Musashi Rosewood Shirasaya Project
Sept 28, 2008 1:14:36 GMT
Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2008 1:14:36 GMT
This is my first project, so I kept it simple. I have two of these, one for playing--er--practicing, and one for show. The finish on the shirasaya wasn't the best. It came with a few dings, the tsuka and saya didn't meet flush, the meguki was raised about a millimeter, almost two above the tsuka, etc.
So I said 'screw it' and took my sander to it.
Before:
I started with 80 grit on the hand sander to get rid of all of the finish. Then I went to 120 on the sander quickly, then the rest by hand. 120 turned into 220, which I used to round the corners at the end of the saya and tsuka. After a trip to lowes, I took some 320 to it which amazed me how much it brought out the grain in the wood. the 400 was probably overkill, but I was in the zone!
As of right now, the second coat of stain is drying. Tomorrow it'll get another once-over with 400, a coat of high-gloss, more 400 and another coat of polyurathaine highgloss.
What do you think? The stain brought the grain of the wood out beautifully, in my opinion. It's Minwax Oil-based wood finish, 210b, I think. Of course, it looks better wet. So depending on the results tomorrow morning, I might give it another stain to make it a little darker.
I still couldn't get the tsuka and saya to sit together perfectly. I got it close, but I didn't want to go taking too much wood off of the top of the saya.
All of the wood used is around the same shade except for one piece on the tsuka, which is clearly darker than the rest of it, but I don't mind at all.
These swords (the shirasayas by Musashi) are great. Sharp enough for light cutting and cheap and customizable! Fun to work with.
Opinions?
So I said 'screw it' and took my sander to it.
Before:
I started with 80 grit on the hand sander to get rid of all of the finish. Then I went to 120 on the sander quickly, then the rest by hand. 120 turned into 220, which I used to round the corners at the end of the saya and tsuka. After a trip to lowes, I took some 320 to it which amazed me how much it brought out the grain in the wood. the 400 was probably overkill, but I was in the zone!
As of right now, the second coat of stain is drying. Tomorrow it'll get another once-over with 400, a coat of high-gloss, more 400 and another coat of polyurathaine highgloss.
What do you think? The stain brought the grain of the wood out beautifully, in my opinion. It's Minwax Oil-based wood finish, 210b, I think. Of course, it looks better wet. So depending on the results tomorrow morning, I might give it another stain to make it a little darker.
I still couldn't get the tsuka and saya to sit together perfectly. I got it close, but I didn't want to go taking too much wood off of the top of the saya.
All of the wood used is around the same shade except for one piece on the tsuka, which is clearly darker than the rest of it, but I don't mind at all.
These swords (the shirasayas by Musashi) are great. Sharp enough for light cutting and cheap and customizable! Fun to work with.
Opinions?