Silk Odoshi Suppliers

[estcrh]

If anyone else needs silk odoshi here is a link to a Japanese manufacturer. They are easy to deal with, speak excellent English and supply odoshi at around £1.10 / $1.45 a meter I believe. I think they also manufacture tsuka-Ito and sageo as well, even tassles and agimaki knots etc.

.http://fusahimo.com/index.shtml

[DaveT]

Thats an excellent example of what not to buy, and why attention to detail is so very important

1. It's cheap acrylic, not silk
2. It has the incorrect weave

Basically a synthetic boot lace that no self respecting katchushi or collector would use on real armour.

 

[Brian]

Old saying...you get what you pay for.

[IanB]

Trying to use synthetics for tsuka ito is a waste of time. In the dim and very distant past when getting anything from Japan was near impossible I tried various braids from UK manufacturers - all of which were either cotton or synthetic. The latter all gradually stretched to the point where you could almost slide them off the tsuka. I tried hanging them with a heavy weight on to get the stretch out but it made no difference. Silk has elasticity and springs back after being stretched, gripping the tsuka.  There are polymers that don't stretch and no doubt there are some out there today with the same characteristics as silk - but you cannot beat the real thing so why try. The cost of silk compared to the cost of a sword is negligible.

Ian Bottomley

[estcrh]

Thats an excellent example of what not to buy, and why attention to detail is so very important

 

1. It's cheap acrylic, not silk

2. It has the incorrect weave

 

Basically a synthetic boot lace that no self respecting katchushi or collector would use on real armour.

I simply posted the wrong image, of course that carry silk. If anyone had taken the time to look through their site they would have seen this.

[estcrh]

I simply posted the wrong image, their products are used by restorers without any complaints as far as I know. Here is a link to their silk products.
http://fusahimo.com/blog/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=1&tag=正絹
 

(Admin - Image removed, don't need the whole page copied here)

[Justin Grant]

Use caution when dealing with "inexpensive" suppliers because of quality control on the colors. I've ordered 10mm, only to have it arrive at 7-10mm wide, and even the color will vary on the same strand. I ordered 60m of blue last year and a 1/3 or better was black, the rest had  lighter and darker sections, all on the same 60m strand. Most farm this work out, and have no control on the color or width.

 

Not saying all are bad, but I've ordered from two Japanese suppliers in the past several years to see the same result. One supplier told me, hey, I don't make it, I just sell it.... Telling....