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Post by Venom on Sept 22, 2014 0:49:10 GMT
So I bought a bare blade as my first true sword and decided to make everything my self (because I'm nuts) and I've already designed a tsuba, it's in the members design forums but I have a few questions about habaki. I know they are traditionally made of copper or brass and occasionally silver, is there a reason for that? is it because they don't rust or at least don't oxidize like steel? I also notice that most of the ones for sale have a fairly harsh finish is this because that's what's needed or just bad manufacturing? How tight should the fit be? any help would be appreciated
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Sept 22, 2014 1:04:36 GMT
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Post by frankthebunny on Sept 22, 2014 1:31:22 GMT
Softer metals like copper and silver and mixes of copper/gold(shakudo), copper/silver(shibuichi) were used most often. Brass is a more recent material. These softer metals are less damaging to the harder steel of a blade and better at absorbing shock as well. Iron habaki were rare but have been found on some historic blades. On many more decorative katana, the copper habaki was covered by a thin foil sheet of gold, silver, shakudo or shibuichi and then decorated with all kinds of different patterns and designs. Some of these provided both aesthetics and function. Some patterns on the ha and mune edges were rough to provide a little friction in the koiguchi. Many modern production habaki are rough just because there isn't money to spend on precise finishing of this piece.
The habaki should be fit closely to the blade, ha and mune machi but should also slide on and off without too much effort. Snug so it doesn't rattle but removable by hand. It should be narrow at the ha and wider at the mune, and should taper out from the top to the bottom.
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