Quick and Easy Chopstick Mekugi
Nov 30, 2010 6:41:56 GMT
Post by 6stringseme on Nov 30, 2010 6:41:56 GMT
Hi all!
On modern production katana, the mekugi are sometimes of pretty poor quality. They often suffer irreparable damage from normal sword disassembly, and have to be replaced. The cheapest and easiest way to replace them? Make your own from bamboo chopsticks. HOWEVER! You have to find the right kind of chopsticks, otherwise your sword could be unsafe. I am not responsible for razor sharp helicopters of doom impaling your neighbors cat, so please don't make your mekugi from items that can break easily, and for goodness sake don't make them from chopsticks made of wood!
Here are the type of chopsticks that I use for making mekugi. I bought them from an import shop called Daiso Japan. They are round, tapered hard bamboo covered with polyurethane. They are so tough that I physically cannot break one near the thick part.
With the old mekugi out, I gripped the blade of my katana with a T-shirt (wrapped several times) and hit the tsuka on the floor firmly on the kashira, seating the tsuba. I didn't slam it too hard, because you can mash your seppa that way. Then I inserted the chopstick intact into the hole, being careful to insert it the proper way (inward via the larger hole). I pressed it in fairly firmly... the chopstick tapers, which is important.
Now that the chopsticks were in as far as they could go, I took a sharpie marker and marked each side with a half circle. I would cut along this line. (edit: you might want to only mark the wider side, then cut the mekugi based on the length of the old ones, otherwise you may have to do more cutting/filing/sanding)
Here are the tools that I used: 2 chopsticks, a paper towel, a mekugi awl (that comes with a sword cleaning kit), a fine grain file, a new hacksaw blade, and a sharpening steel (just the plastic handle as a pounding implement).
With my legs crossed I held the hacksaw blade between my two big toes (uh, this technique may only be suitable for the more limber among us
) and drew the chopstick gently back and forth over the hacksaw blade to cut it. It took a couple minutes to make each cut.
The result was a nicely tapered and pretty professional-looking mekugi, albeit with a couple black marks on it from the sharpie (those will be hidden after the mekugi are inserted). The sharpie marks are on the wider end of the peg in this pic.
I made sure to rub the mekugi on the file to round off the edges, which also prevents the bamboo from fraying. The tiny round bamboo grains should be visible in the sliced center of the chopstick.
Finally, I inserted the new mekugi into the holes and smacked them in firmly with the plastic base of my sharpening steel. The tsuka, which before felt sloppy and kind of loose with the old, damaged mekugi, was solid as a rock. The only issue that I had is that the outward-bound side has a small gap between the same and the mekugi, but this is seen even from the factory in many production swords.
And there you have it: mekugi on the cheap! I'm fairly certain these can withstand normal cutting, but again I should remind those who wish to replace their mekugi in this way; please do so with discretion and care.
On modern production katana, the mekugi are sometimes of pretty poor quality. They often suffer irreparable damage from normal sword disassembly, and have to be replaced. The cheapest and easiest way to replace them? Make your own from bamboo chopsticks. HOWEVER! You have to find the right kind of chopsticks, otherwise your sword could be unsafe. I am not responsible for razor sharp helicopters of doom impaling your neighbors cat, so please don't make your mekugi from items that can break easily, and for goodness sake don't make them from chopsticks made of wood!
Here are the type of chopsticks that I use for making mekugi. I bought them from an import shop called Daiso Japan. They are round, tapered hard bamboo covered with polyurethane. They are so tough that I physically cannot break one near the thick part.
With the old mekugi out, I gripped the blade of my katana with a T-shirt (wrapped several times) and hit the tsuka on the floor firmly on the kashira, seating the tsuba. I didn't slam it too hard, because you can mash your seppa that way. Then I inserted the chopstick intact into the hole, being careful to insert it the proper way (inward via the larger hole). I pressed it in fairly firmly... the chopstick tapers, which is important.
Now that the chopsticks were in as far as they could go, I took a sharpie marker and marked each side with a half circle. I would cut along this line. (edit: you might want to only mark the wider side, then cut the mekugi based on the length of the old ones, otherwise you may have to do more cutting/filing/sanding)
Here are the tools that I used: 2 chopsticks, a paper towel, a mekugi awl (that comes with a sword cleaning kit), a fine grain file, a new hacksaw blade, and a sharpening steel (just the plastic handle as a pounding implement).
With my legs crossed I held the hacksaw blade between my two big toes (uh, this technique may only be suitable for the more limber among us
) and drew the chopstick gently back and forth over the hacksaw blade to cut it. It took a couple minutes to make each cut.The result was a nicely tapered and pretty professional-looking mekugi, albeit with a couple black marks on it from the sharpie (those will be hidden after the mekugi are inserted). The sharpie marks are on the wider end of the peg in this pic.
I made sure to rub the mekugi on the file to round off the edges, which also prevents the bamboo from fraying. The tiny round bamboo grains should be visible in the sliced center of the chopstick.
Finally, I inserted the new mekugi into the holes and smacked them in firmly with the plastic base of my sharpening steel. The tsuka, which before felt sloppy and kind of loose with the old, damaged mekugi, was solid as a rock. The only issue that I had is that the outward-bound side has a small gap between the same and the mekugi, but this is seen even from the factory in many production swords.
And there you have it: mekugi on the cheap! I'm fairly certain these can withstand normal cutting, but again I should remind those who wish to replace their mekugi in this way; please do so with discretion and care.
