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Post by Faldarin on Nov 30, 2016 1:10:03 GMT
Hello again - still noob here, though I'd say double-noob when it comes to katana and the like. I had a question about my newest acquisition.
I already had one katana (for the collection and display), and figured I would pick up another that would be quite a bit less expensive - as a cutter. There happened to be the Ryujin T-10 custom on another special sale. (Midnight blue on dark blue theme really spoke to me, and dragons are always a win in my book.)
Well, I received it, and first impressions were quite good. The blade looks beautiful, like most T10 steel swords I have seen, it's quite sharp, and amazingly light with a bo-hi. (The last part being kind of key, since I injured my right arm at work a few weeks back, and it is still recovering.) I daresay it's the blade itself that has come to me in the best shape in my entire collection.
Unfortunately, every single sword I've ever gotten (ouch) has had something strange about it. -- Yeah, I know, saving up for that Albion. But for now - in this case, when dry handling it, particularly I felt something 'shift' slightly against my hand near the bottom of the tsuka. The tsuba is tight (but upside-down? according to the pictures I've seen of these customs, it's upside-down on this one?), the seppa and the habaki seem tight... but striking the lower third of the tsuka with my palm, or moving it quickly, I feel that shift - and a strike also gets a clear 'clink' sound, that sounds like it is near the tsuba, or even higher up the blade(?).
Needless to say, I won't be doing any cutting with it, or even rough handling, till I take it apart. That will be an adventure in and of itself, since I have not, before. I'm just wondering if any old pros here can give me advice what to look for. I'm probably not going to hurt anything turning the tsuba rightside-up? Oh - and one last bit of info, when I press it home into the saya the last few centimeters, I hear a clink almost like the one from bumping the tsuka earlier. I don't hear that on the other katana I have/handled.
Thanks in advance!
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Post by Adrian Jordan on Nov 30, 2016 4:02:03 GMT
Sorry to hear about the issue. You may have a crack in the tsuka core deep down, or the tangs channel may not be fitted perfectly to the tang.
I'll try to give you a few pointers on removing the tsuka.
To remove the pins, I use a short piece of cut off chopstick and a wood or rubber mallet. If the pin is tapered, it'll probably want to slide out to the right. So, you are holding the sword in front of you with the edge facing out you'd want to place the tool on the left side and drive it out to the right. This is for the pin nearest the tsuba. Do the reverse for the bottom pin, right to left. Don't use hard taps, try to ease them out.
Once the pins are removed first try placing one hand against the tsuba on the tsuka side and pull the tsuka off. If this does not work, try placing a piece of wood along the blade side of the tsuba and giving it light taps with the mallet while holding the tsuka. This will help diffuse the force along more of the tsuka core, reducing the chance of a crack or split in the wood core(assuming there isn't already one). It will also help safeguard against bending the tsuba. Only do this enough to unseat the tang from the tsuka and inch or so, then try pulling it out the rest of the way.
Remove the fuchi, which should just slide right off. Inspect the wood core for cracks and splits. If they are on the top they should be very evident. If they are deeper down then it may be a chore to see it. You'll need a flashlight. Also, use your fingers to squeeze the tsuka along the bottom and see if any part of it bows in. That'd mean the core is split near the bottom. Feel free to post images of what you find so that we can take a look and diagnose.
If the core is not cracked then the channel may be too wide at some point, allowing the tang to shift around. You can remedy this really simply by putting a layer of tape near where you feel the shift would be and reinserting the blade. See if this tightens it up and fixes the shifting/rattling you found.
No, the tsuba should fit equally well whichever way it's facing.
Remember to make sure the tang is aligned exactly with the pin holes when you reassemble it. Even if it's slightly off it can ruin the mekugi pins and maybe jam them in there. Try to keep track of which one was the top and bottom, and perhaps mark one side so you know which way they slid in.
If you find that the core is cracked, you can elect to fix it with glue or contact the vendor for a replacement. Cracked tsuka are no joke, and can be dangerous in the worse situations.
Hope this helps, and best of luck.
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Post by Faldarin on Dec 1, 2016 15:44:58 GMT
Thanks for the advice, Adrian! It will definitely be helpful in the future one way or another. I'm pretty sure it's going to be a bit of an adventure, as I said. Right now I've got a ticket in with the store. I'm going to see if I have any options before I'm going to take it apart, or if they would prefer me to take it apart and get them pictures.
I'll take apart any of our laptops at work down to the bare bones, feeling far more comfortable than dismantling a katana, at least yet. I'll post back one way or the other, once I hear back from them.
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Post by Faldarin on Dec 5, 2016 23:52:25 GMT
Okay! Last week was a little crazy, so I only got to it this week. My apologies. Thanks for the detailed instructions again, Adrian. The store feedback asked me to take it apart first... so I held my breath and took the plunge. I was able to pull this thing apart, surprisingly without issue. My heart sank a little bit at a fairly obvious crack along the back of the tsuka... near the top! However, pressing and squeezing all sides of the tsuka did not seem to cause any noise, and nothing seemed to bow in at either the top or the bottom. The cracks I saw didn't seem to do currently affect the structural integrity, or at least not enough to cause a shift. I found some interesting 'gunk' at the mouth of the tsuka on one side - it doesn't seem to be there to correct an imbalance or anything, but I haven't cleaned it off yet. Waiting on those more expert than I here to have their say before I remove it. Lastly, the tang itself looked good, and I could feel it tightly rub against the tsuka when I took it off, and again when I put the tsuka back on (to keep from just leaving stuff around and apart too much). Here's the pictures: imgur.com/a/cRod0(I remembered reading something about being short on storage space, so I posted on imgur instead) I feel slightly less noob after taking this apart, it was a nice experience. Almost reminds me of the zen feeling I get pulling apart a laptop and putting it back together. I was not expecting that. I'd rather not send this katana back, because its blade is the nicest out of any production sword I've seen (save maybe my Ronin Euro 7, a big maybe)... and admittedly I like the serial # I got. Silly, I know, but it's the little things. Thanks to anyone who takes the time to look and chime in... I'm thinking this kind of thing might be fixable with a little epoxy and maybe tape?
