IRON ON IRON INLAY TSUBA

[roger dundas]

I will do me best to put this lucidly.

I have been following closely the discussion on 'cast iron tsuba' here for a number of reasons. One amongst them is the question in my mind about any iron tsuba that has a carving in high relief on the plate, say occupying one quarter only of the face(or more or less), standing up from the rest of the plate by one to two mm, such as with Dragon and fish depictions on tsuba I have plus others.

What had me wondering was the large amount of iron to be chiseled away to just leave a raised figure. A lot of work I would have thought.

For all that, is that how it was done?

In the Shibuiswords 'tsuba for sale' site, under SAGA.KANEIYE SCHOOL and TFTS UNIN SCHOOL etc section there is shown a tsuba by YAMASHIRO no KUNIEUSHIMI JU KANEIYE and marked 'For Study'. (I hope I got all that right)-   but what was mentioned in the write up was a reference to "iron on iron inlay". It is the first time I have come across 'iron on iron inlay'.

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Does anyone know how often this technique was employed, how frequently and does it account for many of the 'high relief' iron carvings on tsuba. The Tsuba makers seemed highly skilled at welding parts, such as spokes and such into the web of a tsuba.

I always feel like I'm lifting my head above the parapet here in case I receive an incoming rebuke.

Roger j

[1kinko]

Again, the terms iron and steel are used here frequently, but they are not the same. Some very pure iron is as soft as copper while other iron is full of silica and real SOB to work with. Mild steel is a lot easier to work with than high carbon steel. Nevertheless, you can chisel a hole in any of these and set an inlay in it by tapping in the sides of the hole. I’ve never seen even a 1 cm inlay though- did you mean 1-2mm?  That’s pretty common and the hole to be chiseled would be around 1/2 mm, though the deeper the hole the safer the hold on it. It just takes harder steel tagane and patience.

[roger dundas]

Thanks for that Darrel and I fixed up the mm/cm issue

Roger j

[Spartancrest]

Hi Roger I believe this image taken from a guard in the Cleveland Museum of Art shows an iron on iron inlay. The wing tip on the left appears broken off - not sure how that would happen if it was carved from the original plate - Just my opinion.

 

[Ford Hallam]

Hi Roger

 

In fact inlaying patches of the same iron into a plate was pretty much the standard approach to creating relief on a tsuba black. I see evidence of this every month when removing rust and corrosion which serves to 'etch' the ground and making the edges of the inlay easily visible. Generally speaking a larger and more simply shaped patch is inset and then the exact form outlined and carved out. This means the seams are not exactly around the raised form and can more effectively be worked tight. It also means the raised form can be carved and adjusted more freely.

 

The ferrous material Edo tsuba-ko used was, almost without exception and always with inlaid work, a finely processed wrought iron. This is quite soft and carving and inlay is quite simple, if one has properly shaped chisels and punches and knows how to use them effectively. The depth of the cavity required for these inlay patches depends on the size of the piece and around 1mm is enough to secure an inlay so that it can withstand subsequent chiselling etc.

 

This is a little film clip of a piece I was working on a few evenings ago. The base of the tree and its roots were carved out of just such an inlaid patch that extends beyond the outline of the tree itself.

 

regards

 

Ford

 

[roger dundas]

Thanks Ford for that. I have a tsuba (unfortunately I'm incapable to show it here) with quite a thin plate, at the mimi 2.3mm,  67 x 64mm in diameter, a horse and rider one side in fairly high relief and the reverse face with only a boulder in the lower left corner, again in relatively high relief. The boulder (and horse and rider) being a worked inlaid iron insert all makes sense to me now.

Thanks again.

Roger j