Help wanted on little Habaki

[Kantaro]

Am a bit puzzled with this little Habaki (23mmx6mm/weight28 grams) because one side is made of iron. (only 1 side)

See picture where the green magnet sticks.

This piece seems to me very well made...

 

Wondered if this is common or not?

 

Kind regards

 

 

 

 

 

[Spartancrest]

This is the matching tsuba. The dots are a dead giveaway! 

 

[FlorianB]

Usually habaki are made of copper, often with silver or gold plating, sometimes shakudo is used.

Yours look like copper, too.
Maybe an alloy with iron or iron layer?

 

FYI: Have a look at this thread: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/32583-cat-scratch-habaki/ with a lot of wonderful examples of habaki.

 

Florian

[Matsunoki]

??a copper habaki with iron pins in it…..thus magnet sticks to the pins??

?does magnet stick to the flat sides?

[Kantaro]

26 minutes ago, Matsunoki said:

??a copper habaki with iron pins in it…..thus magnet sticks to the pins??

?does magnet stick to the flat sides?

 

No, it are not the pins beause on the other side where are pins too (small side) the magnet does not stick, neither on the flat sides.

 

It seems a copper habaki with 1 iron side.

 

I made some extra detailed pictures where you can see inside the habaki that the iron side is much thicker.

 

Wonder if other members have such a reinforced habaki?

 

Was this common in a specific period?

 

[Ian B3HR2UH]

This is an interesting observation that deserves to be treated seriously . I haven't seen such a thing before .

Ian brooks

[Kantaro]

7 hours ago, Ian B3HR2UH said:

This is an interesting observation that deserves to be treated seriously . I haven't seen such a thing before .

Ian brooks

Thanks for taking this matter seriously, Ian.

 

Kind regards.

[Brian]

Seems the triangular filler part at the back that was inserted is made of iron. I can't think of any valid explanation except that is what the maker had lying around, and decided to use. No practical use for that, and it isn't common, so it's just one of those oddities that we'll never know why.

[Matsunoki]

Possibly a home-made repair or added packing to make it fit although I’m still struggling to see anything that actually looks like iron on it anywhere from these photos. Internally it looks copper, externally it looks copper.

Metallurgically can you even fuse iron and copper?

 

[DoTanuki yokai]

The first thing that I think of is that just some iron from the hammer or anvil that got lose was hammered into the material accidentally. 
But I would think the pieces would be too small to really hold the magnet. 
 

Edit: it is possible to fuse steel with copper just search for Cu Mai but I think it is a modern thing

[Kantaro]

If I compare the weight of this little spiked "reinforced ironside" Wakizashi Habaki (28 grams) with a regular simple copper Wakizashi Habaki(16 grams) there is a difference of 12 grams.

[Matsunoki]

Simple question…..can you actually see any iron/steel because it doesn’t show in the images?

 

if so can you image it please?

 

Also weight difference tells us little as it depends on thickness of the walls etc….no two habaki are the same anyway. 
 

This thread is like an itch you can’t scratch🙂
 

 

[Kantaro]

No Colin, I do not see any iron either but I do trust my magnet.

There seems to be iron embedded in the copper on 1 side.

The weight difference was just an observation with what I had available.

[Matsunoki]

……in that case I think Christian is right…..accidentally hammered into the copper.

How bizarre.

[Bugyotsuji]

No, I agree with Colin that a slim iron pin could have been hammered into the soft copper in order to stretch it for a slightly better fit.

 

(Does the nakago have a bulge in it? Did you have trouble taking off the habaki?)

[Kantaro]

39 minutes ago, Bugyotsuji said:

No, I agree with Colin that a slim iron pin could have been hammered into the soft copper in order to stretch it for a slightly better fit.

 

(Does the nakago have a bulge in it? Did you have trouble taking off the habaki?)

 

Sorry Piers I do not have the blade.

[PNSSHOGUN]

Nickel silver is another possibility?

[Kantaro]

2 hours ago, PNSSHOGUN said:

Nickel silver is another possibility?

 

Is not magnetic?

[ROKUJURO]

I just saw this thread. 

Copper has a higher density than iron, so a pure copper HABAKI should be slightly heavier than an iron/copper combined HABAKI with the same dimensions. 
It is easy to solder a thin iron plate/sheet onto a defective HABAKI which could have been a possibility here. But it is highly unlikely that a piece of iron or steel got hammered into the copper of a HABAKI without noticing it.

[Kantaro]

9 hours ago, ROKUJURO said:

I just saw this thread. 

Copper has a higher density than iron, so a pure copper HABAKI should be slightly heavier than an iron/copper combined HABAKI with the same dimensions. 
It is easy to solder a thin iron plate/sheet onto a defective HABAKI which could have been a possibility here. But it is highly unlikely that a piece of iron or steel got hammered into the copper of a HABAKI without noticing it.

 

Hi Jean,

 

Do you think this would reinforce the Habaki?

(make it stronger in any way?)

 

Because maybe this was not done because the Habaki was defective and indeed I also doubt the theory of happening by accident.

I also think this very little difference of being lighter in weight could not effect the balance of the blade.

 

Maybe the smith just used what he had available? But that does not sound very Japanese...

 

"a slim iron pin could have been hammered into the soft copper in order to stretch it for a slightly better fit." sounds as the best theory to me.

 

Wonder if anyone has something similar?

 

Kind regards.

[ROKUJURO]

Paris,

I have no idea about the intentions of this HABAKI's maker; I still think it could be a repair thing. It might be difficult to find out advantages and disadvantages of this alteration.

In case you were very curious, you could melt the HABAKI down so the copper gets liquid. Then you will have the iron piece separate as its melting temperature is higher than that of copper...