side of the tsuka isn't straight. Could be the pic too, of course. Looks way better than the pic with just the samegawa should implicate though, so you've gotten most excess wood off. Keep up the good work!
|
|
|
Post by kaijinbutsu on Oct 2, 2009 23:27:31 GMT
Looking good, Kajin! The tsuka still looks a little chunky, I think it's because the ha side of the tsuka isn't straight. Could be the pic too, of course. Looks way better than the pic with just the samegawa should implicate though, so you've gotten most excess wood off. Keep up the good work! Thanks You're right, it is still chunky in the middle of the tsuka. I tried to take off as much as I could, but again, it's hard working with just the chisel. I'll know for next time.
|
|
|
Post by kaijinbutsu on Oct 2, 2009 23:27:55 GMT
Saya ready to be painted.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2009 0:28:41 GMT
Get yourself a good whittling knife and a shaver block plane, shouldn't cost you more than $20. Invaluable when doing tsuka work!
|
|
|
Post by kaijinbutsu on Oct 3, 2009 0:44:48 GMT
Get yourself a good whittling knife and a shaver block plane, shouldn't cost you more than $20. Invaluable when doing tsuka work! Thanks a lot. I'll look into that. I was also looking at getting some traditional tools that Namikawa Heibei sells.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2009 2:42:10 GMT
Very eye catching brother. Spiralling stripe is a nice touch.
|
|
|
Post by kaijinbutsu on Oct 4, 2009 21:19:18 GMT
|
|