Tsuba Fussing, Before And After

[wublet]

I’m not entirely sure how contentious an issue this is, but I’d love to see some of the examples of work done by others, so I’ll start with my very first purchase. It was done with advice linked here with some old ivory, a plastic toothbrush, some tooth picks and a great deal of elbow grease. There’s a little more to be done so please don’t be too harsh

The original pictures aren’t mine so take them with a pinch of salt.

[Stephen]

well done, I love doing this, wish id held onto one or two. amazing what crud comes off.

[Mark]

looks like you did fine to me..   be careful not to go too far

[Stephen]

lol yep ya can take it off but ya cant put it back on

[Marius]

Iron lloks good, but you have removed patina from the bras and copper inlay

[Ford Hallam]

I think you did a very credible job, nicely done. I wuldn't worry too much about the loss of patina to the copper and brass, it wasn't original anyway and will redevelop soon enough.

[wublet]

Thanks for the comments, guys.

 

I was wondering about trying to re-patina those elements but it seemed very fiddly with my eyesight and I really didn't know how or if any solution used would affect the iron. Some research needed there methinks.

 

I'd be very interested to hear why you think the copper and brass weren't original though; most intriguing.

[Ford Hallam]

Jeff, I only meant the patina that was on the copper and brass was unlikely to be original. I say that because of the overall condition of the tsuba when you aquired it, clearly it hadn't been cared for.  Best to leave it alone to develop a patina on it's own. Anything you can apply may tarnish it but it won't be 'right' and will stand out as an obvious touch up.

[wublet]

Ford,

 

Ah, I thought after posting it may be something like that. Thank you.

 

I'd still be interested to see this sort of work as done by other amateurs; is that the right word? Well it describes me anyway. Any takers?

 

Seen your videos, Ford so I know what you can do

[jason_mazzy]

couldn't you do a rokusho without harming the iron?

[Ford Hallam]

Jason

 

no. If you place any ferrous metal tsuba in a rokusho bath it results in an electochemical reaction and the tsuba, and any inlays, are copper plated.  Trying to mask out the iron is a waste of time.

[jason_mazzy]

Thank you ford. I've been trying to search that on the internet to find out what would happen to the iron. The question then becomes how did the Japanese patinate just the copper, shibuichi, silver, and shakudo parts inlayed into old iron without harming the iron? Cold patination processes?

[Ford Hallam]

Jason, we're not quite sure how it was done in the past and it's not something anyone in Japan actually does today. There are cold, paste based, processes that may have been used, I use them, but they are quite tricky to get right and the copper plating risk remains.

[jason_mazzy]

Thank you Ford.