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roger dundas

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Everything posted by roger dundas

  1. Can I say that I like your assessment Brien. I am too old to be a sycophant but I am again impressed with the way you handle the difficult problems that come your way. I wouldn't like the job. Mind you, I sometimes think you might censor some of Stephen's girlie shots too quickly. Roger j
  2. Just amazing to see the amount of work and effort that has gone into producing this great example A monument to an unknown maker (unknown in present times) and is it any wonder that we like to collect or maybe just admire these fascinating creations. Roger j
  3. That is a fine big shachi tsuba BaZZa , all 88 x 80 mm of it. Nicely chiseled dragon and dragon fish, clouds, plus the gold 'jewel'. And forged, chiseled and NOT cast. Condition down a bit as so many tsuba are prior to an application of 'love and affection'. A great example. Roger j
  4. It is interesting to me that the larger, katana (?) sized tsuba of the 'daisho pair' above is only 7.28 x 6.96. Is that how sometimes these 'daisho pairs' run with not big katana tsuba ? Say more like 7.8cm or so. Roger j
  5. Well, I just love the way these threads develop and bring out the various known facts plus the conjecture. To produce the two shakudo faces of a sanmai tsuba using repousse techniques would be quite easy and straightforward. And for an experienced craftsman, relatively quick- probably less than an hour, once you have the required equipment and tool kit at hand which is used again and again. As Dave notes above, if you were to have a positive and negative mould then that is another way to stamp out a design but the thickness of the plate (be it foil or thicker) being decorated would be an issue and to produce the bronze 'master plates' would be a big effort in itself. Would it be worth the effort with such simple designs as waves, flowers, tendrils, sometimes animals or insects unless you were going to turn out many of the exact same design. Do we see the exact same designs repeated time and again with sanmai tsuba ? For mine, I will go with repousse. Roger j
  6. And working from a traced pattern so that the original design remains identical for both sides or even multiple plate examples. The Jpanese sanmai shakudo plates are relatively thin, so when softened by heat, not a lot of pressure would be required to create the raised, semi-relief designs before turning over to work from the reverse side. My experience, not extensive, was using thicker 'gilding metal' which also needed heating to make it more malleable but further to that a hammer to impress the chisels and raise the design. I can't see that the shakudo plate could be forced into a pre-existing mold, softened though it would be but never the less relatively firm. Not plasticine like. Roger j
  7. I wonder if it has been made clear exactly how repousse designs were created ? In modern times at least and I suspect in earlier times in Japan a mix consisting of pitch, plaster (of Paris ?)and possibly bees wax was heated and mixed together to provide a somewhat resilient but not brittle bed to lay the plate to be decorated by chiseling a design on, starting from one face. The warmed pitch mix was possibly an inch or two thick and contained by a rectangular or a circular boundary. Shaped but not very sharp, (some domed) small chisel tools ( approx.4" or so long- 1/4" heads) were made to create the outlines and molded designs from the rear. The metal and the pitch mixture base is heated, the metal turned over and re-positioned on the pitch bed and tidied up and refined from the other side, again using the chisel tools. This might be repeated more than once to reach the required effect. The craftsman must be careful not to hammer and stretch the metal subject matter so that it gets damaged or holed. The metal tenses up when being worked but releases the tension and softens when heated. I have done this work but over 50 years ago. Someone like Ford Hallam might straighten out a point or two (or more) here. I suppose what I wanted to clarify is that I don't believe that the shakudo or ? plates were just pressed into an existing mold but that instead each plate was individually crafted by the above techniques. Anyway, that is my belief. Roger j
  8. A very good 'find' Dale and further grist for the mill of tsuba comprehension. Roger j
  9. I am without the experience of most of you above but I remarked before here in the Tosogu section that I once read somewhere (but I just can't find or recall where) that sanmai tsuba were riveted and held by fukurin prior to about 1600 when the Dutch arrived and showed the Japanese how to use solder. Presumably after that date rivets were no longer used ? I didn't dream or imagine the information, I just can't verify it with a reference. Sorry about that. Roger j
  10. So very well done Sir. A lot of wonderful studied information. Thank you from me. Roger j
