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Post by jester on Jul 15, 2022 8:56:45 GMT
Some months ago I purchased a DK Savior second hand. The sword was in very good condition, except for the samegawa which had 2 cracks near the kashira due to the "holes" in the tsuka made to accommodate the end knots. The tsuka was quite in bad shape when opened: bad wood, dirt, wrong channels for the panels, tons of glue. Unexpected from DK but maybe this was an accidental bad tsuka. It has been properly restored anyway. Knowing I had to change the samegawa, I decided for a full restoration of the tsuka and a new koshirae; considering the colour scheme and what I had in mind, I went for a peacock theme, so blue, green and brown. Since the saya was already blue, I thought of a green ito and a brown sageo to complete the colour scheme. New Fittings:
An original vintage tsuba in manji tsunagi from Osaka. Fuchi and kashira by Sofecoke. Tetsukon cotton ito from Namikawa Heibei. A new piece of samegawa with oyatsubo from Erving Exotic Leathers. It has been "aged" with a coffee patina. There was a nice peacock pendant on Etsy, hand painted, correct size, so I bought two and removed the attachment ring, carefully filing off the remaining bits, ending up with a nice pair of menuki in peacock shape. Tsuka restoration, fittings accommodation, samegawa application and tsukamaki have been made by Shinken Studio (Croatia). Here's the final result.
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Post by paulmuaddib on Jul 15, 2022 17:23:42 GMT
Looks great. Love the idea of using the pendants for menuki.
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steveboy
Member
Measure twice, cut once.
Posts: 367
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Post by steveboy on Jul 15, 2022 18:51:57 GMT
Terrific repair & restoration! That tsuba is beautiful.
The knot divot is a new one on me -- I hate to think that's standard for any producer.
Love the peacock pendant. It's almost always rewarding to think out of the box on things like this. I've looked at lapel pins & earrings for menuki as well.
I'd love to read some more detail on that coffee-stain antiquing, if you'd care to share. I tried it once & the results were pretty tepid.
Thanks for taking the time to walk through this. The end result is gorgeous.
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Post by jester on Jul 15, 2022 19:44:19 GMT
I'd love to read some more detail on that coffee-stain antiquing, if you'd care to share. I tried it once & the results were pretty tepid.
For me it has always been a quite simple task: make an espresso and put it in the fridge until cold. Dip a brush into the coffee and apply a layer on the samegawa. Repeat for darker tones until you like. Maybe your attempt was on a piece of samegawa which has been treated with some lacquer or transparent coating that prevented the coffee to stain?
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steveboy
Member
Measure twice, cut once.
Posts: 367
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Post by steveboy on Jul 15, 2022 19:54:19 GMT
I'd love to read some more detail on that coffee-stain antiquing, if you'd care to share. I tried it once & the results were pretty tepid.
For me it has always been a quite simple task: make an espresso and put it in the fridge until cold. Dip a brush into the coffee and apply a layer on the samegawa. Repeat for darker tones until you like. Maybe your attempt was on a piece of samegawa which has been treated with some lacquer or transparent coating that prevented the coffee to stain? Thanks! Pretty sure my problem was that I was erring on the side of caution and making the coffee too weak.
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Post by porkchopexpress on Jul 15, 2022 22:25:16 GMT
Stunning, I absolutely love the color scheme, it's unique but still subtle and balanced.
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Post by Cottontail Customs on Oct 6, 2022 15:48:03 GMT
The knot divot is a new one on me -- I hate to think that's standard for any producer.
This is exactly the same way Hanwei does it on many of their tsuka. Same type of piney wood too. It’s pretty obvious to me DK is the same as Hanwei in most respects regarding construction and materials, following the same template. The divots are there to help recess the end knots. Not completely traditional of course but at least an attempt. Seems they’re using a large countersink bit to drill them instead of hand carving. They’re too deep and too round and not positioned optimally per side but again, they’re at least trying. I personally hate working with this type of wood because it tends to splinter and come up in big chunks when trying to carve it. This is not uncommon unfortunately and is a big reason I work with a lot less Hanwei and DK these days.
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steveboy
Member
Measure twice, cut once.
Posts: 367
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Post by steveboy on Oct 6, 2022 17:24:10 GMT
The knot divot is a new one on me -- I hate to think that's standard for any producer.
The divots are there to help recess the end knots. Not completely traditional of course but at least an attempt. Seems they’re using a large countersink bit to drill them instead of hand carving. They’re too deep and too round and not positioned optimally per side but again, they’re at least trying. I like the idea of the divot smoothing the appearance & hand feel of the grip, but I wonder how much structural integrity might be sacrificed. It's a lot of thinning right aboput where the nakago ends, and there can be a decent amount of torque going on.
Still, the vast majority of cracks I've seen on disassembly (and it's disconcerting how many are cracked) have been at the koiguchi. It's pretty clear that the ito & fuchi are absolutely vital in keeping the tsuka together even after the wood cracks.
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Post by Cottontail Customs on Oct 6, 2022 19:28:02 GMT
The divots are there to help recess the end knots. Not completely traditional of course but at least an attempt. Seems they’re using a large countersink bit to drill them instead of hand carving. They’re too deep and too round and not positioned optimally per side but again, they’re at least trying. I like the idea of the divot smoothing the appearance & hand feel of the grip, but I wonder how much structural integrity might be sacrificed. It's a lot of thinning right aboput where the nakago ends, and there can be a decent amount of torque going on. Still, the vast majority of cracks I've seen on disassembly (and it's disconcerting how many are cracked) have been at the koiguchi. It's pretty clear that the ito & fuchi are absolutely vital in keeping the tsuka together even after the wood cracks. I've never personally seen a case where the divots caused any structural issues. the bigger issue has always been the poor wood quality leading to splits and cracks at the mouth and along the ha and mune. when the wood they tend to use dries out over the years, it can get really brittle and it can also warp a bit. low quality or wrong species wood for the job that isn't dried and cured properly can always lead to potential problems.
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steveboy
Member
Measure twice, cut once.
Posts: 367
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Post by steveboy on Oct 6, 2022 23:33:55 GMT
I've never personally seen a case where the divots caused any structural issues. the bigger issue has always been the poor wood quality leading to splits and cracks at the mouth and along the ha and mune. when the wood they tend to use dries out over the years, it can get really brittle and it can also warp a bit. low quality or wrong species wood for the job that isn't dried and cured properly can always lead to potential problems. Good to know! If & when I ever chisel out another same channel, I might give the divots a shot. Depends a lot on my faith in the wood I'm working on; they're usually fairly low-end.
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