How to fill in nakago holes

[Larason2]

You see this from time to time on Nihonto, they would fill in existing nakago holes (nakago-ana?) to make room for drilling a new one or new ones for new koshirae. How did they do it? Just curious, not going to try this on a Nihonto!

[ChrisW]

Various soft metals are most common I think: lead, copper, rarely silver or shakudo.

[Andi B.]

...not necessarily to make room for drilling new holes....

[george trotter]

This question causes me to ask an equally relevant question...how did they drill them?...especially pre-westerner arrival with modern technology such as drills?

Just wondering.

[Dave R]

Hot punched or possibly a "bow drill".

[Brian]

Hot punched is the usually mentioned method.

[Geraint]

Dear All.

 

Just to answer the question that Carlos posed, it is relatively simple to make a soft metal plug that is a good fit into a mekugi ana and just a little too long.  Insert the plug into the hole, rest one end on an anvil or stake and then gently plannish the exposed end, turn the blade over and repeat from the other side until the soft metal has been expanded to fill the hole.  Clean off the exposed surfaces as needed.

 

Just to add that sometimes an existing hole is plugged with steel and as such is all but invisible.  I had the opportunity of examining a blade that purported to be Hizen only to discover that the mei had been cut over one such plugged mekugi ana.  Presumably the location didn't match that found on Hizen blades.

 

All the best.

[Michaelr]

Interesting, so now the question of Why did they fill in the holes to begin with?  Thank you. MikeR

[Larason2]

The ones I've seen are just like Andi's above. A new hole was punched to work with a new style of koshirae, and the other two filled in for cosmetic reasons.