DaveT

You will find maybe three sets of holes on the bottom of the two upper plates. Just tie them to the first two holes of the cross over knot (x) I plug the backs of the lace now with sheep skin. Ignore that part of the photo, it was one of my first jobs. if you buy the armour and get stuck PM me and i'll send you some photo's using some broken down armours I have here.

How cool is that

Tumbled by Eric. Honesty is brutal at times. Its overpriced, run....... if you live in the UK I could sell you something a lot better for the same price.

As Ian said the dou breast plates can be fixed back into position. You can loosen off the cross knots and feed some leather through the odoshi-ana, then re tighten them, if they have stretched too much you could pull them through and cut them to length under the cross knot. About two hours of fiddling. Here's a photo of a nightmare job I did. But it illustrates whats required. I was thinking that the lacing has been replaced in areas due to the slack, its not consistent. A quick lace would sell the dou, and not many dealers will spend the time to get it 100% right as its a commercial decision.

Its not the best armour. Ni-mai dou - 16th Century. Low ranking, okashi (lent) armour maybe. You can pick these up on ebay rather cheaply.

It looks re-laced to me. It's not plugged either through the odoshi-no-ana. The slack sections kinda promote that. Not a crime, and it will keep together for years to come. Nice armour, not sure about the three byo on the mabizashi or the kamon o the dou?

Have you got a table? My friend Richard has a table at the show, I think you know him. I'll be walking the show if you want to catch up.

That sounds exciting! I'll be very honest with everyone here. I'd just about had it with armour, mainly trough my dealings as a partner with a well known dealer/author. Working with him painted a rather infectious, distorted and almost resentful picture of museums and the collectors community. Luckily, after removing myself from him completely I was approached by a local collector who re-ignited my passion for armour and ultimately re-connected me with some old friends. With my restoration services re-booted katchu plays a part in my everyday life once again. I assessed where I was, and who were my mentors over the years and felt guilty that what little knowledge I do retain through their investment in me was destined to be lost over time. Therefore I am committed to making a go of this. Most of all I want to learn. We all belong to a minority, keeping together, sharing, learning, contributing, inter-acting with each other can only be of benefit to us, and future katchuphiles. I would really like to see this "guild of fellows" transpire. I hold a healthy collection of armour, it's available to be viewed, held, inspected by what I deem as like-minded people. In the UK we have a handful of collectors, that are willing to meet and exchange. This is all we really need, there is no requirement to over complicate things and ultimately invite politics and other time wasting evils. This is not a slur on working on an European basis, I'd welcome it. Maybe a European umbrella will emerge from this at some point? In the meantime I will slap together a web presence aimed for a 2013 launch, I'll make all digital assets and content available to our oversea friends should they wish to replicate. I'm going to be attending the Antique Fair at the Birm Int'l on the 18th Nov if anyone would like to meet up. I think Ian and Richard will be going? D

Oh dear. Well if you ever want to fly to Luton or Birmingham anytime i'll be happy to collect ya, let you stay over. You can meet the lads etc.

Then its a must guys! Would anyone like to tender a name? UK-Nihon Katchu Bugu Kenkyu? UK-Katchubunnies? @Ian good chat today. I'll pop up with those Iwai armours as promised. Should be a couple of weeks before I get the haramaki. @ Paul, where do you live buddy?

I have a few collectors in the area that visit me to play with armour. One said how fortunate it was that they knew me? I then pondered that if you a collector in the UK where would you begin to learn other than buy one of Ian's books. Being a £131.00 a year paid up member of the Nihon Katchu Bugu Kenkyu Hozon Kai is not really going to get you far, especially if you want to be hands on with the stuff. So here it is, would anyone be up for a UK version of the NKBKHK? I know we have the Token, but it's not really 100% katchubunny. We already meet, drink tea and play with katchu in Northampton each month. Would anyone else like to attend?

http://m.christies.com/sale/list/id/172 ... 5fd767d7a6 A little expensive?

My Tanaka-Bake are made from human hair. I was instructed to use only rapeseed oil. Takes me nearly 30 minutes to clean of the urushi with a Hera, then I use Saran Wrap (Japanese Cling Film) to keep them stored between jobs.

Most items are drying today, so I took a photograph of the various materials and tools I use for lacquer work in my studio. On lacquering I base the process very closely to the procedure outlined in the Chukokatchu Seisakuben by Kozan Sakakibara written in Edo Jindai I was trained to create urushi-art! But that level is not required for katchu thank god. 1. Ko-Ita-Nuri A single thin layer of seshime-urushi is applied. (2 days drying) 2. Mugi-Urushi A covering cloth is laid, then coated with a wheat flour mugi-ko seshime-urushi layer. (2 days drying) 3. Kokuso A mixture of chopped hemp, wheat flour and seshime-urushi is used to fill any dents and gaps. (2 days drying) 4. Seshime-nuri A thick layer is applied to seal the kokuso, then polished. (2 days drying) 5. Sabi-nuri A coating of mixture seshime-urushi and Tonoko clay is applied and polished when dry. (2 days drying) 6. Sabi-gatame-nuri A repetition of 5. this ensures the surface is smooth. (2 days drying) 7. Ro-iro A coat of black lacquer is applied, followed by polishing (6 days drying) 8. Ro-iro Repeated. (6 days drying) 9. Ro-iro Repeated (6 days drying) 10. Ro-iro Repeated, but finished with standard polishing and then a treatment of tsubaki (powered deer horn) (6 days drying) As you can see this process takes a long time. I tend to work on at least 5-10 commissions at the same time. I dry the lacquer for an extra day due to the fact that I'm extremely allergic to it. There's a lot to be said for the tataki-nuri technique as from point 5. its only two further steps, a sabi-nuri and sealing coat to finish.

