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Post by randomnobody on Oct 13, 2007 5:14:48 GMT
Ah, yes, I see it now. But what's that on it? Somebody riding it? The "fat warrior" is something I can also associate with. Mostly the fat part. Not so much the warrior. I'm sure you'll find another. If all else fails, I've seen some cheap-o crap swords with the same style tsubas, don't know, though, if they're as good or not. The tsubas themselves, that is. Nevermind the swords, they're garbage.
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Post by grahamts on Oct 13, 2007 9:10:10 GMT
I think it might be the Japanese equivalent to catching a tiger by the tail It is a hunter sitting on the back of the boar trying to kill it I have seen plenty of Tsuba with the same picture as my previous one, but they are zinc alloy not brass and the finish just isn't as good. I could also have used either of these two: Cute boar looking up or Inoshishi, the Kanji for boar.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2007 19:06:14 GMT
nice work! I wish I was more handy. lol +1
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Post by grahamts on Oct 17, 2007 15:56:01 GMT
Thanks Garret ;D
ChopChop, as a matter of interest I did a silver soldering test on Monday, just to see if you could use an ordinary blow torch successfully. With a butane cylinder the copper I was using as a test piece didn't get quite hot enough for the solder to flow properly. Using an ordinary blow torch with a mixed propane & butane cylinder did ;D So you don't need a special torch just a hotter gas on a well designed blowtorch.
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Post by grahamts on Oct 25, 2007 17:24:57 GMT
They are finished ;D ;D Not as good as I hoped, but not too bad I had to cut down on the decoration, I should have done it before assembly and I just didn't fancy taking them to bits to start again. First job was to mask the boar design on some brass, this was done using print and peel ( a masking system used on one off PCBs). The design was then etched using a galvanic etching system consisting of a copper sulphate bath with a piece of copper connected to the negative terminal of a twelve volt/500 mAmp supply. The work piece was connected to the positive terminal and left for about an hour. You can see the results below, I did two, and picked the best. I discovered that etch resist pens don't work with this system, it's better to use nail varnish ;D The best motif was then cut out with tin snips, tidied up with small files and soft soldered to the top of the kashira. I then copper plated the whole thing using a small flash copper plating kit from Caswells, after which I silver plated it using the same kit. The silver was actually a lot easier to do than the copper As you can see, I didn't do a very good job of polishing the metal to a smooth finish and that shows up in the final work For a first attempt I'm not too unhappy and I've learnt one hell of a lot about the correct order of doing things, so hopefully my next attempt will be far better ;D
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2007 18:06:23 GMT
Wow, that final result looks GREAT. I'm stunned at how well that finished up in the final step.
Care to go into any more detail on the plating process?
Karma for a job well done.
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Post by grahamts on Oct 25, 2007 18:23:08 GMT
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Post by zacaroni on Oct 26, 2007 3:29:31 GMT
I'm impressed as a plumber, and a sword lover!
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Post by handforgedkatanas on Oct 27, 2007 22:01:54 GMT
I am impressed grahamts,that is the dogs bol***ks as we brits would say.Be sure to post some pics of it fitted on the tsuka,are you doing that aswell.
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Post by grahamts on Oct 28, 2007 10:48:13 GMT
Thanks Hand Forged ;D As for the Tsuka, I have a problem cos I don't have any rawhide rayskin to wrap it and can't really justify the cost of a decent piece to do a full wrap I do have some rayskin leather which is big enough but it is thicker than the rawhide and it won't shrink on to compress the wood and strengthen it. Rather stupidly I filled in the panel slots on the tsuka I bought, as I was going for a full wrap, so I'm still considering my options Before you suggest it, carving them out again isn't really viable
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Post by zacaroni on Nov 3, 2007 2:09:10 GMT
You guys who want to try this yourself, should only use silver solder rods and high heat torches. Oxygen/acetalene is the way to go. Any thing else and you're wasting your time. Steady hands and good eyes are all you really need. But practice on scrap a few times first. This technique is called brazing, and is different then sweating copper, or "soldering" as most people refer to. Cool d.i.y projects are unique and rewarding, I'm sure just the satisfaction alone is worth it. +1
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