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Post by Adrian Jordan on Apr 29, 2011 6:24:47 GMT
Is there a good place to order wood blanks for tsuka making online? I've looked, but probably not well enough. I live in Northern CA, and not like "San Fransisco Northern CA". San Fransisco and Sacramento are considered Southern CA where I'm at. I'm about 2 hours away from Oregon. My area was, ironically, founded on and up until a few years ago, run on timber. Most of that has been shut down, and so there is only one timber outlet in my area. Poplar, and certainly not Hinoki, are not on their web-site listings. I ask for online sites because there is a very real chance I wont be able to procure what I need locally. I've ordered an Olympia Tools 30-184 4Pc Wood Chisel Long Pattern Set and a combo 250/1000 grit waterstone, and I'm going to contact the timber outlet tomorrow, but my hopes are not high. Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks.
P.S.
Tsuka will ideally be 11in long, and I'll have to experiment with width. A full wrap is what I'm aiming for. My guess for each blank would be 12in. x 1and1/2in. x 1/2in. I figure this will leave me with a little wiggle room to figure things out.
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Post by Ichiban on Apr 29, 2011 7:24:02 GMT
Go with qality poplar, most custom makers do. I've heard the honoki exported to the US is mostly low quality, and good quality is sparse in Japan too.
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Post by Adrian Jordan on Apr 29, 2011 8:43:19 GMT
Yeah, I'd figured on Yellow Poplar. It's just not something I may be able to attain around here. Thanks for your reply, my good sir.
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Post by masahiro560 on Apr 29, 2011 12:22:34 GMT
if you're looking for honoki I'm pretty sure namikawa just got some of it's average quality honoki back in stock
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Post by Lonely Wolf Forge on Apr 29, 2011 14:59:36 GMT
i buy axe handles. each axe handle is long enough for 2 tsuka and its made of quality hickory wood, already has the right shape and everything all you gotta do is cut it to the length you want and then cut it into 2 halves down the middle so you can dremmel or chissel out the nakago slot :mrgreen: ive made 2 tsuka in this way and have loved both
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Post by johnwalter on Apr 29, 2011 17:04:05 GMT
Get in touch with this guy and see if he cannhelp you out. cgi.ebay.com/12-AD-Eastern-Yello ... 0228234969 Or as saito said,hickory axehandles work very well and are super strong. |
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Post by Lonely Wolf Forge on Apr 29, 2011 20:11:21 GMT
and feel awesome in he hand!
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Post by Adrian Jordan on Apr 30, 2011 0:06:02 GMT
Thanks, guys. I went to the lumber outlet here, asked for the yellow poplar, and got looks like I was being unreasonable. I got a vague point towards the back of the store and got a length of some kind of poplar and a length of oak. The axe-handle is a great idea, I'll probably do that next time.
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Post by Lonely Wolf Forge on Apr 30, 2011 1:04:51 GMT
yeah its hard to beat at like 12$ for enough wood to do 2 tsukas and is even pre shaped
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Post by Elheru Aran on Apr 30, 2011 13:34:51 GMT
So, Saito, I guess when you say 'axe handle' tsuka you sure ain't messing around...  |
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Post by Lonely Wolf Forge on Apr 30, 2011 18:33:19 GMT
yeah lol, and i atually dont sand it down much in mine, i like a nice full "axe handle" tsuka. XD the ones everyone complains about from hanwei i make custom for my swords that dont have em XD
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Post by Adrian Jordan on May 1, 2011 2:28:42 GMT
I went by ACE and found a cheap version of everything I wanted in the bargain bin. Pretty psyched. I'll practice with the cheap ones so as not to destroy the decent ones with ignorance. The chisels really put the issue of decent quality down hard. Only one of the three is even vaguely sharp, but at $2.99 for all three they are a valuable learning tool. A hacksaw, also $2.99, is pretty terrible and I'll need to get a viable replacement before any real progress is to be had. Concerning this; is it just that a hacksaw is a bad tool for the job of trimming wood down to size? Is there a better alternative? The saw is cheap, but even with the decent ACE carbon blades(decent compared to what was on it,) it was a major pain to get through the 3/4in. thick poplar plank. Overall, I'm pretty happy. I got a 3pc. chisel set, a rubber mallet, a wood plane, a hacksaw, two replacement blades, a tube of Elmer's wood glue, and a rubber sanding block for about $38.
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Post by Elheru Aran on May 1, 2011 3:36:55 GMT
Heck yes a hacksaw is a bad saw for wood! It's for metal and PVC. For wood, you're much better off getting a proper handsaw, a 12" or 15" one shouldn't cost much. The rest of your tools sound like a great deal for that price, though... cheap chisels make for good practice sharpening, because you'll have to do that often |
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Post by Adrian Jordan on May 1, 2011 4:01:09 GMT
Exactly my thoughts. Thanks for the tip on saws, I'll definitely look into that. This is the first time I've had any interest or hobby that involved real hand tools, so it's going to be trial be error.
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Post by Ichiban on May 7, 2011 1:27:29 GMT
Hacksaws aren't that bad for tsuka work, especially when you need to cut of the last 3 mm to fit the tsuba.  Take your time when carving, if you go fast you will probably shave off too much wood. Do a test wrap when you think you're done to check the diameter. I hadn't carved anything either before doing my first tsuka, and by checking the fit often and doing a lot of measuring it turned ot really nice. |
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