I have a Facebook page for NNK, its easy to post there without blogging up NMB too much http://www.facebook.com/nihonnokatchu

I've been rather encouraged with the growing interest on the forum with regard armour restoration. Until now I never realised that what we as restorers take on board as a standard routine is rarely shared with the collectors community. For that reason I have started this thread. It's not my intention to tender trade secrets here as such, but rather to provide you with an insight of what goes on behind closed doors. I work on 4-5 projects at the same time due to drying times and rarly photograph the work. Now armed with the iphone I can make this happen. I hope you enjoy the regular updates. Dave This is a Nerigawa Suji bachi kabuto. I received the item is a very poor state, almost 80% wrecked. The relief on the surface of the helmet is completely fabricated from kokuso and sabi, most of which has been lost through damage. This is a total rebuild, and a very challenging one. Stage 1: I consolidated all areas that were damaged. Stage 2: I have built up the ground layers with a hard layer of kokuso (mixture of flower, urushi and fine sawdust) Stage 3: Rebuild. Again using kokuso I am making the false suji-tate flanges. Once dry they will be cut back and another layer applied. This photo displays the newly built suji-tate and the replacement rim to the mabizashi with a light kokuso layer. Once dried it will be cut back and the process repeated until a level and presentable layer has been attained. You can follow more regular updates on my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/nihonnokatchu

Ian, correct me if I'm reading this incorrectly. A coned helmet would be classed as Toppai, but a slightly rounded helmet that moves towards a peak (point) is Shii-nari. The above terms being used regardless of ken etc.

Firstly thank you gents for the feedback. I've learned from the Shii-nari/toppi debate too. I wanted to try and attempt to gain some history on this item. I'd rather stab my eyes out with a sharp pencil than pay Trevor to release his description. I took the photo in my urushi studio, the back drop is a roller blind guys, very easy set-up with a lamp. The helmet was restored in Japan via Toraba. Personally I could have done a much better job on the lacquer, which surprised me. The odoshi and the replacement ukibari are very good. I listed the helmet for sale to present some very much needed items, I put a high price on it as I don't really want to part with it for now. I'm a collect first, dealing is painful. I've got around 10 kabuto undergoing a slow repair. Waiting 2 days for kokuso to dry and then 4 days in between urushi coats is mind numbly boring :lol: .

I got this from Toraba about 8yrs ago. Trevor said it came from a museum in Japan and has been published in a book? I don't know anymore than that. I'm guessing at Shii-Nari Bachi Momoyama Jindai? Do any of you guys have an additional information to tender?

No offense taken. I'm over my head this month in commissions too. I was pretty much on my own in the UK restoring armour. I would welcome the opportunity to have another person to interact with who shares the passion. Currently I'm working on a Nerigawa Suji Bachi. It's nearly 70% destroyed. I had this sent to me from Japan, it's full of car filler and was covered with an oil based black paint. I've removed the crud and replaced the damage with kokuso which has now finally dried, today it's getting a sabi layer. Unfortunately I'm allergic to Urushiol, and my wrists have been contaminated lol.

blanked again, how nice.

Just taking the opportunity to promote my new website via the forum. The site is called Nihon-No-Katchu.com. My plans are to populate the site with armour to sell. Currently I have about 10 kabuto and 3 armours in progress. I've been a collector for over 29yrs and hold a pretty cool collection here in the UK. This love of armour has prompted me to enter a commercial venture with NNK. I would like to extend a discount on each item to all NMB members to support Brian's forum. If you buy, or make use of my restoration services please ensure the forum members are aware. We look after our own in Katchu-land.

Found these in Matsue Castle during my lunch break. They were listed as being old, but looked gendai, probably Fukutake Ichiro? As you can see the mei has been removed, a little of the inscription is remaining. What do ya think? (ps hello Malcolm)

Thanks Ian. The top does look a bit odd. An ugly item. As to the drawing, yes it's a drawing. I use photographs as reference, so it's in no way art, dynamic realism? Copying? I drew a bunch of these for the Watanabe Book, but when Trevor Absolon took over the entire project he decided to use the talented illustrator Brian Snoddy, and booted my work. I'm using the images to populate my own website nihon-no-katchu.com. Drawing is a great way to understand armour, and escape the family for a few hours. I'm planning to do a study of the Date and sendai armours for 2013 and post it as a PDF/IPad download. Here are some others:

thanks Eric for the help, from what I can recall it was one piece.