This ones an interesting one. The blade is differentially hardened, folded steel but not cheaply folded like Damascus but very subtle and the geometry including the yokote is absolutely spot on, but the tsuka was too long for the clients needs and the wrap wasn't up to his standards. he also doesn't like the fittings. I agree, the fish menuki are massive for a wakizashi. so after my hiatus, it's off to work again.. hi ho, hi ho, etc etc ad nauseam.I'm actually looking forward to doing this. lots of measurements first. the tsuka needs to be slimmed and fit to the new fittings, the nakago needs to be shortened because he wants the tsuka to be more tanto length, i.e. 6" ...ish. So there's some prep work to be done there. If I can measure correctly, I will be chiseling in the little dips for the omote and ura knots so they sit nice and flat and I'm really hoping I can get a nice oval shape for the tsuka's cross section. anyway, all this text and I will bore you to death so first off, the before pictures and then future posts will show the progress.
Suspicious looking black bag with box hidden inside. noone could tell it was a box.
The old tsuka has a real nasty crack in it, not only that but its at the Ha joint. bad news for structural integrity. a lot of these tsuka though are mass produced and then the worker just picks one up and rubber mallets it on. not always but this happens and can lead to problems because one glove does not fit all.. ya know?
side view of the same tsuka. those totally massive fish are not aeesthetically pleasing on a wakizashi tsuka. the size is just off. its literally half the size of the tsuka. I mean wtf?
When I first saw these in the sunlight, I thought they looked the same colour pretty much. (it was very bright and my eyes were having none of it) how very wrong i was. both good quality ito's
new tsuba. passed the magnet test so definitely ferrous, which in the case of 99% of tsuba, means iron. pretty and well sized for a wakizashi...
I hate .. HATE seeing katana sized tsuba on waki and tanto. it's like, ffs, grow up.
two tasteful menuki, brass most likely but difficult to tell. traditionally, the menuki would be the same theme but different on either side but to be fair, you dont see a lot of that these days. most of mine have identical menuki. these are a hell of a lot smaller than the fish.
Unusual wood for a saya, but I really like it. almost oaky.
nice koiguchi. no faffing here. theres a picture further down that shows how much they've worked to make sure everything fits snugly. koiguchi btw looks to be buffalo horn
Kurikata is agan horn and nicely fitted. shitodome, although I don't like them personally, (they get in the way and they tear at sageo and when you've paid like 30 quid for a decent sageo, you don't want it being snagged at all the time... but they're tasteful. alloy as you'd expect. hell, I've seen plastic shitodome so anything is an improvement after that, lol.
Now I've altered the contrast and so on with these pictures to show the subtelty and beauty of the hamon. I still wasnt able to capture it but I've tried. hamons are the most difficult thing to photograph well. I think it would help to have a helper but hey. I always shoot in RAW which means I can pull the picture apart afterwards..
beautiful geometric yokote and a shinogi line that doesnt wobble. neither does the shinogi itself.
Again, gorgeous and subtle.
Why take one picture when you can take 10?
truly awesome work here
And what I was referring to further up, the fit on the habaki to koiguchi is spot on. it fits firmly, but its not stubborn, theres no way its dropping out but a simple push on the tsuba (im sure, once its mounted) and this will be a fast blade.
So yeah, really looking forward to starting on this. I'll keep you peeps posted.
Peace people. be cool out there and stuffs. hug your cats and take your meds ;)
Shadow
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