1kinko

It will probably be at the NCJSC show this weekend.

Japantown

The kon and chikaragane are soldered in place, normally using tin, lead, or silver (rarely). These menuki show no signs of white solders. It would also be highly unusual to use gold for these supports that are never seen again, once mounted.

If the kon and chikaragane are gold colored it’s likely been plated and the underlying metal color will bleed through over time.

That was my first thought too!

I’m finishing up a tsuka and want mat black leather Ito 4 mm wide but can’t find it at Namakawa Heibei. Fred Lohman may sell it but doesn’t take credit or PayPal and the Chinese stuff is plastic coated. I’m sure this is available somewhere in Japan but I don’t know where. Any ideas appreciated- thanks!

Better luck at suruga-ya.jp ¥800-1700. full: isbn4 8445 8550 9 c3072

Teddy- ISBN4-8445-8550-9 ¥3000E.

Congratulations! Nice careful work and fine patina. Nyusen or not you’ve entered into a very select group. Onwards!

I may well be wrong but I believe Artur injured his hands doing tsuka maki and now just sells tosogu. He has a Facebook page (his name). For a pretty good coverage of styles of wrap, Thomas Buck’s Facebook page Tsukamaki.net is a good resource.

Teddy- suggest you look at my reply under Wanted to Buy.

The Rokusho books and Lethal Elegance have the best photo reproductions, but you won’t learn much about technique from the text. Another good source for a lot of images is The Art Appreciation of Japanese Sword Fittings by Shigeo Fukushima (Japanese). For technique, Traditional Soft-metal Workers Trchniques (Katorai Mashiko) is the most comprehensive(with good illustrations) I’ve found (but it takes some real effort to understand the stuff google translate produces). There are a few more but I haven’t got to English translations of the titles handy. A lot of information can be found in the Following the Iron Brush archives

Not at all ready for prime time. Let’s be honest here- the “carving” is more like a scribble with a Dremel tool. To learn how to carve and inlay metals well takes years of practice and very few modern tsubashi can make a living at it. Neither Patrick Hastings nor Roman Urban were able to support their families, and they had spent the years to develop their skills. My advice is to start with copper. Although copper is more expensive than mild steel, it is far more forgiving of mistakes and takes a good patina easily, while a good patina on mild steel may take many trials. Mild steel plate does work very well for sukashi tsuba but learning the saw technique is critical there as well. Kevin Adams sukashi work was not accomplished overnight and, as far as I know, Kevin has also moved on to something that pays the bills. If this was a post about making a Japanese sword, people here would not be so polite. Practice, practice, practice.

FYI- New newsletter from Markus Sesko divides graphics on dates vs number of swords rated as juyo. gotta love my spellcheck- not divides, yes, provides.

FYI- New newsletter from Markus Sesko divides graphics on dates vs number of swords rated as juyo.

I’m really ignorant of both nihonto schools and tosogu schools, but I used to be a biologist/taxonomist and always used “keys” to analyze everything from plants to mammals. If any group can create a keys system, NMB is the one. Start with one description and let the opinions argue it out. In the end a key will emerge and caveats can be added (imho).

Sparrows were not appreciated by Japanese farmers because they ate their rice. Remember, wealth was accounted by a years worth of rice.

Yeah Dale and you could have posted the picture I emailed to you too! I’m on the road, trying to avoid people who drive on the wrong side of the road. In about a month I’ll try to post them all. Cheers!

Yesterday I was at the Ashmolean Museum where I was allowed to handle and photograph the 15 Ishiguro School tsuba they own. Arthur Church mainly collected kinko tsuba but also inlaid iron tsuba. Check out their website, arranged by school.

Nope, that “casting flaw” to the left of the nagako ana is just blade compression on soft iron. The Sendai region did have iron sand and, as I recall, ore, and several iron foundries that produced cast iron pots.

Great! Another Japanese weapon to master…,

Those aren’t ants. Look at them. That’s why there are signs of repair to the wood. The artist knew what he was carving but the “attestation” isn’t right or the kanji has dual meanings.

Termites and Japanese joinery?

Tedious (maybe that’s why it’s so faint) hand done “engine turning” with an edged protractor before it was cut, plus a little nanako.