Shirasaya not closing all the way?

[chinaski]

Hi!  

 

I have a Tachi in Shirisaya that developed a small crack on the seam at the Koiguchi.  I saw a few threads here about reactivating the rice glue by dabbing warm water on the crack and clamping it, I tried it and it worked perfectly...but now it won't close completely and I certainly don't want to force it.   I live in an arid/hot area (SOCAL), so I am speculating that has something to do with it.  FWIW, I keep both of my Nihonto in a gun safe in Cotton sword bags.   I attached a pic.  Thanks in advance!  

[Alex A]

Leave it for 3 days and see if its any better then.

 

Maybe swollen with the water.

[Lewis B]

I tried the whetting seam method to close up a shirasaya split but didn't work in my case, but glad to hear it worked for you. I would make sure the saya is completely dry before you store the blade in it. Any condensation could cause corrosion to start.

[French nihonto]

I had a problem with a crack that opened up and started to grow on a Shirasaya, it was getting bigger all the time. I think it's due to low humidity. The (admittedly very archaic) solution I found was to wrap a thin, rigid elastic band around the habaki, tightening it as much as possible and making several turns, so as to close the beginning of the crack. Since then, the crack has not widened. Emergency solution. 

[Matsunoki]

24 minutes ago, French nihonto said:

had a problem with a crack that opened up and started to grow on a Shirasaya, it was getting bigger all the time. I think it's due to low humidity. The (admittedly very archaic) solution I found was to wrap a thin, rigid elastic band around the habaki, tightening it as much as possible and making several turns, so as to close the beginning of the crack. Since then, the crack has not widened. Emergency solution. 

Be very careful wrapping elastic (or do you mean rubber?) around metal. If the habaki is silver it will react very badly to the rubber band and can be badly corroded and marked fairly quickly. Silver can turn black with pitting.

[French nihonto]

Not on habaki! I'm sorry I misspoke. In the habaki area. On the wood of course. 
To apply pressure, to tighten the wood and prevent the crack from spreading or getting bigger. It worked for me. But it's an emergency solution. 

[PNSSHOGUN]

Common issue, shirasaya will shrink and swell if you live in an area with significant temperature changes. Try and keep it in a safe or other environment with a relatively controlled climate year round. 

[Robert S]

It sounds possible that the reason the saya was cracking in the first place was that it was shrinking due to the low humidity, and becoming too tight around the habaki.  Now that you've closed the gap in the saya. the habaki won;t fit all the way in.