Jump to content

Habaki for Aikuchi


Nobutaka

Recommended Posts

Here's my first post, and my first attempt at making a habaki for my aikuchi. I followed the instructions in the book "Craft of the Japanese Sword". I used 3mm copper sheet hammered on a newly-acquired anvil with a wedge hammer. I only hit my thumb once but stabbed my finger twice with a rat-tail file. The workpiece was annealed at three stages. The machigane was secured with silver/tin solder. I used a stationary rotary disc sander to rough the final shape after which a series of flat steel diamond knife sharpeners were used wet to get the surfaces true. Then final finish with automotive sanding blocks. Gilt nego gaki finish courtesy of Richard Adams.

 

Vaughan

post-4733-14196879782232_thumb.jpg

post-4733-14196879783687_thumb.jpg

post-4733-14196879785133_thumb.jpg

post-4733-14196879786442_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

VERY Nice job sir! You should be proud.

 

I have made a few of them and can offer a piece of advice to anyone who is interested that adds some much needed precision the process, especially for beginners.. It adds a few extra steps, but it completely eliminates the constant "is it in the right place?" part of soldering. If i had to guess, it took a good while to get that machigane into the proper position, right? Next time, don't cut the excess on the main piece away to begin with. Use a thin piece of longer sheet copper that you cut, file, or hammer a wedge like shape into the edge of it (kind of like a dovetailed end). This portion will fit in between the open halves of the habaki and ultimately serve as the machigane. Put the habaki on the blade where it will match up tightly. Place the thin dovetailed end of the sheet in between the halves and mate it to the munemachi. Clap into place with some channel locks. You can drill 2 holes in the excess and pin it all together place with some spare nails or screws, or what ever fits the holes you drilled.

 

Now that it is perfectly aligned, and WILL NOT MOVE, solder away. When cooled, cut the excess off with the pins in it and sand it down as you would before. It will match up every time.

 

Regards and happy crafting,

 

Kurt. K

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, another neat trick I learned. Brass plating. Get some zinc sulfate. Its cheep and easy to find online. Next get a few piece of raw zinc. Most boating supply stores have it. In a glass container, mix 300ml of water with 30 grams of the zinc sulfate. Heat it to a boil. Now add a few pieces of the raw zinc. If you place very clean copper habaki into the solution, touching the raw zinc, it will chemically plate the habaki with a nice, thin coating that looks like silver. It looks really nice and takes about 5-10 mins. You have now zinc plated your habaki. Clearly, this can also be done with any copper piece.

 

If you heat the plated habaki gently in a low oxygen flame to about 300*, the zinc ions diffuse into the copper and bond, forming brass on the surface. Its VERY easy and looks beautiful, turning a nice gold color. Plus, its much safer then messing with mercury.

 

Kurt. K

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks pretty good Vaughan. Of course one challenge in this case is not just fitting it to the polished tanto, but also the pre-existing saya.

 

I think Kapp / Yoshihara might laugh if they knew someone was taking their chapter on habaki as "instructions" – I doubt that was their intent. Still, good that it helped.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks guys, I really appreciate your comments and I was especially interested in the brass plating instructions. I made sure that the copper strip I used for the machigane was firmly held by the sides of the habaki and I had to be careful not to jolt it before it was soldered, quite a nerve wracking couple of minutes. I put a couple of drops of Bakers soldering fluid into the join and put a piece of fluxed solder over the join inside the habaki and held it over one of the burners of the kitchen cooking stove. The solder used was Brownells Hi Force 44 which melts at about 475 deg F (264 deg C) which is low, and it flowed easily and quickly into the join without fuss. I didn't want to push my luck with a silver solder, not having had any experience of silver soldering. The gilt took to the solder I used, and coloured it the same as the copper and it became invisible.

 

Vaughan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This thread is quite old. Please consider starting a new thread rather than reviving this one, unless your post is really relevant and adds to the topic..

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...