  11. Can I buy back in here. I have tried with my aging feeble mind to come to some sort of comprehension about these damnable cast tsuba. And I joke not ! Waiting I suppose for you sharp witted scholars to finally sum up. But the one big issue still remains for me- how easily can we tell a cast tsuba from a forged tsuba . Some are obvious even to the likes of me but it appears others are more difficult ? Especially when a cast tsuba is finished off with hand tooling. Have I got this right or should I just remain an onlooker. Roger j
  12. This above is where you experienced people just amaze me with your ability to recognize just what is what, makers, periods etc- dowsing is a description we could use. I know and have seen and purchased items from Mark particularly and know his innate judgement and John (and so many others here) seem to have been dipped in a similar magic solution, like Obelisk in that great comic and film series- "Asterisk and Obelisk". A vat of 'knowledge', a.k.a education and experience. Roger j
  13. John/ PNSSHOGUN- All is good and your comment was quite right. I was just taking the opportunity to segue into some follow up thoughts about what we have accumulated as collectors and what remains. I might have done it clumsily ? I trust it was in order. Now I will STFU or putting it more nicely- retire for a bit. Roger j
  14. Blokes that go about wearing trenchcoats (plus plenty of others of course). Nothing wrong with a sneaky peep now and then. All 'grist for the mill'. Roger j
  15. Yes that is so very true John. It is just unfortunate that is if it's your 'deceased estate' then you don't get to share the pleasure of seeing the 'chickens come home to roost', the proof of the wisdom of your pursuing these lumps of steel with hard earned money that has a financial reward as well as an emotional and intellectual one. I'm not being critical of your comment by the way, it's just that at my age I already have one foot in the grave and hope that I can leave some reasonable asset behind too ? Not too sure about me though- not as smart as many of you going by your posts, not dumb either but somewhere between (I'm hoping). I've had fun writing the above- hope you don't mind me indulging myself. Rub it out if you want. Roger j
  16. Can I be flippant here ? I reckon Ian is happy about it not being his estate as well. I don't know Ian but know of him as he is a good mate of Bazza's who I can tell you is also still well, alive and kicking and still enjoying a small whisky tasting along with his love of swords. Roger j
  17. Hope you experienced sword people don't mind a comment from the less informed- but what a shame and an embarrassment to see the condition (if you can ?) of these great historic artifacts. Unforgivable really. Roger j
  18. Thanks for taking the time Glen/GRC. Jean/ROKUJURO also has been generous in the past and thank you both again. I have had some student experience in repousse work, chaising and using a piercing saw plus hammering and shaping over a stake/form using gilding metal but iron work is foreign to me- a lot tougher. Roger
  19. I hope you knowledgeable members above don't just dismiss my question as unworthy of a response ? My question is about the tsuba maker's method here of construction- does he just take the iron plate and construct the design by cutting out using a saw and or drills and chisels, refining his work with files ? Sometimes welding into place other component parts ? That would appear to me as the only way of doing it (other than casting) and if so their work is to be marvelled at for mine with their sometimes enigmatic and cryptic designs. Roger j
  20. Dale- do you think recently made , the metal looks fresh to me ? Roger j
  21. Glen commented above how he has a hard time distinguishing (some- eg weathered)) cast tsuba -with non-cast tsuba that are hand worked/chiseled . For me it is impossible which is a bit unsettling. Roger j
  22. Both pretty and proud too. Is anyone here collecting these ladies to go with their naginatas (or their Chinese equivalents)? Roger 2
  23. I must admit my ignorance here. I had thought that when a naginata was used in battle/fighting, that the hands would have been held well back from the blade proper. But going by the bindings( in the illustrations above -on the pole adjacent to the tsuba )then that was not the case ? If that is so then a tsuba would still qualify as a stop to hands sliding forward, same as for a sword ? Does this make sense ? Roger j
  24. Here I go- slightly off topic again- Wouldn't the Japanese (Chinese too) have had fun with a theme incorporating 'snapping turtles', 'alligator snapping turtles' and so on. If only they had been an Asian reptile and known to them- you could imagine they would have been on tsuba, other tosogu, illustrated in books, statues and so on, everywhere. Roger j
  25. The above 'recognizing a guard for a naginata' again raises the question about it's (the tsuba's) major use to keep the 'wielder's hand from slipping onto the blade and getting cut'- or does it ? Roger j
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