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Posted

The shirasaya I have made in the US were all by either John Tirado or Brian Tschernega. Brian is mostly known for being a masterful habaki maker, but he also makes excellent shirasaya.

  • Like 4
Posted

I think I have one by Brian Tschernaga and both the Habaki and Shirasaya are very well made.

Posted

I have had many saya made by both Brian and John.  Both are very good, and I agree with Ken that John is faster - sort of like a turtle is faster than a snail.....

  • Like 2
Posted

Thank you all for your recommendations. Looks like I have some phone calls to make.

 

If you do not mind my asking, what were some of the turn around times for the different craftsmen?

 

I have no problem waiting as long as needed for a quality piece, but I am curious.

Posted

Like Barry write

  On 5/21/2020 at 10:56 PM, b.hennick said:

When dealing with an excellent craftsman you should expect to wait. They are busy for good reasons.

Keep this mind.

They need time for doing a good work and you are not the only one who give them a order.

 

I have to wait 4,5 years for polish made by a mukansa polisher including shirasaya.

The work was absolutely perfect made.

Posted

My above comment was tongue-in-cheek.  A wait of 7-8 months is perfectly reasonable for a shirasaya.  

 

By the way, what did the snail say when he was riding on the turtle's back?

Weeeeeeee!

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Posted

Yes Tom.  The old comment when impatiently waiting is "while we are still young", which could be replaced with "while we are still alive"!

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Posted

The red stuff is a plastic wrap like saran wrap. It protects the shirasaya. Some people leave it on, others dispose of it. Most people put the blade in shirasaya in a shirasaya bag.

  • Like 1
Posted

John does excellent work, and has done many swords for me.  It's not well known, but Brian Tschernega is also an outstanding sayashi.  His shirasaya work is great, though he is most famous for his lacquered saya work, habaki making and building or restoration of kodogu.

  • 9 months later...
Posted
  On 5/21/2020 at 4:17 PM, NihontoCollector said:

Mike Virgadamo

Expand  

I used Mike Virgadamo's services last year to have a shirasaya made for my murumachi period katana and was more than displeased with his services... Everything went smooth until I picked up the blade. Like an idiot I drove home without taking a really good look at the blade. It wasn't until I got home and inspected the blade again when I noticed not one but two chip marks on the blade, one on the yakiba and one on the mune. Before leaving my blade in his possession I had inspected, cleaned and taken pictures of it and saw no marks in these locations on the blade. When I brought this up to him he offered me $125 off the shirasaya and said that he didn't hear anything damage the blade and did not believe that it happened while in his possession despite his acknowledgement that there are tools in his shop that could cause this. I told him that I wanted all my money back which is more than fair and doesn't even cover the cost to fix the damage, considering a good polish is upwards of 3k. It wasn't until I threatened to sue him that he agreed to give my money back and still never admitted to doing anything wrong or even said sorry. I will say the shirasaya itself was of good quality... but at the expense of my blade definitely NOT worth it :( . Anyways sorry for the rant but I wanted to send out a message with a warning to always be vigilant and careful with who you trust your blades with because not everyone else will have that same care for what is yours. Unfortunately, I learned this the hard way and must be much more careful :cry:

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  • 2 years later...
Posted

Hi all,  this series of posts is quite old and the website link for John Tirano on FB does not appear to be active. Does anyone have an update on active saya craftspersons in the US? I'm looking to do a shirasaya and a couple of lacquers in the near future. Much appreciated

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