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Post by graveyard on Mar 9, 2011 11:03:41 GMT
Not long after Mark's review of the Unokubi, I found myself interested in the blade. While he was questioning the 'hump' at the kissaki, I personally liked it. Once I cleared some funds, which sadly took alot longer than I wished it to, I picked one up through Kult of Athena. I'll make comment on KoA in a different thread, as the story getting the blade I have now is a matter in and of itself. Short and sweet, I'm very pleased with KoA going to bat for me against Hanwei. In regards to my customization, I wished to keep the bird theme, however, turn it to a theme I identify with more, that being the Raven. I didn't take many pictures along the way of the work, as my time is sporadic with my inhuman work schedule (~70 hours a week on one job or another, not to mention time spent with schoolwork). I only have some teasers to start, but I thought I'd share what I have. Rayskin purchased from Tandy leather, a note about Tandy: Their rayskins are small. I actually had to purchase two to create the panels for a full wrap. They also do not have standard white, and all emperor nodes are sanded down. Still, I like the effect. Menuki are taken from a pendant I purchased off of Etsy.com, I cut the pendant down, silver-leafed, antiqued and then lacquered them. I found out later that the pieces were too large for the rounded handle. I solved this by carving recesses into the tsuka, as I'd seen in another thread. Before: After: F/K purchased from Yamato-Budogu Tsuba purchased from Bugei, along with black leather wrap I'm in the process of leafing, antiquing and sealing/lacquering the habaki in the same silver leaf, hopefully in the next few days or so, I'll be able to finish this and be onto itomaki, if not finished entirely, and showing the unveil.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2011 12:11:39 GMT
Cool, I have an interest in this as I have a Raptor on order and the idea of customization has crossed my mind since I have been reading about the axe handle tsukas. I have long meat hooks so it may not be a problem but these threads will be handy for guidelines if I decide to follow suit and modify mine in my own style. Thanks for posting this.
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Post by graveyard on Mar 13, 2011 21:06:01 GMT
...So I finally found myself with a few hours to try my hand at wrapping, and my OCD kicked in. This is not my first foray into itomaki, though this is the first time I've used leather. I noticed that leather ito was significantly 'bigger' in the hand, and squishy! While at the points of the diamonds, which are tight and as hard as rock, there's quite a bit of play... After stopping, starting, and starting over again, I'm still not satisfied with the cleanliness of my work.... I only completed the first part of the knot to check my handle length... A few questions to anyone that's done leather itomaki before... Does leather ito make for a 'bigger' feel in the hand, and a somewhat more squishy one that cotton? Is it possible to 'tighten' this stuff by dampening it with hot water after I'm done? Attachments:
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Post by Aaron W on Mar 14, 2011 2:33:26 GMT
This looks to be a pretty cool idea. I almost did something similar to this, but instead of ravens, I was going to use bats. I'm interested to see how it turns out.
Also, have a karma on me, that fuchi/kashira you linked are exactly what I was looking for to put on my wakizashi to get it to match my katana better. Did you order the kojiri for it also or just the F/K? I'm curious to see what the dimensions of it are.
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Post by graveyard on Mar 14, 2011 2:48:23 GMT
Thanks Aaron:
I ordered both F/K, and both were smaller than the tsuka that came on the Unokubi, by about the same factor... meaning that if you keep consistent in what you carve away, you shouldn't have an issue fitting these....
I'm hoping to make yet another attempt at handle wrapping here tonight, I'm still trying to think of some solution to get a little more consistent in my diamonds, and also try to make the wrap tighter and smaller.... its still just too squishy for my taste...
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Post by shoboshi on Mar 14, 2011 3:44:55 GMT
I like what you are doing and should look pretty cool when done. Be sure to keep us posted on your progress.
Unfortunately, the time to wet the leather was before you wrapped, pulling it as tight as possible while wrapping. That way it would pull tighter as it dried. At this point, wetting it would do you no good at all. It would just get loose, then tighten up as it dried to what it was before.
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Post by graveyard on Mar 14, 2011 10:14:59 GMT
Thanks for the tip shoboshi:
Actually not long after I posted those pics of the tsukamaki, I decided to unwrap it and start all over again.... Yes, I'm simply that particular that I'd throw away hours of work until I got it right.....
I'm going to experiment with a few other wrap styles to see if I have more success with a style that might give me a more slender and comfortable profile, possibly tsumami or hira maki.... the traditional hineri style simply adds too much bulk to the grip with this leather on a full same wrap.
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Post by frankthebunny on Mar 14, 2011 16:25:32 GMT
looks good graveyard. leather ito is usually not so squishy, is this from ebay seller adsclam? his leather is usually on the thick side.
also, did you hammer the folds down as you were doing the cross overs? this should help flatten the profile a little.
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Post by graveyard on Mar 15, 2011 8:25:19 GMT
Thanks Frank, I appreciate the compliments from you and everyone thus far.
I didn't hammer down the folds as you suggested, I might try that. What I noticed is that at the folds themselves, its rock solid, its the space between the fold and the point where the handle curves, there's just a bit more play than I like.. The best I can describe it is that, when gripping, the point where the ito crosses over itself, it feels like you're squeezing a rock, but to either side of the fold-over, its, well, squishy....
It might just be me being inexperienced in leather itomaki, but its adding a lot of girth to the handle, much more than silk or cotton, which I've used more than a few times before.
I purchased the ito from Bugei, If I had to eye it (I'm lacking a pair of calipers atm) I'd say its about 1mm thick. If I'm correct its from the same supplier Lohman gets his from.
