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Post by grahamts on Oct 8, 2007 20:17:57 GMT
Thought you guys might find this interesting, I've been trying to make a Fuchi and Kashira from copper pipe fittings ;D This is the first stage of the construction, a 1" fitting was cut to length with a tube cutter, and squashed to fit the Tsuka. It was then silver soldered (hard soldered) to a brass seppa the excess sawn off and the whole thing sanded. Finally I cut a thin brass strip and soft soldered it to the top of the Fuchi as a decorative element. I cut the strip to length, bent it roughly to shape and clamped it in place, I then filed a taper into the end of the strip closest to the body of the fuchi and clamped the loose end down on to it and soldered the whole lot together. The part of the strip that was left proud was cut off and filed flush. You can see the join in the left hand picture, in reality it is hardly visible ;D I learnt several important lessons from this first little job, first make sure you anneal the copper and brass before bending it (I didn't for the fuchi), it makes it so much easier Second, if soldering on extra parts make sure you have plenty of small clamps to hand. The Kashira was made from a 28mm copper fitting, for some reason it was a better (tighter) fit to the top of the Tsuka than the 1" fitting This time I knew to heat the copper and quench it to make it easy to work ;D The domed top was actually part of a bend which I heated, flattened and silver soldered to the top of the tube, so much easier than creating a dome myself I miscalculated the length of tube required for the Kashira and so it was too long never mind, I had to fit the brass strip so I used that as guide for cutting the tube to length. Lesson number three! cut the holes for the Ito before fitting the decorative strip Then cut and fit the strip to the holes, as you can see, I didn't and it made life a hell of a lot more difficult than it needed to be! The Shitidome are commercial ones from Japan which are far better finished than I could manage and hopefully will give the whole thing a better finish. The final metal work was the filling of dents and digs with soft solder before I finish it with wet and dry and eventually plate them with copper. The whole lot will either then be bronzed or silver plated, I'm not sure which as yet, possible with some etched patterning. Ideas and preferences anyone
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2007 22:01:56 GMT
Those are great! The zinc alloy fittings that come on most of the stuff in our price range serve their purpose well enough, I guess, but it's always preferable to have fittings that are "real" metal" like these. A bit beyond my current skill level, I'm afraid, but something I'd eventually liike to try myself. I think I'd go the bronze route, as far as plating is concerned. Consider yourself Karmalized (as Rammstein is fond of saying). ;D +1
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Post by Dan Davis on Oct 8, 2007 22:37:09 GMT
Nicely done, my friend.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2007 23:16:37 GMT
in regard to etching/plating I would personaly go with crashing waves buts thats me
great DIY work, maybe you should try to make a tutorial on it?
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Post by tajima on Oct 9, 2007 3:02:54 GMT
Looks great. Why not have the design saying Samurai in kanji?
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Post by grahamts on Oct 9, 2007 9:46:04 GMT
Thanks for the interest guys, and the karma kriegschwert. If there was a real demand for a tutorial I wouldn't mind having a go, making these two taught me a lot. But there is not really that much to add to what is already above. I've been waiting for Brenno to finish his electro eching project so I can pinch his design, but it looks as if that might have gone on back burner with his sword making at the moment ;D I'll probably end up doing it myself and ruining numerous bits of copper. For nostalga reasons (too long to explain!) I would like to go with a wild boar theme with other decorative elements. Here are some ideas I have been working on: For the Fuchi And on top of the Kashira
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2007 22:16:09 GMT
Sweet... really, really sweet sir i should have paid attention during our woodworking and metalworks class during my high school days...
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Post by randomnobody on Oct 10, 2007 4:09:08 GMT
Nice work, they look great.
I can't help but be curious to the boar. What would one have to do to hear the story?
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Post by grahamts on Oct 10, 2007 8:42:38 GMT
Hi Random, it's not that interesting just long winded, especially as I can sometimes whaffle on ;D The short version: when I was a LOT younger I was heavily involved with a Belgiun Scout Group. This group has a tradition of giving members camp names involving a totem animal, in my case "Sanglier" or wild boar. The totem animal has to represent some facet of the Scout's character. Thus I have had a lingering fondness for Wild Boar and their African cousins Wart Hogs of which I have quite a few carvings Graham
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Post by Deleted on Oct 11, 2007 3:05:39 GMT
Thats great work! I can't wait to see them finished. +1 in the Karma dept also!
