Shakudo Tsuba

[Ron STL]

Attached are photos of a simple, undecorated polished shakudo tsuba recently acquired. Initially, I thought it was solid shakudo and probably quite late Edo work, nothing particularly interesting. Looking closer, I discovered the tsuba must be sanmai construction; thin shakudo over a copper plate. What's interesting is that other three-piece tsuba usually have a shakudo rim helping to hold everything in place. This one has no hint of any seam or joint around the rim, but continuous shakudo covering. It still looks latest Edo work (or newer) to me. But I am wondering is somebody can elaborate on this type of construction using a total encasement in thin shakudo. Ron STL

[Ford Hallam]

This one has no hint of any seam or joint around the rim, but continuous shakudo covering.

 

 

Then I can only imagine they used magic.

 

There is a joint there, it's simply hidden.  The outer edge will have had a ring (flat strip) of shakudo fitted first. This may have been soldered in place or fused without solder. This is actually not a difficult thing to do with copper and shakudo.

Then the front and back plates would have been similarly applied. If there was a visible solder join on the edge it could have been lightly chiselled out and the gap then simply hammered over to close up, thus creating an 'invisible' join. This sort of hidden join is most commonly to be (not  ) seen on shakudo fuchi.

[Ron STL]

This explanation makes sense; couldn't imagine how it could had been accomplished any other way. As often is the case, what appears to be a lot of timely work to accomplish is in reality, for an accomplished craftsman, not all that difficult of a task. Always amazing to realize how things were (are) done! Thanks Ford.

Ron STL