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Post by Elheru Aran on Mar 16, 2011 13:07:36 GMT
Soaking it before wrapping should do the trick. It will make the leather slightly more elastic though, so watch out that you don't pull it hard enough to make it noticeably thinner in spots.
When you hammer down folds I suggest using a rawhide or nylon hammer, to be a little gentler on the leather, or hammer through some kind of block against the knots.
The 'squishy' feel is probably a result of the thickness of your leather and/or how it's tanned. Leather's one of those lovely natural materials which you can't necessarily expect strict consistency in quality, so this kind of thing happens sometimes-- one batch will be different from another. Just gotta roll with it.
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Post by frankthebunny on Mar 16, 2011 14:59:04 GMT
if you hammer the folds, it should be done as you are wrapping the tsuka not after because it will then just make the rest of the ito loose. what I do is make the folds, pull the strands tight then hammer the cross over with the little brass hammer (you don't have to pound it, just tap it a few times, then pull the slack tight before you start the next set. to help control the size and shape of your diamonds you should also really use hishigami as they will help keep the sides of the diamonds straight and crisp. if you don't use them, especially with leather, you might notice that the edges of the diamonds get a slight curve to them.
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Post by zentesukenVII on Mar 16, 2011 18:59:39 GMT
looks awesome! I lovvve unokubi zukuri blades, i actually have been debating on wether or not to get the raptor or my cheness kaze. I dont like the tsuka on the raptor, so id have to redo it. Any idea how i can get the gold off the menuki? i like the brassy look alot more.
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Post by graveyard on Mar 17, 2011 1:05:28 GMT
More progress, and more setbacks... ><;; Thank you for the advice in pulling off the wrapping, the hammering idea worked well, but still the wrap felt uncomfortable in the hand once I'd finished... Ultimately, I did end up going with Hiramaki, and while its covering a little more of the same than I initially wanted, I'm happy with the solution. Just a note, I took these pics before I cut the second bit of ito down: I also came up with an idea for the sageo. I was set for a long time that I wanted this to be only in blacks and silvers, and while combing through some old things I found something fun. It was a long, double wallet chain I had picked up for my work's first Christmas Party. Its a 4:1 link, so I think its a rope-y enough to not scratch the saya too much... I took it apart, linked it, and here you go: ....Now, for the setbacks... I silver leafed the habaki originally, as well as coated it with a few layers of lacquer to seal it. After I waited a few days to make sure all the layers were fully cured, I sheathed the blade, drew it, and sure enough, watched the leafing peel off.... I'll probably have to have it silver plated. Not to be daunted, I tried to assemble just to have a pseudo-finished shot to show off... Come to find out I came across another hurdle. The tsuba I chose is only about half of the thickness of the Raptor's massive tsuba. Thankfully, I have an extra artsfeng seppa lying around that I can open up a little to get the fit I need... So.... anyone want to throw me a quote for silver plating a habaki, and 3 seppa? I have some scrap silver and old silver rings lying around from a jewelrymaking course I took a while back to offer up....
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Post by KaOsBlaKbLaDe on Mar 17, 2011 22:27:01 GMT
Wow, I really thought the 1st attempt looked great. It did appear that the leather was a little too thick for such intricate work, but i thought it looked great!! I'm a perfectionist too, so i know how you feel, although from the pics you sent, you're OCD must be way worse than mine. The only point i'm tryin to make is I thought the 1st attempt looked MUCH better than the finished pic. I'm hoping to see you give it one more go with a lighter leather after you get your plating done. Very nice work indeed.
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Post by graveyard on Mar 28, 2011 0:15:27 GMT
Thank you Kaos:
I'll admit, the traditional Hineri is very nice, I'm actually fairly pleased with the Hira style as well. Don't let it fool you, its still tricky to do, as you're trying to wrap essentially in a woven spiral with all edges remaining flush against the blade...
No pictures this time sadly, but I did want to touch on the thread just to make sure it didn't get lost in the stacks before the final unveil...
I've sent off my habaki, and a few seppa to our resident bunny, Frank. Once he has a chance to knock out some silver plating for me, I'll work on some glamor shots...
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Post by graveyard on Apr 17, 2011 21:34:02 GMT
Ressurrect, long neglected thread!
I was hoping to get around to taking pictures sooner, but I had planned to take the final glamor shots outside. Silly me, I forgot its spring in Chicago... warm days are overcast, and clear days are still too damn chilly... So, here we go! leather ito from bugei, Tsuba and F/K from Yamato Budogu, rayskin from Tandy, sageo is actually a 4:1 link set of wallet chains I had, which I serged together... menuki made from a pendant from Etsy.com cut down and silver leafed by yours truly... Some of the leaf has worn off during itomaki and handling to reveal blackened copper, but I kinda like the effect...[/list:u]
Seppa and Habaki were plated by our very own FranktheBunny, and a gorgeous job IMO
...Feedback welcome as always... I hope to have something completely different for your viewing pleasure soon...
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Post by KaOsBlaKbLaDe on Apr 23, 2011 13:14:55 GMT
WOW!! Now that's what I'm talkin bout!! Nicely Done!! That looks Fantastic!!!!!
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Post by graveyard on Apr 24, 2011 14:29:19 GMT
Thanks for the kind words Kaos.... after almost a week with no comment, I was starting to think I was being shunned :lol:
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Post by zentesukenVII on Apr 24, 2011 16:05:03 GMT
Thats definatly an awesome sword man, excellent work. Love your menuki choice!
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Marc Kaden Ridgeway
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Post by Marc Kaden Ridgeway on Apr 24, 2011 16:38:19 GMT
Wow... thats almost the exact look I was planning for a kanmuri otoshi blade... very close.
Nicely done...
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