Gadge

Thanks Bazza, A quick way to see the stereoviews in 3D is to cross your eyes until you see 3 photos and concentrate on the centre one. Let your eyes relax and lock onto the image. It will make your eye muscles feel like they have had a good workout after a while so don't overdo it. Garry J

Hi Mikevorn, I'm an Industrial Designer with access to a laser cutter and could custom make one for you if you are close enough on the planet. I live in Sydney. Drop me a personal message if I can help. Gadge

Thank you all for contributing. John, my take away from this is your comment that yakimodoshi is quite common after yakiire. Garry

I have a basic question which I hope an expert can answer. A knife maker friend asked me whether katana were tempered after quenching. I said as far as I know there is no further heat treatment after quenching. I've always thought that quite low carbon content of hagane and reasonably low quenching temperature produced an edge which was not glass hard and of course the spine is protected by clay and is softer. He argued that a heated copper block was used to temper the blade but my understanding is that the copper was only used to improve the consistency of the curve and did not heat through to the cutting edge. Any clarification would be appreciated. Regards, Garry

Great movie. One of my all time favourites. I always find Mifune's performance a bit over the top though. I would like the movie more if he had toned it down a little. -Garry

You've have beaten me to submission and I apologize for diving into doing something without already having expert knowledge. I was asked to make a tsuba for a friend who owned a katana which had the tip broken off, the edge had been ground with an angle grinder and the tsuba had been brazed on. It was completely ruined. I could have told him to throw it away or do as he wished. I've been making knives for 30 years and been grinding blades with natural water stones for 15 of those so I'm not a complete novice in this kind of work.I researched every step as completely as possible and took about 9 months to get together the materials and knowledge to try. As Ford said, don't ask questions, just do the work and then you may have enough knowledge to know what questions to ask. I had no timeline when I started but was getting close to completion in early December so said I would have it finished for Christmas. That's when I got myself in trouble running out of time with the kusune. Regarding the consistency of the kusune: I don't know if it was exactly the right consistency but from reading and watching videos of tsukamaki-shi, I can see there is a very small process window in getting the consistency right. It went on in the same way as in the videos so I can only assume it was close. I really don't know. Regards, Garry

I'm the guy who asked the questions about an alternative to kusune but agree with Jean and Ford completely. I took on the task of restoring, as much as possible, a completely ruined katana to help a friend and said I would have it finished for Christmas. I've researched every step and done everything as authentically as possible using all the correct material. Unfortunately time had run out and I didn't think I could get the materials for kusune in time, so asked the unforgivable question (is there a modern alternative?). As it happened I managed to get a little rosin and with a lot of experimentation, produced kusune with the right consistency to use on the tsukamaki. When I have some time in the New Year I'll harvest some pine resin when I can get out into the country and continue experimenting with kusune. Ford, Yesterday I watched the 6 parts of your interview with Allen Rozon and get what you are saying. Garry

You guys can stop falling over yourselves trying to help with my Kusune alternative question. I don't have access to pine rosin or even pine resin so had the idea of buying some cello rosin from a music shop. I tried adding small amounts of oil between tests to get the right consistency but didn't find the sweet spot by the time it was too soft. After that I made some charcoal and added it to the next batch. After quite a bit of experimentation I found a combination which worked and was amazed that it went on just as I'd seen on videos of tsukamaki-shi. The ito feels tight and solid and the tsuka is finished. Garry

Regarding the Kusune lollipop. I'm still working on the tsuka and now have the samegawa on and am ready for ito. I don't have access to the materials for the lollipop and want to have the project finished by Christmas. Am wondering if anyone has a good alternative to the Kusune lollipop. I've seen people of Youtube using super glue and PVA. Any help appreciated. Garry

Caleb. Thanks for that very detailed explanation. I'll read it again very carefully and apply. This tsukamaki seems like a pretty messy business with all that $h#* and crap being hammered out! Regarding the paper strips along mune and ha, I have seen where some use card strips with integral hishigami but didn't realize the paper strips do the same job by providing a stop for the individual hishigami. Thanks for the explanation. Garry

Ford - Thanks for the link. I'll take a look at it. Greg - Thanks for the contact. I'll ask Kam if I get stuck. Nagamaki - Thanks for the links. I've viewed many of them but that's what lead to my confusion and hence my question about the paper strips. Garry

I'm a newbie who is seeking advice on preparing the tsuka for wrapping the ito. I'm doing as much research as possible before starting but there seems to be a lot of variation in methods. I've seen that some advise laying strips of paper along the top and bottom of the same, I think to stop the ito from being caught on the rough same when wrapping. I've also read that the rough surface of the same is used to hold the ito in place, which would seem to imply that the strip are not a good idea. My dilemma is whether to use these strips or not. Any help appreciated. Regards, Garry

Jason - You are probably right about Hoop not being a true pine. It's a beautiful timber. I made the attached kayak frame from it and it's still good after 10 years of paddling. Caleb - I don't have saya-nomi so have only used my normal nomi. I don't plan to make more tsuka, but if I do I'll make some saya nomi. Garry hb_frm3.tif

Ted - I noticed the two spellings after posting, which cleared up my confusion. Hinoki is what I'm familiar with and is a type of cypress whereas Honoki is Magnolia and used for Tsukas etc. Thanks for clearing it up. Alan - I have send an email to Nihonto Australia. Thanks. Jim - Thanks for Camerons contact. I really want to make the tsuka myself as the sword is virtually worthless and only good for practice. John, Steve - Hoop Pine is recommended by museums because it's not acidic so would be good in that respect. Probably a bit brittle though.The only know alternative I would have access to is poplar as we have plantations here. With a bit or research and experimentation there would be good alternative Australian timbers but I don't know of any at present. I have a piece of Coach Wood which I think would be good but again I don't know for sure. Garry

Thanks for your reply Steve. You are quite right about the Aussie timbers. Europeans often named them after timbers they knew from home because of their qualities or appearance when in fact were completely difference species. Hoop is a beautiful clear pine and is like Hinoki in appearance and texture. I though pine may not have been used because of it's physical properties however didn't think of the possible rust problem. I'll check that out. Regards, Garry