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Post by arbladeworks on Jun 17, 2024 18:45:31 GMT
Hey y’all! I wanted to start a thread for this project. This will be my first time making koshirae, but I’ve done some of the required processes before- at least as it relates to the saya and tsuka- when making chef knives. I’ve been learning how to forge Japanese style blades as well but it will be a while before I can confidently attempt do a whole-ass Katana, which is why I wanted to pick up a cool project blade. I bought the blade, and a honoki saya blank from Justice (I’ll use Alder or Poplar for the tsuka). I’m using an antique tsuba, fuchi and kashira. I’m currently planning on using African blackwood for the kojiri, kurikata and koiguchi, and probably doing an ishime finish on the saya. I want to do a full wrap of tiger ray skin on the tsuka, haven’t decided on ito color yet. So far I’ve started polishing out the weird etch that was on it (going to do a lemon juice etch a la Walter Sorrells), and that’s about it. Attachments:
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Post by MessengerofDarkness on Jun 17, 2024 22:47:19 GMT
Very interested to see how this project goes!
On a personal note I'm a big fan of the black on black ito/dyed same combination, though I also quite enjoy golden brown uto over black same too. Do you have any ideas on the tsuka shape/length?
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Post by arbladeworks on Jun 18, 2024 2:00:18 GMT
I think 12” would be about right for the tsuka length. That would be roughly 1.5” between end of nakago and the start of the kashira (by my admittedly hurried measuring). I want to make a waisted tsuka, probably haichi shaped. I really like the tsuka on my Huawei so will definitely take some inspiration from it! And I may not dye the same at all. I love the coloration of the tiger ray same I have.
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Post by arbladeworks on Jun 18, 2024 5:15:52 GMT
Well, I had about three free hours after my wife and kids went to bed so I filed the openings of the fuchi and tsuba to better fit on the nakago (the tsuba fits PERFECTLY after just truing up the slot; took literally 45 seconds of filing), cut up some poplar and carved out the tsuka! I would have loved to glue it up tonight as well but I actually don’t have any wood glue right now. 😅 I typically will use epoxy for everything, including wood-wood bonds while making knives because it’s what I’m most used to, but I want to do this at least slightly more correctly. I’ll get some tomorrow and glue it up. Carving out the inside of the tsuka would have gone a lot faster but I had a colossal brain fart while carving the omote side and was carving it out backwards (the ha thicker than the machi)- so I had to flip that piece over and start again. |
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Post by larason2 on Jun 18, 2024 20:06:44 GMT
Interesting project. Rice glue isn't that hard to use, and it's quite dependable. The reason it's used is the steel slides over it more easily, and it's unlikely to damage the metal. It is also quite reversible once you learn the technique!
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Post by arbladeworks on Jun 19, 2024 2:26:05 GMT
Glued up the tsuka, got impatient and hogged off some material ~8 hours into the cure, and I made some placeholder ‘menuki’ out of stabilized curly Acacia wood. Quick 1200 grit hand sand and a coat of axe wax and they’re good to go. Still need to refine the shape of the tsuka quite a bit, but I’ll do that after some good sleep. Attachments:
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Post by arbladeworks on Jun 19, 2024 2:30:47 GMT
Interesting project. Rice glue isn't that hard to use, and it's quite dependable. The reason it's used is the steel slides over it more easily, and it's unlikely to damage the metal. It is also quite reversible once you learn the technique! I don’t hate the idea of rice glue or anything, I just don’t have any. Honestly I haven’t put more than two minutes of thought (enough to realize that epoxy isn’t the play for the handle) into what kind of adhesive to use. |
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Post by MessengerofDarkness on Jun 19, 2024 2:39:53 GMT
Looking good so far! And that's an interesting menuki placement, I haven't seen that done before I think. I usually just opt for a gyaku position if they're small enough. And what's the direction with the tsuka shape? Haichi?
