Need your input

[Jaron]

Hi all, I had the pleasure of getting this new Tsuba and setting to work to gently clean the overall piece with warm, no detergent soap, dry it, and then go after the areas that respond well to shattered bone needles, mainly the precious metals like gold and silver. I am only part of the way when I was wondering if one of the overlays was supposed to be exposed as a metal in it’s pure form or is it truly copper patina which should be jet black. It is an iron Tsuba but has the metal overlays.

 

My one question is the butterfly that has worn away a bit to expose just a bit of copper or bronze, but I’d like your opinion whether this is supposed to be block or fully exposed copper of bronze. is. If it is supposed to be brlack entirely, and I have many pieces that are like that. Please let me know what you think. The patina is tough to remove with light rubbing with antler, so that tells me probably wearing away the black patina and leave it alone!

 

I if is truly supposed to be copper of bronze exposed, I will stay on it with antler needles, otherwise I am done… other than removing the red rust and replace it with xoygen restrictd black!

 

Thanks guys.

 

Ciao

[Steves87]

I'd say Shakudo, which should be a consistent "black"

[Grey Doffin]

I agree with Steve and, Jaron, you would be well advised not to work on the soft metal. Antler will do no damage to the iron but you can easily do irreparable harm if you mess with the soft metal.

Grey

[Jaron]

Thanks guys, so much. That was my thought. I’ll leave the soft metal as is as it looks good as is. I’ll work on the iron to get rid of any active rust.

 

Jaron

[Jaron]

The iron is shaping up quite nicely thanks.