Cat-scratch Habaki

[Bryce]

G'day Bruce,

I just discovered this thread. Here is mine from the Nobuyoshi gunto.

Cheers,

Bryce

 

[Bruce Pennington]

  On 4/26/2021 at 11:46 PM, Bryce said:

G'day Bruce,

I just discovered this thread. Here is mine from the Nobuyoshi gunto.

Cheers,

Bryce

 

 

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Excellent Bryce!  I saw that on another thread but didn't post it here because I thought I had already posted it.  But after a look-see, I mis-remembered.  I had mixed it up with @roger dundas habaki in post #86.  It has the maze on the upper and diagonal lines on the lower half.

 

Gorgeous.

[Bruce Pennington]

On a Kanetsugu, found HERE

 

[Bruce Pennington]

Wow, this is cool!  Bamboo fences, found on a @paulb post HERE.

 

[Bruce Pennington]

I don't think we've touched on mon yet.  Here's 3 Pietro posted from his visit to the NBTHK museum found HERE.

 

[RichardP]

This one is over at nihonto.com, on an Ishido katana....

https://www.nihonto.com/7-03-20/

[Bruce Pennington]

No way!  I know so little about metalworking. I wonder if the craftsman cut through the side as he worked? Or did he start with a hole in the side, and added the waves that curve into the empty space?  I also wonder about the red. If that was original, or was added for some reason later.

[ROKUJURO]

Bruce,

I am sure that you have to finish the HABAKI first before you can decorate it.

The "red" might be copper seen from the inside.

[Mark S.]

Two piece habaki on new blade I picked up at the Chicago show.

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

  On 5/7/2021 at 12:50 PM, Mark S. said:

Two piece habaki

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We haven't posted too many silver habaki yet, have we!  Nice one.  To me, one of the signs of great craftsmanship is the attention to detail.  This guy took time to get the edges underneath:

 

[Mark S.]

I didn’t want to make the pics too large, but here is one showing the detail a little better/clearer.

[Mark S.]

I’m really impressed with how it’s assembled and fits together.  Like a small interlocking puzzle...

[Bruce Pennington]

That's some real quality workmanship.  Thanks for posting!

[ribendao]

  On 5/6/2021 at 12:51 PM, RichardP said:

This one is over at nihonto.com, on an Ishido katana....

https://www.nihonto.com/7-03-20/

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I am seeing similar habaki for sale on ebay being shipped out from China. This one definitely looks nicer though. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/254969846915?hash=item3b5d631c83:g:ovIAAOSwu0BfRy6x

 

[Bruce Pennington]

I'm so new at this.  I don't know if this is (or was) a popular art theme, or the Chinese ones are just copying a single one that they've spotted.  I agree, this original is still better.  Theirs looks cast.

[Bruce Pennington]

Don't know if I'm seeing more that what's there, but maybe this is hail stones in rain?  Found on a 1940 Sadakatsu HERE.

[Bryce]

G'day Bruce,

I don't know what it represents, but this is the classic "Gassan" habaki which is used by the Gassan family. I would love to own one of these some day (and matching blade of course!).

Cheers,

Bryce

[james_green42]

  On 5/11/2021 at 12:54 PM, Bruce Pennington said:

Don't know if I'm seeing more that what's there, but maybe this is hail stones in rain?  Found on a 1940 Sadakatsu HERE.

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here is a better picture. Hope it helps 

[Kurikata]

my new one very much scratched

[Bruce Pennington]

Nice Bruno!  Is that made of a silver metal or is it plated?

[Kurikata]

pure plain silver 

[Kurikata]

[b.hennick]

It looks like cherry tree bark.

[DoTanuki yokai]

It is a copper habaki that is wrapped  with silver foil

The foil is much thicker then ‚leaf‘ gold or silver but the habaki itself is copper.

[Bruce Pennington]

Ah, I see it now:

 

[Bruce Pennington]

A new variation of the cat-scratch or rain design found HERE:

 

[Bruce Pennington]

A new addition of the Mt Fuji theme on THIS VIDEO shared by @BIG on a Sadakatsu blade with quite unusual (to me) horimono.  Don't know if it's new or old, kind of looks new, but still a nice work of art.

[Bruce Pennington]

Speaking of mon, found an excellent example of the crest just hinted at on post #37.  It's on a Nobushige tanto at Ed's Yakiba.com

[Bruce Pennington]

A nice variation of the maze on a Sukenaga blade at Yakiba.com (not advertising for Ed, simply found a nice source of high-quality blades which tend to have high-quality fittings!).

[C Lewis]

Does this mean it's a rainproof lighter?