Alternative tang construction... thoughts?

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search Tom Maringer Haiku fighter. Learn a bit about Tom, he is a fascinating dude, and has been at it for a long time.

The toggle tang is basically a modified Japanese tang, but rather than the handle having a mekugi hole all the way through, there is a toggle attaching to the tang with a steel pin, held in place by the handle, and the knife is assembled from the butt end, with an allen head screw engaging with the toggle.

Hello! Thanks for the welcome. My dad was in the occupational forces in Japan in the early postwar phase. As you probably know, they drew the occupational troops specifically from people who had NOT experienced combat so as to minimize friction with the civilian population. My dad's experience was very positive in terms of the character of the Japanese people. He became interested in Japanese art while stationed there in the Yokohama district and would trade cigarettes for antiques in the local shops. I grew up in a household in which fine ivory carvings and exquisite swords and tsuba were ordinary items of household decor. My father passed away a couple years ago, and in going through his effects I have come across these items once again. I had thought to simply sell them, but then I started really examining them and becoming fascinated by the incredible artistry and skill it would take to create such work. Now I seek to learn about the methods of work that would be used to make the high relief designs on tsuba, and how to conserve the rather magnificent pieces that I have inherited. In my current work, making coins, we use dies and presses to create relief designs in soft metals including pure iron, but coins are small and generally of low relief. The much larger and much higher relief designs of Edo period tsuba would require either some other more powerful forming technique for working in steel or soft iron. I have several books and have found much information about design and such... but NOTHING on actual fabrication technique. I find little in the way of tool marks that might help when examining old tsuba. I'm hoping this forum may lead to a more thorough education for me in this regard. I do notice that there are now many reproductions of original designs being offered, but again, little in the way of explicit information on how they are done. It would be a simple matter to make molds and cast them... but I tend to doubt the old ones were done that way.