Curgan Posted December 27, 2010 Report Posted December 27, 2010 Some time ago I run on an auctioned kinko tsuba. What amazed me was the fact that despite the fact that it had a blackish patina in some points the copper colour was visible. It doesn't seem like laquered to me, but I 'm just a newbie on tsuba. Luckily there are many experts here that can help me with my questions... Is it possible for shakudo to lose its colour? And if yes is it restorable somehow? Quote
Brian Posted December 27, 2010 Report Posted December 27, 2010 John, The real colour of shakudo is of course copper..being only 4-6% (average) gold mixed with the rest copper. It takes professional patination to make it that deep purplish-black colour, and any abrasion or rough handling can expose the copper colour again. It would take someone like Ford or a restoration expert to repatinate a tsuba like this, but it is possible to have it done. The mixture used to patinate shakudo is called rokusho, but it is one of those "don't try this at home" things of course. Brian Quote
Curgan Posted December 27, 2010 Author Report Posted December 27, 2010 Thanks for the good advice Brian. (Un)fortunately, I do not own such a tsuba in order to be tempted though. BTW does rokusho wear off with use? I thought that shakudo patina is based on abrassion (or some kind of oxidation, I am unsure of the right word) and it shouldn't wear off too easy... Quote
Ted Tenold Posted December 27, 2010 Report Posted December 27, 2010 John, If you look adjacent to the area of patina loss, you'll see a patch of green colored growth. The areas of patina losses lead me to believe that this green corrosion (for lack of a better term) was present on those regions and show the results of someone attempting to clean it off. I've seen this before on shakudo and it cannot be removed and corrected on any rudementary level. Without proper treatment and correction (which will include repatination), the growth will continue. Many shakudo pieces have the ability to "heal" with a natural repatination on their own, but it doesn't meany there won't be scars remaining of indifferent depth of color or borders between regions that clearly show. Therefore a comprehensive professional treatment is the only real choice to restore the piece. Quote
Curgan Posted December 27, 2010 Author Report Posted December 27, 2010 Thank you gentlemen for your most informative answers. I now got what happened there... Quote
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