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Post by Adrian Jordan on Dec 6, 2016 4:03:32 GMT
Those cracks are no bueno, no bueno at all. If you really, really want to keep this one and use it at all, I would strongly suggest filling the tsuka with epoxy and permanently affix it to the tang. I've never done this myself, but there are members here who have who can give you guidance. Chrisperoni comes to mind. Very nice guy and very handy. sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/user/5360.
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Post by chrisperoni on Dec 6, 2016 6:12:58 GMT
Hello Faldarin, Adrian asked me to come check out your situation- it's an all too common one with lower cost production katana. Here's a post I did on a katana I picked up ebay on the cheap. Similar issues-cracks along the seams of the tsuka, the crappy glue-like stuff, and so on. sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/thread/38591/shirly-sword-60-katana-hoodThose cracks you have aren't cool. Most likely the tsuka core was too small for the nakago, which is why you feel such a tight fit when you remove it even with the cracks which would have relieved some of the tightness. We can fix it though fairly well and easily. I usually recommend this fix for any lower cost katana even when there is no obvious damage. I'll cover fixing the tsuka as well as toughening the ito and rest of the fittings. Stuff you'll need: -2 part epoxy, 15 minute set time will do. 5 minute works but you have to work quickly so if you're not used to it get stuff that takes longer to give you more time. 1 hour stuff is too long for my impatient ass though -stir sticks and throw away cups or cardboard pieces for mixing epoxy on. I use round toothpicks -long stick to jam that epoxy up in the tsuka. A thin artists paintbrush, a bbq skewer, some junk like that -rag for wiping excess epoxy off -towel to safely wrap around the blade for when/if you have to hold the sword by the blade -rubber mallet or a hammer and a scrap block of wood so if to have to whack the sword with a hammer you hit the wood block into the sword instead of the sword directly -lacquer and lacquer thinner mixed about 50/50 -painter tape -another artists paintbrush to brush the lacquer on the ito Keep in mind you are making permanent changes to the sword. No more taking the tsuka off. No more easy rewrapping the ito or taking it off without damaging the ray skin. Have everything in place including the mekugi pins, seppa, tsuba etc. It sucks to forget s piece when you're glueing stuff up lol. With the tsuka off try to loosen the kashira from the tsuka and take some mixed epoxy and stuff it into the kashira. Press the kashira back into place, wipe off any excess epoxy and use the tape to hold it tight in place while thas sets. Epoxy the fuchi in the same way making sure the opening for the nakago is clear. Let everything cure. With the tsuka off take the thinned lacquer and brush it onto the ito. The thinner helps the lacquer soak in better rather than just sit on top of the ito. Get all up in the nooks and crannies. Let that dry. This will stiffen up the ito as well as darken the colour a bit. It will lock the ito in place and make it much more durable. Let cure. Mix more epoxy and push it into the the tsuka. Try to get it to spread around all over, without pouring so much in that it will come out like a waterfall when the nakago goes back in. Pay attention to wherever you know the cracks are. Set the nakago into the tsuka. Hold the blade safely in a vise or in your hand with the towel and tap the tsuka in place if you need to with the mallet.wipe up any excess epoxy. Set the mekugi pins back in place. Let everything cure up now. Now your sword is tight! Cut some semprini!!
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Post by chrisperoni on Dec 6, 2016 6:37:15 GMT
...and here is a crappy video where I say stuff I just wrote out
Correction- tighter grain of mekugi towards kashira
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Post by Faldarin on Dec 7, 2016 4:53:57 GMT
And you suddenly appear! I can't thank both of you enough in this case - right now I've got the sword back together while I decide what to do with it. If I keep it, I'll definitely fix it in place - now that I've seen what's under the tsuka, there's no way I'd just let it go. The video will be a great reference for that. --- I didn't know about the grain on the mekugi pins. I was wondering why I had to play with them a little bit to get them back in when I put the katana back together... but I'll remember that! I had the pins labeled top and bottom, and the correct directionality thanks to Adrian's warnings earlier. I am the kind of guy who always makes screw maps when taking laptops apart so I get everything back in the right place.
Yeah, this was bought to be a 'beater' more than anything. Most people don't seem to have a great deal of trouble cutting with a katana - but for some reason, I almost always do better with European swords... so this one was an experiment just to have one to cut with (to go along with another nice one I have for display).
Maybe I'll look into them more in the future, but for now I am really thankful for the guidance. I'd seen instructions before about how to epoxy the tsuka in place, but hadn't mentioned lacquering the ito - but that makes a great deal of sense. (That Shirley looks like a more flashy version of what I ended up with, as well!)
I'm sure I'll have more questions on other things, but this has likely at least got me on the right track for this topic.
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