Tsuka For A Hanwei Raptor

[Ouroboros]

Well howdy folks,

I picked up a gorgeous Hanwei raptor without handle from across the street and set myself the task of tsuka carving.

Sounds easy eh? We shall see...

1) wood. Poplar. Nice hunk o tight grained poplar.

2) cut to rough oversized chunks

3) aligned the grain

4) made initial knifewalls and started carving. Chisel only. One half will be deeper than the other and should hold firmly to the nekago of the blade but come lose with a light tap

5)nothing but friction holding this sword up.

6)both sides are ready for drilling the mekugi ana. Note the lack of pins. The placement of the nekago channel was all done by measurements and math, a sliderule and a caliper...ok...i just drilled into 1 side after she was cut to where I wanted her

7)glued up and rough size of koshira scribed.

8)rough carving

9) rough fitting

Continued

10) almost done sanding

11) fitted but not yet wrapped

12) planned out my wrap

Ok. Why THIS shape. I saw a single photo of a flaring tsuka and I loved it. I Will post some better pics and measurements but she's nicely waisted, narrow and solid. My mekugi are nicely aligned and theres no loseness to the fit on the blade. Takes a good wack to unseat her.

Next up.. .buckskin and samegawa full wrap sections and final wrap with ito. These fittings are only temporary ... next time I'll post what I make for them.

Btw, kaiyo your raptor has new life..mshe draws well and sings like a pentagram bound succubus...

Ouro

 

[Ouroboros]

I've gone as far as attaching a layer of kozu paper to the wood core and lacquering it to provide a substrate for the leather and samegawa.
At that point I measured a piece of tanned buckskin in black and layer it out.
After attaching it, I went ahead and trimmed my mini, puny, wimpy little samegawa and did the top wrap.

The same had been wet and was still damp when applied and wrapped.

Next up: trimming the excess, then placement of the bottom same when I cn figure out where the node should best go to be diamond central.

My daughter is working on a piece of amber for me
Ouro

 

[Ouroboros]

For those who survived the Zombie Apocalypse of Halloween...

I gave the same some extra time under the buckskin wrap to allow her to set properly. When I removed the outer wrap I was rewarded with a VERY tight fitting samegawa that did not budge from it's position. There's a bit of overlap in the buckskin (intentional) which I'll remove before I polish the same.

There was a bit of trimming to do at the mouth of the tsuka. A very sharp razor blade and I've got a nice flat top to work with. I'll take the surface of the samegawa down when I build the fuchi (see below)

Though small the samegawa nodules did take a bit of elbow grease to remove the hooks. A little file work, some abrasives and a diamond plate at 600. I'll do a bit more polishing before wrapping the top half of the tsuka (pending fuchi, of course). I made up my mind last night, the cotton looks best (of the supplies I have at hand being cotton, tan suede or black suede)

Speaking of fuchi...I happen to have some silver just lying around the shop...silly really...just sitting there calling out to be used on various projects. So...

I smashed a 1oz .999 bar through my mini rolling Mill and voila, .999 .5mm plate that I can add a texture to or etch at my leisure or heck, just carve my own runes into it and leave it as my interpretation of tsuka furniture

Ouro

 

[Ouroboros]

So....having fun outa gas for my torch I was left with a band of unsoldered silver and a whole lot o questions...so....
I wrapped the silver band around where I'd place the Fuji and did a couple of diamonds with the black suede wrap...
Ok forget the cotton for this sword. The suede looks and feels great. Ok diamonds aren't perfect and my hishigami are still drying so haven't been inserted to keep the diamonds and shape perfect but...for 8 increments of ito it takes just shy of 64mm (63.84mm)...and this is what it looks like....

I'll be soldering and cutting the fuchi mouth sometime tomorrow when I get more gas...

Also unwrapping and rewrapping a bit tighter on the mune and ha sides.

For anyone watching and wondering what this is like?
Very relaxing.

Ouro

 

[Ouroboros]

L
Lacquered up some kozu/kozo paper at 12mm and set aside to dry. I will cut them into little house shapes tomorrow and get my fuchi finished.

A note on construction...i have the poplar wood core. A layer of lacquer, a layer of kozu, lacquer, same/leather, ito w hishigami, the a dilute mix of thinned lacquer to apply on top of the wrap. The top same wrap overlaps itself by a good 1/4" and extends to the very top of the tsuka beneath the fuchi. I'm trying to pack as much structural support to where I believe the force vectors will be greatest during cutting. Just with a few wraps of the suede I can feel the grip of the sword is almost formed to my palm. I am getting excited to finish the wrap and get the kashira built.

The plain silver fuchi will be blackened with liver of sulphur and then my runes carved into her both personal and private sides.

Ouro

 

[Ouroboros]

Growl I just lost me post...

Some cut up kozu lacquered and ready for shaping..

Shaping to a 'house'. Studying the various shapes and the diamonds they produced led me to this. Next time I'm going to try more lacquer -- I found the tip deformed when wrapped. So I cut them off.

Note the thickness is greatest towards the top of the house. As there's no ledge for the back of the hishi to sit against its up to friction. The thick part also gives a bit of definition to the wrap, fitting it to the palm and fingers better than without hishi or with flat cardstocl...i have a Rabbit to thank for that tip..

My diamonds are faaar from perfect but the tip is tight and once lacquered it shouldn't shift about.
I don't have a jig made up but I don't think they're 'ugly' are they? I have some hammer and pick work to Do, sure before I get too deep into the central leather portion of the wrap but I've learned how to unwrap and fix some very ugly mistakes of my own (not pictured) and several attempts without hishigami...d'oh...theyre necessary!! With just this top portion wrapped, the feel in my hand is indescribably "customized" as if...i were...making it...just for ... Me?

This aft--possible fuchi soldering and maybe some waxwork or freeform work on the hardware
I have gas and some silver to work with...

Sorry to ramble. This project has been very relaxing for me
Ouro
.

 

[Ouroboros]

From prior to the surgery...a while back...my daughter had a sterling silver "pirate" ring that broke along the band. I asked if she wanted it fixed and she said she wanted me to recycle it for something cool
"Dad, it's a skull--it needs to be on a sword."
Skulltsuka

And from my other, younger daughter, a failed casting she called "Icicle-Frozen-Flow-Magic"...

https://imgur.com/8hVSWF4

When I get full mobility in my left hand and I can apply my arms to more than 5lbs of stress I'll finish off the tsukamaki and fix up the diamonds before lawyering.. .

Relaxing...
Ouro

 

[Ouroboros]

Damn. Messed up that last post.
Will have to figure out the editing features next sorry guys.
Ouro

 

[Treeslicer]

This is impressively awesome