Changing tsuba

[kbt]

I'm having a tsuka made and I am using a replica tsuba. When I find a period tsuba that I want to use how hard is it going to be to fit it ? Will the tsuka have to be redone ?

I bought menuki, fuchi kashira and an old soten tsuba that went well together but they are for a wak. The sword is already there for a tsuka so I'm going to go ahead and have one put on until I can find the parts to make it more original after I find out what that actually is. Sorry for the long story I just wanted to explain where I'm at in this project. Don't forget I know absolutely nothing about this, I'm reading and more books on the way.

 

Thanks

Kim

Ps I hope this is in the right section.

[cabowen]

Tsuba vary in thickness, seppa dai and hitsu ana. If the replacement tsuba is much thicker than the one originally fitted to the koshirae, you will not be able to use it as there is no practical way to enlarge the distance between the habaki and fuchi more than a very slight amount (thinner seppa, slight shaving of the habaki base (not ideal) unless you redrill the mekugi ana (blasphemy) and move the entire tsuka out... If it is thinner, you can shim with extra seppa but this is also not ideal. If the hitsu ana is too small, it will need work. If the seppa dai is smaller than the seppa, you may need new seppa.

 

Best advice is to wait until you have all the final elements together and do it once, do it right.

[Grey Doffin]

Chris is 100% correct. Stop with the hurry; take the time to do it right.

Grey

[kbt]

Once again thank you gentlemen.

Kim

[Sporkkaji]

On this subject, can anyone here recommend someone who can do some minor fitting work on a sword which has already had the tsuba replaced but didn't come together quite right? A thinner tsuba was replaced with a thicker one and one of the seppa was shaved just a touch to accommodate it. Unfortunately it was shaved down just a hair too much and there is some annoying movement in the tsuba which I have temporarily fixed by adding two thin cotton patches to make it fit perfect.

 

I'm not handy doing such things myself and would love to have someone with skill make it right by either replacing one of the seppa or adding a nicely made thin shim. I tried myself using some brass shim stock, but wasn't happy with the result.

[b.hennick]

I have used a thin piece of leather. It compresses easily enough/ Cut to shape and your done. Leather comes in many thicknesses.

[Baka Gaijin]

Evening all

 

Dental floss has many other uses

 

Cheers

[runagmc]

If the fittings are low quality, mabey you could brush something like clear laquer or polyurethane on the back of each seppa to build up their thickness, if it's only a small gap. Probably not the best way, but it would be a simple fix. You could also try to find a pair of seppa that are too thick and grind them down to size from the back on a piece of sandpaper or something.

[Sporkkaji]

I considered leather but I'm concerned that it might react with the metal of the tsuba or nakago over time. I had read about the dental floss fix but it sounds about the same as the cotton patches I'm using right now. The sword itself isn't the best, and the fittings aren't the best, but I would still like to solve this issue using at least a nicely shaped and fitted metal shim that will blend in between the tsuba and one of the seppa.

 

Not being much of a do-it-yourselfer, it would be great to find someone with the talent who I could pay to do the job right. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Grey Doffin]

C. Lewis,

Where do you live? Depending on the answer we can recommend someone to whom the sword could be shipped for the work.

Grey

[CurtisR]

I recently re-fitted a non-Japanese blade (blasphemy as well, I know) with a Fred L. Tsuba and silver seppa...I used a micrometer to measure (and the retailers were kind enough to measure exactly) for me before I bought them. Then, lots of slow, careful filing and fitting. t took a long time to get them fitted properly, but I used the old Tsuba and Seppa to make light guide-marks on the new ones.

 

This was my first attempt, and a nice padded adjustable vice cost s about $30.00 but is worth hundreds!

I also had very good success with leather to tighten an Iaito that was just used a lot - I used Doe (deer) skin which is very supple, compresses well and is easy to work with vs. hard cow leather.

 

Just my $.02 & good luck.

[John A Stuart]

As well, I don't think leather will impact any fittings as many tsuka are wrapped in it eg. gangimaki. John

[Sporkkaji]

C. Lewis,

Where do you live? Depending on the answer we can recommend someone to whom the sword could be shipped for the work.

Grey

 

I'm in California, so anywhere in the U.S. would work.

 

Thanks

[Grey Doffin]

David McDonald in Montana could help: http://www.montanairon.com/swords.html

 

You could try also either John Tirado or Brian Tschernega, whose contacts you'll find here:

http://www.japanesesword.com/

 

Any of these 3 craftsmen will do great work.

Grey

[David McDonald]

Dear C. Lewis

 

I can both make new copper seppa and have many old

ones that might be the correct thickness.

 

email at jsword@mcn.net

 

if you want more information.

 

later

david mcdonald -- thanks grey

[Sporkkaji]

Dear C. Lewis

 

I can both make new copper seppa and have many old

ones that might be the correct thickness.

 

email at jsword@mcn.net

 

if you want more information.

 

later

david mcdonald -- thanks grey

 

Thanks, just sent you an email about this blade. That was my gendaito you forwarded to Mr. Tschernega a little while back for the habaki/shirasaya work.

[Sporkkaji]

Just wanted to do a follow up and say that Mr. McDonald did an outstanding job for a very reasonable price.