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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2007 3:06:41 GMT
I finally began searching for koshirae for the Kris Cutlery blades I reviewed back in May. I found a fuchi-koshira set on eBay from hypercafe. My apologies if I was bidding against a fellow forum member. I won the auction late Friday night, and made the payment Saturday morning. I was surprised to see a Priority Mail shipping box with my mail after work on Monday. California to Ohio from Saturday to Monday is pretty quick in my book. I would highly recommend hypercafe on eBay. I opened the packaging and they look as good as they did in the listing. I guess I was a little eager to win them and failed to check the sizes. When I got them, they seemed smaller than the fittings on my other katana. I compared them to fittings on my Cheness Kaze and they were indeed a bit smaller. Now, I am beginning to wonder that if I build a tsuka core to the dimensions of this fuchi-koshira set, it will be too small. If I decide that the tsuka will be too small, I have two options. The first would be to get rid of this set and purchase another. The second option would be to find a bare tanto blade and use this set on it and purchase another set for the Kris Cutlery blade. Decisions, decisions...
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2007 2:25:35 GMT
I got another piece to the puzzle today. These are the pieces of copper I purchased to make tsuba for the Kris Cutlery blades. The pieces are 4" x 4" x 1/4". They are a little large than I need but it will give me room to work and scrap to mess with for finishing options. I need to settle on a design first. If any of you artsy folks get bored and can think of a tsuba design that compliments the fuchi-koshira, I am open to suggestions. I do not care much for images on the tsuba but would rather have some type of a pattern in the tsuba design. Another idea I am toying with is to use carbon fiber to wrap the tsuka instead of same' prior to tsukamaki. Now I am beginning to wonder if all the swirls of the fuchi-koshira will clash with the woven pattern of the carbon fiber. In this case, I would not want the design of the tsuba to be too busy. Sometimes I wish my mind would just stop churning... This will all be one big experiment for me...
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Post by randomnobody on Aug 22, 2007 2:30:12 GMT
Wow, you're really getting into this. I'm no artistic type, so I won't be able to help you design your tsuba, and I like my fittings plain and simple, so matching those...actually, matching doesn't even matter to me.
Carbon fiber in place of same? I'm having a tough time visualizing, but it sounds like a good (modern) idea. Surely it boasts the same benefits, maybe even better?
Though I'm not able to offer much help in this, I do look forward to seeing what you come up with. Do keep us posted.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2007 3:03:39 GMT
Here is what I had in mind for the tsuka. A dark or navy blue ito over carbon fiber. Of course I do have two bare blades. All of these ideas are for only one of them. This was a quick Photoshop job on a photo from my Oni Forge review.
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Post by randomnobody on Aug 22, 2007 3:11:13 GMT
I like the way that looks. I approve of this idea.
Good luck figuring out the rest.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2007 20:21:12 GMT
Here is what I had in mind for the tsuka. A dark or navy blue ito over carbon fiber. Of course I do have two bare blades. All of these ideas are for only one of them. This was a quick Photoshop job on a photo from my Oni Forge review. love the dark blue over black idea, have you though about scouting around to try to find dark blue leather? also you may be able to get black ray skin for a decent price online if you want to, not sure aobut that though, maybe fred lohman would have some? if you want ideas for the tsuba try looking at some on here japanese-swords.com/tsuba-gallery/frameset.htmor here www.imperialweapons.com/oriental/tsuba.html
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2007 0:42:49 GMT
I am sure that I can get black same' somewhere. I think I am pretty set on trying out the carbon fiber wrap though. I think it will give a modern touch what is generally considered such a traditional item. I far as the leather goes, I had a Paul Chen Practical Pro katana that had leather ito. I did not really care for the feel of it. I might not even use traditional flat ito. I may try something like in the photo below using parachute cord. I need to figure out the method first. I have been working on some tsuba designs. I found a place near by that can do water jet cutting. If I decide to not cut the tsuba out myself, I may check into having one cut for me. I might even offer custom copper tsubas to people. They can give me their design, I will draw it up in AutoCad and send it to the company to have them cut out. You could have your very own, one-of-a-kind, custom tsuba...
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Post by randomnobody on Aug 24, 2007 0:54:58 GMT
I've been intrigued by that wrap style for a while. I think if I had the supplies and time, I could probably figure out how to do it myself. Same way I learned "traditional" tsukamaki; good ol' trial and error, with lots of pictorial reference. If you figure it out, do let me in. On a somewhat related note, I'm thinking it may be time to replace the ito on my old Hanwei Practical; it's gotten to the point where it's worn down, ragged, and won't stay put for anything. Just unattractive. I'm not sure how the other tsuka fittings, primarily the...end cap...kashira? I always have them confused... Anyway, how it's attached. The one side lifts freely, but the other may be permanently affixed. I know the tsuka itself is epoxied to the tang, but that won't particularly matter. I'll have to do some research. I'm between the style in the picture you shared, or a sort of "battle wrap," in the same fashion as the Jingum and such offered by Martial Art Swords (for reference, had I the money, I'd own this one: www.martialartswords.com/product_info.php?products_id=30 note the ito style, it's growing on me) or I may just stick with what I "know" how to do. Don't forget to share your tsuba design with us, once you decide on one.
