shikoro lacing

[Peter Bleed]

Friends,

Is there anyone in the US who re-laces and reconstructs kabuto shikoro? I looked this morning at a nice - not great - old kabuto with a totally detached shikoro. The hachi is unsigned and "old," but I think not really worth the investment that would be involve in sending it to Japan. Any suggestions?

Peter

[Justin Grant]

I am not sure, but I am practicing on a set of armor with detailed instructions from Ian. Not easy, but very rewarding. I purchased 60 meters of dark blue odoshi and 60 meters of real sinew and I just have at it.

 

 

Justin

[Luc T]

there are some people in Belgium and France. If you do it yourself, take the time to look at original lacing, it is much more complicated than most people think. Beware if you buy lacing in Japan, there are big differencs in the quality.

By the way, does anyone know a good adress in Japan for lacing? It's more and more difficult to find good quality...

[IanB]

Peter, Is the shikoro just detached or has the lacing between the lames of the shikoro deteriorated? In the first case, the biggest problem is getting hold of proper cords and soft-metal rivets if they are missing. If the latter it is a complete re-lacing job. You say the helmet is signed. If the lacquer of the helmet / shikoro is still in good order, the helmet is well worth putting some money into it and rescuing it. As Luc says, re-lacing can be tricky, but not nearly as difficult as binding a tsuka - it just needs a lot of patience and care. By far the most difficult, in my opinion, is sugake lacing (where the braid is spaced in pairs rather than all-over). In itself it looks simple enough, but to get all the plates to hang at the right spacings can be difficult - as can getting the cross-knots to look neat. As you add more plates, the carefully adjusted spacing you have already done alters as the increase in weight stretches the braid. I find kebiki lacing relatively easy once you have worked out how it starts and ends, and know how to insert extra strands to allow for the conical shape. Perhaps it might be worth writing an illustrated essay and posting it.

Ian Bottomley

[DaveT]

Plug em, especially if it's Sugake. I use sheep skin to lock the braid in place. It keeps the shape nice too and prevents the pull you get from the weight of the lames etc.

I did write a lacing guide for Toraba, but that's gone now due to the forum being closed down. when I get time I'll do one for here. Lacing is a pain lol.

this gessan took me 14 hrs and 40 meters of 7mm blue odoshi.

 

 

 

 

Dave