Brass on iron, an experimental tsuba

[Tiaan Burger]

About two weeks ago I visited a nihonto collector and had the opportunity to get up close and personal with some of his tsuba. One piqued my interest as craftsman as it reminded me of a technique I used to apply when I was still doing a lot of blacksmithing. It was an iron tsuba, heavily textured, with brass highlights. It looked like the iron was heated to red heat and the brass allowed to melt or solder on to the surface.

 

I do not know if this was a common technique in Japan, or even if I "read" the tsuba correctly. Maybe some of the guys on here can shed more light on the topic?

 

I decided to give it a try and the result was quite pleasing. I used a wrought iron blank with raised rim which I had made as an exercise in raising rims, if it did not work then at least I would not have spoiled a good tsuba blank.

 

 

Questions and comments welcome!

 

Tiaan