Tsuba Box Tack Damage

[Bugyotsuji]

Recently on the way back from a sword meeting I noticed a rattling sound from a tsuba box. The central hitsu-ana 'nose' had pulled away, exposing two sharp upright tacks hammered through the silk from the rear of the base plate. A shakudo tsuba can scratch easily. The best environment can suddenly become the very worst.

 

Moral for me. Do not trust your tsuba boxes when travelling. Keep them in a soft bag or something more repectful..

 

Oh, and I replaced the hitsu 'nose' using bamboo spikes and wood glue.

[Ray Singer]

http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/tsuba-%26-kodogu/t167-dont-transport-tsuba-tsuba-box

[Bugyotsuji]

Perfect, thanks!

[John A Stuart]

When I have them shipped to me by mail they are usually wrapped in the box and the little cushion is a must. John

[Grey Doffin]

Whenever I get a tsuba box with a loose center pin I toss it in a pile to wait for the day when I finally figure out how to rework the pin mount so it is sturdy and no longer a risk to the tsuba.  Any of you come up with a solution yet?  I'd love to see how you did it.

Grey

[Marius]

I have seen the pin mounts fastened with a thread. I cannot remember if they were wood, though.

[Ray Singer]

Jim Gilbert made that same comment regarding string/cord in one of his articles.

 

"One thing you need to watch out for is the two little nails that hold on that center post. The post can come off and then the nails are sticking up to scratch up your tsuba. I've never had this happen with a box I bought, but I've seen it on other ones that have been beat up. I think the problem comes when people use these boxes for transport. The weight of the tsuba knocking back and forth probably breaks the post loose. I use cloth bags when I transport tsuba. Supposedly you can get better boxes that don't use nails for the center post, but they don't seem to be readily available in the US. There are boxes with the bottom pad cut out to custom fit the shape of an individual tsuba so that the center post isn't needed. Also, you can modify a regular box to hold the tsuba in place with a small cord and toggle to avoid the nail problem entirely."

[Stephen]

org nails are staple size, if you can find next size up in your hardware store, you can line up the holes after removing old pins, some light tapping required, if the posting board is glued to box, turn to above suggestions. 

[zanilu]

I usually replace all the nail in my tsuba boxes with small section of toothpicks enlarging the holes in both post and base. The holes are made a little smaller than the toothpick diameter so I have to force them in position and with a little bit of glue the assembly is quite stable. However I use boxes only for storage. For transportation I wrap the tsuba in soft cloth.

 

I also stared to make custom fitted internals using felt and covering it with the same green cloth you find in most of the boxes.

 

Regards

[TETSUGENDO]

Piers solution of bamboo peg and glue sounds good to me.  NO NAILS, NO METAL!  The trouble with off the rack boxes is that they rarely fit, as noted, the shifting of the tsuba causes the problem........when transporting IMMOBILIZE.  If you are handy you could modify things for a proper fit. Bags are elegant , but I could recount horror stories.  Ultimately, bespoke is the best solution if you can track down a good source.

 

Cheers,