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Post by jw on Aug 27, 2007 21:31:01 GMT
You got me on the carbon fiber tsuka wrap...
I have mucho carbon fiber experience, need help? I assume you are going to saturate it with epoxy, you don't want to touch real carbon fiber cloth, no sir!
PM me if you need some help!
JW
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2007 1:45:35 GMT
The idea for the carbon fiber wrapped tsuka came from a listing I found on eBay. It was a listing for seamless carbon fiber sleeving. The seller has a website called Soller Composites. I was pretty much going to follow their shaft making techniques using the tsuka core (currently under construction) as the mold. They have a video (11.3 MB file size) showing how the sleeving conforms to different shapes. Yes, I will be using an epoxy to saturate the carbon fiber. I will most likely get all of my supplies including carbon fiber sleeving and resin (West 105 resin and 207 hardener) from this company. I also like the heat shrink idea for compressing the carbon fiber while it cures. I was going to use my food vacuum sealer until I read about their heat shrink tubing. It looks like a relatively fool proof process to me but I am glad to hear any suggestions or critiques on their process you may have. Currently, the only thing I am not sure about is whether to use multiple layers. I am sure it will make it much stronger if I do. That decision will determine the dimensions of the tsuka core.
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Post by jw on Aug 30, 2007 0:50:41 GMT
Looks like your on the right track! You can use TAP Plastics structural epoxy resin (4:1) if you don't want to pay through the nose for the West systems stuff... As far as the shrink wrap system remember that the resin and cloth will conform to any creases or folds in the plastic. I have cast some flat parts on glass and the composite even picked up tiny scratches in the glass and mirrored them on the part itself! If you shrink wrap the part you have to pay close attention to the cloth resin ratio. Carbon and kevlar is finicky and with too much and too little resin you get unusable parts. 50:50 is best but if your looking for the edge, 45% resin to 55% cloth is the strongest and subsequently the lightest combo you can get. You can also do what is called a wet layup by simply brushing resin on to the handle and then saturating the cloth on the side and wrapping the cloth onto the handle and further seating and saturating it with a resin filled brush. This works well for the lighter cloth weights and gets difficult when the cloth weight gets heavier since the cloth doesn't bend as well around curves. Weaves are important when wrapping around curves. The tsuka will have a slight curve parallel to the blade and with the round tube like shape of the handle you have a compound curve, which if you just use bi-directional cloth you may get some kinks here and there... Bi-axial and other weaves are best for compound curves. If you do the wet layup process you could get a cool texture from the weave which would be a bit rough and hold the wrap similar to the effect of the ray skin. (I think this would be the easiest and most real to the actual use of the composite to substitute for authentic materials.) The tube stuff looks interesting but unless it fits perfectly you may have a tough time with the extra wrap. If you decide to sand away overlapping areas you have to remember that each strand of carbon is used to complete the structure, if you break the strand you break the structure and the item becomes cosmetic, in other words there is little no transfer of strength from strand to strand through the resin. This is why there are so many small strands within the bundle in the cloth. Epoxy and carbon are really toxic, I am at the point where just the smell of the dust get me sick so I would reduce the sanding to either a minimum or none at all. The little strands from the cut cloth will itch like crazy and any strands that you come in contact with could produce a reaction and rash if the contact is continuous or repeated. You may want to make a few blanks since once you epoxy the cloth onto the wood your not going to get it off and I seriously doubt your going to want to sand the whole thing off to start over again. Light weight cloth will compact down to very thin when finished, it is easier to bend and conform to shapes as well, you can do multiple layers and rotate the weave to gain strength in various directions, like the first layer would be parallel and perpendicular to the handle, the second layer would be rotated 45 degrees to the first gaining axial strength and cross covering the fabric below. Sometimes on not so structurally applicable parts the last layer is the finish layer and goes on over heavily sanded underlayers. Really though the structure your trying to get is like rubber bands holding the tsuka halves together, so really the structurally effective parts are not seen through the wrap and the stuff seen through the wrap is really non-structral, you could just make small carbon strips (like the ray skin panels on the Cheness handles) and cut out the wood and glue the panels to the handle blank. I know this isn't what you want to do but if all else fails this is the quick and easy option... Man I wish I could type faster, I got so much info but I type like a snail... Good luck and post process stuff, please!! Jim
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Post by randomnobody on Aug 30, 2007 2:03:47 GMT
...I'm learning so much I'd never have thought I'd want to know...
I'm now very excited to see where this goes.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2007 2:31:22 GMT
Wow, thanks for all the info +1
Did you have a chance to check out the video? It shows the diameter of the "tube" or sleeve decreasing as it is pulled in the legthwise direction conforming to the curve of a glass bottle. I am hoping that the carbon fiber sleeving will conform to the curves of the tsuka core.
One of my concerns with using the shrink tubing or vacuum was squeezing out too much of the epoxy. Your comment above validates that concern. I will definately be careful if I choose one of these methods. I also thought these methods might produce too smooth of a surface allowing the ito (or whatever I choose for wrap) to slip. Again another concern.
And, of course the process will be well documented. I currently have half the tsuka core carved complete with photo and video coverage. Hopefully, I will be able to show my entire process via video.
I may come up with more questions/comments as re-read all of your info.
Thanks again
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