Repurposed menuki

These are what I'm going to be using for the menuki on the raptor. Here they are elastic banded into place so I could see how they would look.

These menuki came from my original Hanwei Practical Katana. I have mercilessly slimmed them down and I have had to take off that patina they had applied to them. Unfortunately, they had gone an even darker brown and had speckles of green all over them. This conjures images of a beautiful aged patina that would look beautiful on menuki. Believe me when I say it had not done that.

(Here is what will be the omote menuki. They are far more spangly and shiny than when I first started.)

So, I first used a metal polish to remove the majority of the patina and then a felt Dremel bit to slowly polish off the remaining gunk. They are now very shiny although that wont last long. Give them a week and they'll be back to being copper coloured, albeit in a nice way.

(The ura menuki)

So yes, the only thing left to do is to acquire the ito and do the maki. :) Fingers crossed.