Cheness katana disassembly
Sept 18, 2010 4:33:03 GMT
Post by lobsterhunter on Sept 18, 2010 4:33:03 GMT
So, with my Tenchi and Oniyuri, it seems that the the bamboo mekugi near the tsuba is hammered in from the Omote side (left side when holding).
The brass mekugi is not tapered but the one in my Oniyuri was apparently hammered in from the ura side, which caused that end to deform and widen a bit (or maybe I caused it?). I realized this as I initially tried to hammer it out FROM the ura side. It just wouldn't budge no matter how hard I hit it once the tip was flush with the nakago. I reversed direction and hammered it out from the omote side.
I found that it was easier to drive out the brass mekugi in my Tenchi FROM the ura side. I It took a lot of HARD pounding with a metal rod & hammer to get these brass pins out. Since they are straight for the most part, they could theoretically be removed from either direction. Just make sure your tsuka is well supported directly under the hammer blows. A wooden block with a hole to accommodate the exiting mekugi will help.
It's a good thing I had recently purchased a katana disassembly kit from Sword'n'Armory.
If you have a problem with a loose tsuba or habaki, a thin copper or brass sheet is the perfect thing for shimming. I cut out a seppa shaped piece from 30 gauge copper to tighten up the tsuba fit on my Tenchi. I was also able to fix any lateral movement using the Marc Ridgeway method. /index.cgi?board=japaneseswords&action=display&thread=9556
If it's hard to find copper sheets, this company will ship them to you. I bought a little 3"x4" sample piece of 30 gauge thickness (.25mm, just thin enough to cut easily with scissors) for 3$, shipping included.
www.whimsie.com/coppersheetwire.html
Don't use something delicate like an Exacto knife to cut out the hole for the tang. The tip of mine snapped off and disappeared. Use something a little more substantial like... I don't know, maybe a nail & hammer to make a breach big enough to start cutting with scissors? I used my KA-BAR combat knife.
Once I got those dang brass pins out, the disassembly was a breeze, especially with the kit. The wooden splint actually left some permanent scuffing on the surface of one of the blades. WTF??? If you use something like this, be sure to protect your blade with a piece of cloth or something. Like so:
I swapped out the clunky tsuba on my Oniyuri for this Paul Chen Horse katana tsuba. I was just about to sell this sword in the classifieds when the whole Proboards thing happened. I like the way it looks and handles more now. I'm glad I didn't sell it! I was going to put a wakizashi tsuba on it but the nakago ana was too small and would've required lots of filing to get it to fit. I guess the nakago on most wakizashi are pretty small. Here's some pics of my Oniyuri v. 2.0.
Thanks for all the advice!
The brass mekugi is not tapered but the one in my Oniyuri was apparently hammered in from the ura side, which caused that end to deform and widen a bit (or maybe I caused it?). I realized this as I initially tried to hammer it out FROM the ura side. It just wouldn't budge no matter how hard I hit it once the tip was flush with the nakago. I reversed direction and hammered it out from the omote side.
I found that it was easier to drive out the brass mekugi in my Tenchi FROM the ura side. I It took a lot of HARD pounding with a metal rod & hammer to get these brass pins out. Since they are straight for the most part, they could theoretically be removed from either direction. Just make sure your tsuka is well supported directly under the hammer blows. A wooden block with a hole to accommodate the exiting mekugi will help.
It's a good thing I had recently purchased a katana disassembly kit from Sword'n'Armory.
If you have a problem with a loose tsuba or habaki, a thin copper or brass sheet is the perfect thing for shimming. I cut out a seppa shaped piece from 30 gauge copper to tighten up the tsuba fit on my Tenchi. I was also able to fix any lateral movement using the Marc Ridgeway method. /index.cgi?board=japaneseswords&action=display&thread=9556
If it's hard to find copper sheets, this company will ship them to you. I bought a little 3"x4" sample piece of 30 gauge thickness (.25mm, just thin enough to cut easily with scissors) for 3$, shipping included.
www.whimsie.com/coppersheetwire.html
Don't use something delicate like an Exacto knife to cut out the hole for the tang. The tip of mine snapped off and disappeared. Use something a little more substantial like... I don't know, maybe a nail & hammer to make a breach big enough to start cutting with scissors? I used my KA-BAR combat knife.
Once I got those dang brass pins out, the disassembly was a breeze, especially with the kit. The wooden splint actually left some permanent scuffing on the surface of one of the blades. WTF??? If you use something like this, be sure to protect your blade with a piece of cloth or something. Like so:
I swapped out the clunky tsuba on my Oniyuri for this Paul Chen Horse katana tsuba. I was just about to sell this sword in the classifieds when the whole Proboards thing happened. I like the way it looks and handles more now. I'm glad I didn't sell it! I was going to put a wakizashi tsuba on it but the nakago ana was too small and would've required lots of filing to get it to fit. I guess the nakago on most wakizashi are pretty small. Here's some pics of my Oniyuri v. 2.0.
Thanks for all the advice!