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Post by arbladeworks on Jun 19, 2024 3:02:43 GMT
Sorry, to be clear the menuki won’t be placed this way. I mean placeholder in the sense that it would make more sense to have antique menuki or something matching the fuchi and kashira so I will likely end up changing them down the line. Currently the shape is closest to imogata (you can’t see the taper in this photo because of how it’s angled) but I’m planning on haichi. There’s still loads of material to remove, which I’m planning on doing with a bastard file instead of my belt sander.
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Post by MessengerofDarkness on Jun 19, 2024 6:26:15 GMT
Äääh, I gotcha!
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Post by arbladeworks on Jun 19, 2024 17:52:39 GMT
Got the tsuka filed down to fit the fuchi! And before anyone mentions it, yes there will be seppa. I just haven’t made them yet. Not sure I have brass in the right thickness. Attachments:
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Post by arbladeworks on Jun 19, 2024 18:42:58 GMT
Kashira fit up, notch cut out of tsuka, lots more bulk removed, now is when I’ll really have to decide on the overall shape of the tsuka. Attachments:
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Post by MessengerofDarkness on Jun 19, 2024 19:05:39 GMT
Kashira fit up, notch cut out of tsuka, lots more bulk removed, now is when I’ll really have to decide on the overall shape of the tsuka. Looking forward to it! On a personal note I'm partial to a shape that's somewhere between morozori and haichi:  |
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Post by arbladeworks on Jun 19, 2024 23:12:24 GMT
I like that shape! Not sure yet what’s possible- I’ll have to do some measurements to see where I can and can’t remove material.
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Post by Justice on Jun 20, 2024 20:37:49 GMT
Looking great so far, glad someone is making good use of it
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Post by arbladeworks on Jun 21, 2024 21:10:01 GMT
Thanks! 🤘 Got some of the tiger ray skin cut up, hydrated and drying on the tsuka. This is actually round two- first one I cut exactly to shape and it ended up being too little when accounting for thickness of the skin vs the masking tape I used to measure. Whoops! Attachments:
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Post by arbladeworks on Jun 24, 2024 17:29:59 GMT
Here’s an update! I went ahead and did a dry run of sorts for the tsuka ito wrap. I didn’t use my menuki, and I didn’t really focus on getting it to look uniform (obviously LOL), but it was fairly tight for a wrap without hishigami. Unfortunately, I broke one of the TINY shitodome on the antique kashira, so I’ll have to figure that out. I’ll replace both. They had degraded considerably and are almost unbelievably thin anyway. I removed the ito, then got to making the seppa and figuring out where to drill the mekugi ana. If I was smart I would bave done that beforehand, but alas. I drilled the hole a tiny bit too low so I’ve been incrementally sanding down the seppa and the mouth of the tsuka to get the holes to line up. Currently I have it about 95% there. I could make a mekugi to fit right now but it would be too narrow on one side. I have to figure out what to do with the seppa- currently they’re sized to have about 1/16” overhang past the fuchi, but the seppa closer to the blade seems too large for the tsuba (oh yeah, I also changed to a thinner tsuba). |
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Post by zsg1313 on Jun 25, 2024 16:23:04 GMT
Nice work. I would generally match the seppa to the mouth of the saya but go with what you like.
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Post by Salvatori Moretto: Koala Forge on Jun 25, 2024 17:57:36 GMT
Yeah dealing with samegawa is always fun lol it's been my experience to leave at least the usual recommended 1/8th inch around all sides of your trace out. Keep in mind that the areas of smaller nodules will expand more with water and are more forgiving to be wetted and "stretched" to allow for better fit on your follow up fitting/wetting/drying cycles. Now the area around the emperors node or oyuban tends to shrink more when wet and not expand nearly as much :)
For an example, on my most recent full wrap although the nodules overall were larger than most, but deff not "huge" by any measure of the word, the usual 1/8th was actually almost not enough, after shrinking I literally had to do ZERO trimming down the center and was just barely lucky enough to pull it closed and not waste a skin lol
Nice work! Keep going in the craft! :)
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Post by arbladeworks on Jun 25, 2024 19:35:48 GMT
Nice work. I would generally match the seppa to the mouth of the saya but go with what you like. OH, that makes a lot of sense! I’ll make sure to do just that. |
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