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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2009 12:34:40 GMT
I know how to take care of the blade itself (read quite a few articles, not to mention SBG's own e-book on the subject) but I have tried and failed to see how to take care of the inside of a wooden saya (shirasaya I believe they are called?) See, when I insert the blade into the saya and then remove it, it picks up a whole bunch of splinters from the inside of the saya. Just curious whether you can/are supposed to store the blade in the saya, or are you only supposed to use shirasaya when you are physically using the blade? Same goes for oiling it while in the shirasaya.
Sorry, this is my first sword if you couldn't tell, and I'm really new at this. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Also, on a side note, the blade seems to easily slip from the saya, and I assumed (as this is a sword cane) that it was supposed to be able to withstand the pressure of walking without the blade slipping out and back in, revealing itself while I walked. Any way to reinforce/make it more difficult to unsheath, even slightly so that it is useable on walks? Just kind of dangerous sometimes.
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Post by Dan Davis on Nov 11, 2009 13:57:11 GMT
The sword SHOULD be stored in the saya; that is what it is intended for.
The shavings are caused by rotating the blade as you insert or draw it, so that the ha (edge) drags along the inside sides of the saya and shaves away the wood. The problem is not the saya, it is your technique.
Having said that, many of the lower-end blades have less than ideal fit so the issue is partly the craftsmanship. Because of this, you must be very careful drawing and sheathing the blade, which requires skill, training and practice, which is ironic because this level of blade is typically purchased by beginners rather than skilled martial artists.
To tighten up the throat of your saya pick up a roll of thin pre-glued birch laminate from the hardware store, cut a tiny piece and insert it in the throat of your saya, heat up a nail using a hair dryer (not too hot, in other words) and press the strip in place. The heat will activate the glue and anchor the shim. Easy does it, it only takes a little to tighten up the saya and it only takes a tiny bit past that to split the saya in two. Only shim the area where the habaki sits in the koiguchi (not too deep, in other words) and only shim on the mune (spine) side of the koiguchi (throat of the saya).
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Post by Dan Davis on Nov 11, 2009 14:00:21 GMT
Also, shikomizue (hidden swords) are NOT in a shirasaya; shirasaya are storage scabbards ONLY.
Do NOT mistake the two and NEVER use a sword in shirasaya as you would shikomizue (unless you life really does depend on it, then all bets are off!).
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2009 15:50:06 GMT
Yeah, thanks for clearing that up. However, I posted this in two places (here and at SwordInternational), not sure why, but I got two different answers. They told me to use Wood Epoxy putty to mold the koiguchi to the habaki, which is pretty similar but more precise than using birch laminate. Also, they told me that the wood chips could be due to production swords where the saya is not carved properly, and to remove the woodchips using abrasive paper.
And the woodchips aren't as plentiful as if they were carved, they seem to be just in random spots along the side of the blade, nowhere close to the edge, wasn't sure if this would be due to cutting or not. Sorry if I seem like I'm being critical, but I want to be 100% sure of problems before I act on something like this.
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Post by sicheah on Nov 11, 2009 20:16:05 GMT
I use to have a $70 Musashi and whenever I draw the sword, there are a few wood splinters sticking on random parts of the blade. If you ask me, it is more likely that the scabbard was not carved out properly. What I did was to hit the scabbard on my lap (koiguchi facing my lap of course) to shake out as much wood splinters as possible. I am not sure how you could remove woodchips using abrasive paper though. Best to inquire further regarding this procedure.
Regarding the looseness of the scabbard, both of the method outline above can be used. In my case, I glue small-thin strips of cardboard to shim the mune area of the koiguchi. Not the best method but at least it helps keep the blade from falling off the scabbard.
Hope that helps
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2009 21:16:03 GMT
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Post by Dan Davis on Nov 11, 2009 22:57:05 GMT
This is not two different answers. I believe I said and according to your message SFI said Which is pretty much the same thing.
You said These slivers are caused by improper drawing and sheathing of the sword, plain and simple.
When you perform improper noto you drag the edge of the blade along the sides of the saya, shaving off very tiny, thin, sliver-like pieces of wood. These slivers of wood then fall down toward the blade and stick somewhere below the edge itself. Over time the small pieces of wood, now stuck to the oiled surface of your blade, slowly drift down toward the mune (thanks to gravity) as the sword sits with the back of the blade down. The next time you draw the blade you have small slivers of wood along the sides and back of the blade, which indicates that the cutting edge has dragged along the inside of the saya and sliced away part of the material.
New students did this all the time, even with swords that cost thousands of dollars. On the other hand, I can perform noto with Cheap Musashi blades, Hanwei PK, really cheap china-tana blades or even stainless steel piece of crap wallhanger SLO's without shaving the saya; so it really DOES come down to skill and practice.
About Sandpaper: The problem with using sandpaper inside a saya is that it is an abrasive, and it sheds abrasive particles, which get embedded in the saya. Once embedded in the saya they will scratch the hell out of that sword forever more and the only way to get rid of them is to replace the saya completely.
You may not care about this for your low-end production swords but you most certainly will if you scratch up a $1000+ katana. Also, you cannot get far enough down into the saya to smooth out the rough spots anyway, so why bother.
Wood Laminate or Wood Putty? Wood putty works to tighten the koiguchi, adhesive banding works better. WHY? because you don't have to sand it to shape in order to use it, therefore you don't crap up your saya by using sandpaper. And if the koiguchi becomes loose again you can easily remove a piece of banding and replace it with a thicker piece. And wood banding is wood, just like the saya, so it will not scratch up the habaki; hardened wood putty will.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2009 0:57:24 GMT
I've had two swords with improper cut saya where the edge touched the saya inside when sheathing and drawing no matter how careful the sword was drawn. This had nothing to do with technique, as the fault lay in the saya. Could be improper cut or change of curve due to laquer shrinkage. Slivers are then caused by drawing and sheathing no matter how good you are. There is only one way of fixing this, and that is shave off wood. I made a shaver out of a thin aluminiumt bar which I sharpened and shaved off until the sword could be drawn without any residue.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2009 4:19:58 GMT
More than likely it is my drawing technique. Sorry for misreading your post, Dan, part of that paragraph I assumed from a different question. Anyway, yeah, I'll have to look up proper unsheathing techniques. Thanks again for the advice though!
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Post by Dan Davis on Nov 12, 2009 13:29:26 GMT
I've had two swords with improper cut saya where the edge touched the saya inside when sheathing and drawing no matter how careful the sword was drawn. This had nothing to do with technique, as the fault lay in the saya. Could be improper cut or change of curve due to laquer shrinkage. Slivers are then caused by drawing and sheathing no matter how good you are. There is only one way of fixing this, and that is shave off wood. I made a shaver out of a thin aluminiumt bar which I sharpened and shaved off until the sword could be drawn without any residue. I have never encountered this but am more than willing to concede it, given what I HAVE run up against. Especially with the tidal wave of low-end sword manufacturers these days. MOST of what trueswords puts out is at least okay though. Do you still have that scraper? It sounds like it could be useful and some pics would be nice.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2009 2:13:46 GMT
Have it somewhere, I'll try to find it and take a few pics.
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Post by Dan Davis on Nov 13, 2009 13:12:26 GMT
Cool. I sometimes encounter saya that have gotten a bit of gunk in them and need to be cleaned out. I normally use dry gun bore cleaning brushes, but that does not always work to dislodge stubborn crap.
Never, ever resheath your sword after cutting unless you wipe it down first.
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