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Post by randomnobody on Oct 11, 2007 3:12:38 GMT
Hi Random, it's not that interesting just long winded, especially as I can sometimes whaffle on ;D The short version: when I was a LOT younger I was heavily involved with a Belgiun Scout Group. This group has a tradition of giving members camp names involving a totem animal, in my case "Sanglier" or wild boar. The totem animal has to represent some facet of the Scout's character. Thus I have had a lingering fondness for Wild Boar and their African cousins Wart Hogs of which I have quite a few carvings Graham Hey, works for me. I was once in the Scouts, but never too active. I left them on bad terms. Long story, I'll spare you all. I've been trying to think of what I'd put on my own sword, but nothing is coming to me.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 11, 2007 9:28:21 GMT
Nice one graham, I am goin' out tomorrow to buy a soldering iron. Cheers for the ideas. ;D I am trying to find a Fuchi for a naginata mount that is to be my next project. Because of the size of the nakago, the average katana ones are a little small so I think I am going to try and make my own.
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Post by grahamts on Oct 11, 2007 16:08:36 GMT
Hi Chop Chop, unfortunately you need more than a soldering iron for silver solder and you really need silver solder for the seppa/fuchi joint as it must take some stress. For silver soldering you need a similar level of heat as for brazing, I used a friends oxy/propane set but you could use a benzomatic blowtorch or similar, alternatively you can buy small gas powered (from lighter gas) torches which are supposed to be OK for small brazing jobs. I haven't tried with a normal blowtorch on copper, but a long time ago I tried silver soldering some small steel components and a normal blow torch, it didn't work. I think I ended up using three and building a mini brick oven to contain the heat!!! It is highly probable that small copper parts will be easier, but silver solder is very expensive in the UK, (£7-00 for one 1ft rod ) so you really don't want to waste it Good luck with the project, I look forward to seeing it, Graham.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 11, 2007 20:24:46 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2007 10:49:43 GMT
Hi Chop Chop, unfortunately you need more than a soldering iron for silver solder and you really need silver solder for the seppa/fuchi joint as it must take some stress. For silver soldering you need a similar level of heat as for brazing, I used a friends oxy/propane set but you could use a benzomatic blowtorch or similar, alternatively you can buy small gas powered (from lighter gas) torches which are supposed to be OK for small brazing jobs. I haven't tried with a normal blowtorch on copper, but a long time ago I tried silver soldering some small steel components and a normal blow torch, it didn't work. I think I ended up using three and building a mini brick oven to contain the heat!!! It is highly probable that small copper parts will be easier, but silver solder is very expensive in the UK, (£7-00 for one 1ft rod ) so you really don't want to waste it Good luck with the project, I look forward to seeing it, Graham. What I might do is cut it all out, clamp it up and then ask the on-site plumber to weld it for me. He has all the equip. for welding copper pipes so maybe if I ask nicely.
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Post by grahamts on Oct 12, 2007 18:25:42 GMT
Good idea, but he is likely to be using plumber's solder Maybe if you bought a rod of 1.5 or 2mm pre fluxed silver solder and then asked ? You can get it from welding suppliers. The actual process is: clamp the parts together with some stiff wire, cut off some half inch bits of silver solder and lay them inside the piece next to the joint, heat up the whole piece (do not try to melt just the solder), as the piece heats up, first the flux will melt (keep the torch moving), then the solder will flow through the joint. As you see the solder flow and it runs completely around the joint remove the heat. The plumber will know exactly how to do it ;D
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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2007 20:52:09 GMT
Good idea, but he is likely to be using plumber's solder Maybe if you bought a rod of 1.5 or 2mm pre fluxed silver solder and then asked ? You can get it from welding suppliers. The actual process is: clamp the parts together with some stiff wire, cut off some half inch bits of silver solder and lay them inside the piece next to the joint, heat up the whole piece (do not try to melt just the solder), as the piece heats up, first the flux will melt (keep the torch moving), then the solder will flow through the joint. As you see the solder flow and it runs completely around the joint remove the heat. The plumber will know exactly how to do it ;D nice one g. I can't weld to save my life ;D
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2007 0:07:10 GMT
its really nice to have a DIY koshirae that tells a story about the individual that created them
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Post by randomnobody on Oct 13, 2007 2:17:21 GMT
Not to break topic too much, but I note there's now a different tsuba in your avatar, Graham. Feel the need for a change, or something else behind it? This is the first place I noticed, so if you've discussed it elsewhere, I've not seen yet.
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Post by grahamts on Oct 13, 2007 5:09:25 GMT
Hi Random, I've had an eye on the new Tsuba for a while. I don't know if you can see it but the theme is a wild boar ;D Just thought it would go well with the planned decoration on the other parts. I fitted The previous Tsuba to a sword I bought which was blade heavy, that improved the POB, but I still didn't like the sword enough to keep it. A friend wanted a sword to practice with, liked it, but wanted the tsuba with it, so it's gone I couldn't find another one that was as well cast as my original so I looked around, saw the wild boar one and ordered that I'll still keep an eye open for the previous version as I really liked it, fat warrior with sword on shoulder seems appropriate somehow ;D
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