Hit again by the custombug

[Takatom]

I wanted to make a second tsuka for my WKC Heart of the dragon. Originally it came with a 12 inch tsuka with 2 mekugi. Over time I shortened it down a bit custom by custom.
I chose to use pine to make the tsukacore. It was fullwrapped in good quality same and painted black with cashew.
Fuchi/kashira is simple iron higo, polished and fireheated. The tsuba was cut out of a piece of 7 mm ironplate and grinded until it got a konvex shape. The final tsuba thickness is 6.5 mm.
The seppas was made out of 3 and 2 mm copperplate. They were filed to fit the fuchi and the sayamouth.
The menukis are kenmakiryu in copper with antiqued finish. And finally black tsukaito silk. I have ordered a navyblue shigeuchi sageo to see how it fits the overall look. I'll put in a picture if it pleases my eyes.
The new tsuka is 13 inches. I chose to make it with only 1 mekugi and I had to drill a new hole in the tang.
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A good sword is the one left in its scabbard

[goose710]

I do like that project there takatom, seems very "clean" .

Very nicely done.

rep inbound!

da gooseman

[Ichiban]

Very, very nice! The black combined with copper seppa is a great looker, especially if they are as chunky as yours. Great job!

Pine is unfortunately no good choice for tsuka as it cracks easily, has loose grain and contains resin that rusts the blade.

[zentredi]

great job, i like that tsuba. it's nice to see i not the only one who likes a long tsuka. unfortunatly Ichi is right about the pine though if it's not kiln baked it will glue itself to the nakago, i found that out the hard way. but still it looks great.

[Takatom]

I once before made a tsuka in pine. I did not experience any problems. The pine I used then and now is from a plank that I have had laying for about 3 years. Once I glued the tsuka together I poured some swordoil inside and let it stay for some minutes to get in. I then hung up the tsuka over night.
regarding to the crackability, the first tsuka I made of pine was about 2 years ago, at that time I have had the plank in 1 year. I got it from a building store so i presume that it also had been drying there for some time. I sold that sword to a guy who practice a lot and he has not complained yet.
.................................................. .................................................. ...................................
A good sword is the one left in its scabbard

[wolfhound]

Besides the sticking issue, a pine Tsuka is nice and light and absolutely excellent for a Durilium Iaito (If your not going to disassemble it ever again after it's been built) but I wouldn't recommend it for a Shinken unless it's for a Tanto/Wakazashi or the Tsuka is extremely close to being full tang (Just under an inch from the Kashira) as there's a bit of a buckling risk to take into account.

Anyway, nicely done Takatom :)

[goose710]

If i may Gentlemen

I think all points on pine tuska are valid, It is somewhat corrosive, it is somewhat light, it isn't the strongest (depending on what pine is used!!) But lets be real a moment, we are not going into battle, we are not practicing tamiahigiri every day, and we are not talking about Nihonto that must be preserved for 400/500 years!.

If used and inspected with some regularity it (in my uneducated opinion )would be servicable !

There are exceptions to ALL rules under variable cirumstances.

I would not put a pine tuska on any Nihonto, but, if i had to make a field repair NOT A PROBLEM duct tape and a piece of pine skid !! works !! The old saying is still valid "Use what ya got!"

da gooseman

[zentredi]

point taken Goose but in my own defence i did say it looked great=))

[goose710]

Z

That was not aimed at you good sir, but to the pro and con of the discussion.

I agree it do look great!!

da gooseman

[wolfhound]

Very well said Gooseman.

I've used Pine a few times on some cheap swords and it's much easier to carve and sand than white oak, the nice thing is that if you make the tsuka ever so slightly loose it will eventually tighten up :)

[Takatom]

Yes I agree fully. I do not intend to fight someone with this katana. I'd rather use my suburibokken then. And cutting I do once in a while with this one, but not heavily. talked to the guy who bought my dynasty forge with pine-tsuka. He had not experienced any problems.
.................................................. .................................................. ...............
A good sword is the one left in its scabbard

[wolfhound]

Seconded, I'd rather give someone a Musashi Miyamoto style clobbering than cut em to bits, that way theres less mess to clear up afterwords ;)

Oh well pine is probably 100% better than the packing crate wood that Paul Chen build their standard Practical Katanas out of :)

[Takatom]

I wanted to make a second tsuka for my WKC Heart of the dragon. Originally it came with a 12 inch tsuka with 2 mekugi. Over time I shortened it down a bit custom by custom.
I chose to use pine to make the tsukacore. It was fullwrapped in good quality same and painted black with cashew.
Fuchi/kashira is simple iron higo, polished and fireheated. The tsuba was cut out of a piece of 7 mm ironplate and grinded until it got a konvex shape. The final tsuba thickness is 6.5 mm.
The seppas was made out of 3 and 2 mm copperplate. They were filed to fit the fuchi and the sayamouth.
The menukis are kenmakiryu in copper with antiqued finish. And finally black tsukaito silk. I have ordered a navyblue shigeuchi sageo to see how it fits the overall look. I'll put in a picture if it pleases my eyes.
The new tsuka is 13 inches. I chose to make it with only 1 mekugi and I had to drill a new hole in the tang.
.................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ......................................
A good sword is the one left in its scabbard


Took my time to put on the navyblue shigeuchi sageo. I think this colour it balances well towards the black/blak tsuka and the copper seppa.

[loempe]

Indeed it does ;-)

However, if your custom bug itches again you could also try a blue/white or blue/gold turtle (tortoise pattern) silk sageo. That would be my ultimate choise for your katana. Totally and utterly subtle bling-bling.