Making of a kabutogane

[Haon]

With the risk of getting lynched in my mind, I dont work on antique blades or koshirae. However, I'd like to know more about tosogu, and to make some new fittings for my iaito, one of which is a kabutogane, which I'm not quite sure how to make one. Deep drawing might be an idea, or forging one like a little cup and adding the ridges afterwards using different punches. 

Furthermore, are there any recordings of the thickness of iron tosogu like fuchi and kashira / kabutogane?

 

Best regards,

 

Haon

 

Edit: if you have pictures of your fuchigashira, or just fuchi and a lone kabutogane, feel free to share them here, for inspiration. I wasn't able to find any thread regarding specifically tachi / handachi koshirae

[Geraint]

Dear Derek.

 

Some information here, http://www.ksky.ne.jp./~sumie99/fuchikashiramade.html

 

Let us know how it goes.

 

All the best.

[Haon]

Ah, that website. Thanks for the link. For some reason I always find them on the 3rd page on Google or not at all.

I will do that, now I've just got to order the material and propably ruin the first few tries :D

[ROKUJURO]

Derek,

this is what I have among my spare parts. I think you can see how KABUTO GANE were made. It starts with a strip of copper, which after decorating was bent over twice. Then you need a small ring made to fit the first piece, just like in the drawing of USAGIYA. It may be a lot of fine work, but with some patience and the right tools it should be feasible (after some 30 years of training )!

 

[Haon]

Thank you very much for the picture, that makes it easier to understand. I really thought they would have been thicker, especially those with engravings, I would have started with a material thickness of 1,5mm in iron...

However, I can hardly see how those corners are forged, as I can hardly imagine that those won't fold up in any helpful way when bending the strip. Either if I forge the "sideskirts" first and then bend it to its U-shape, or the other way around. Maybe it's just me, and all problems solve themselves when I'm actually working on the piece.

I marked the areas of my concern in your picture. 

[ROKUJURO]

Yes, that is indeed a major difficulty if you are not an experienced smith (or goldsmith in case you want to work with copper which would make it a lot easier).
Unless you start an apprenticeship in such a metal craft, you will have to work with trial and error, I am afraid.

Forming such an item is not so difficult if you know how and have the right tools. You would of course need an anvil, lightweight (!) hammers, tongs, a small fire, some special forming tools that can be fixed in the anvil, and several punches to drive the metal in the desired shape. Embossing tools and chisels (TAGANE) are needed for the finish.

Another important part is the metal you want to use. Pure copper is quite easy to shape, but in case you want to work with iron, you have to find an alloy with high ductility. You could try sheet metal from a car body (in German 'Tiefziehblech') from the scrap yard, but that is usually quite thin which makes forming quite difficult. Again, many trials will be necessary unless you have some experience in that field.  Re-heating the metal from time to time while you are working on it will be necessary.

It might be a good idea to talk to a silversmith first and ask for advice. They are trained in this kind of work and would perhaps know how to proceed.

I wish you good success! 

If you have more questions, you can mail me under forge.collin@gmail.com

[Haon]

Thank you very much for your advice. I'm indeed a goldsmith, however, I finished my apprenticeship just last year and such work is not of our daily business. Just as you said, a silversmith would have more experience with this. 

Thank you for your email, I'm sure some questions will come up from time to time. 

 

By the way, am I correctly under yhe assumption that you are from germany, too?

[ROKUJURO]

Yes, indeed. We are living 242 km apart. You may mail me in German if you like to. 

By the way, there is a goldsmith in Hamburg who makes (or made) Japanese style KODOGU in a very nice and authentic execution. It is many years ago that I saw a pair of MENUKI made by him.

And we have a Swedish NMB member who is working on the subject, too.

[Ford Hallam]

To start I'd suggest first making a very accurate and finely finished, and hardened preferably, stake that is the exact shape of the inside of the form you require. However you proceed this tool will be essential.

If you were very experienced with a hammer and the technique of raising you might even be able to simply use wood but a steel form is far more helpful and exact.

 

I then suggest trying to understand what happens when a skilled silversmith hammers a flat sheet up into a bowl form. What I mean is how successive rows of closely touching hammer blows can squeeze the metal in. This is essentially what you need to do on the tight corners.  Once you grasp this process then the way forward is quite simple. 

 

Thicker, rather than thinner, material will be easier to squeeze in as there is something substantial for the metal itself to be pushed back into to allow it to contract.

This 'squeezing in' process is called shibori in Japanese btw.

[Haon]

Thank you very much Mr. Hallam. I originally took a look at your patreon because of this project, but wasnt able to find something on kabutogane. However, I found many other intersting things there which are still an inspiration in my own jewelry and sometimes saved some projects of mine.

 

Making a form was something I was afraid of and tried to avoid, but I guess there is nothing I can do to avoid that. While chasing and forging a small cup out of a sheet of silver or copper is something I did sometimes already, steel is something new to me. My current idea is to make such a small cup, and then forge it to its final shape on the form I made beforehand. If I may ask, does this sound like the correct way?

 

Regarding the material thickness, I will begin with a 1,5mm steel sheet.

Nice to know, I havent heard of that term before. Well, I also dont speak Japanese, so...

[1kinko]

You might want to practice with copper to begin with.