How The Tsuba Masters Work?

[vajo]

Today i saw an iron Tsuba with a nice motif of 2 tiger and bamboo. I think it was from the 18th century. 1 tiger inlay was loose. I thought the motif is a weaker material than iron. But here the Tiger was on a metal plate and this plate fits into the tsuba. In the afternoon i come home and looked through many pictures from iron tsuba with motiv and now i see in many that iron plates on which the motif is fixed. My question ist how they fixed the iron plates with the motif on the iron tusba? And how they made it that it is not seen later. The tsuba is forged and also that plate for the motif is from the same material. 

[TETSUGENDO]

Chris,

 

If you go to the Tosogu section and watch "Utsushi- in search of Katsuhira's tiger", an excellent short film by Ford Hallum,, your query will be answered.

 

-StevenK

[vajo]

Steven i know this but it is not the same.

[ROKUJURO]

Chris,

could you please show some photos so we know what you mean?

[TETSUGENDO]

Chris,

 

As Jean says....PHOTOS WOULD HELP!

 

-StevenK

[Geraint]

I think that Chris is referring to the practice of inlaying a design element, a piece of iron to form the body of a tiger for example,  inlayed into an iron ground.  

 

If this is the case then the ground is cut away to the shape of the inlay, the edges slightly undercut, the inlay piece inserted and the edges punched down to secure the inlay.

 

Or not Chris?

 

 

All the best.

[TETSUGENDO]

Geraint,

 

The technique you outline for Chris is the one in the video I referred him to.  Other techniques for securing inlays include soldering and adhesives (in the case of some semi-precious stone,organic materials,and some enamel elements,etc.).

 

-StevenK

[vajo]

Steven i was looking again. I speak about iron, not copper or other weak metal.

[SAS]

Iron is malleable also.

[TETSUGENDO]

Chris,

 

The inlay technique is equally applicable to iron.

 

-StevenK

[Alan Morton]

Where is HE when you want Him???

 

 

Alan

[Brian]

Busy with stuff that pays the bills I expect
Can't expect people to be at our beck and call, we are lucky for the participation that we do get.   

[vajo]

No photo.

I tried to scribble it 

 

It's a iron tsuba with iron inlays. The "cats" are also from iron with gold. The other elements are cissled.

 

Hope you can see what i mean.

 

[Ford Hallam]

Sorry Gents, I do try to keep an eye on posts here, but as Brian suggested sometimes work gets in the way...or my hands are knackered and I cant be arsed to hit the keyboard 

 

The technical issue you're describing, Bruno, was pretty much the standard approach used by tsuba makers in the past to create extra height or volume in the ground metal.

 

As has been already said iron isn't really all that hard when it comes to carving or pushing the metal around so that inlaying pieces of iron into an iron ground really is very simple. In fact I use the same approach quite a bit myself.  Inlaying a piece a bit bigger than the final form needed is also very sensible because it means you can carve to exactly the shape you want and not be limited from the outset by a specific shape that has already been decided and cut out.

 

In the image below you might be able to see where I inlaid two oversized iron pieces where I wanted the pine needles to be. The more completed group has a clear outline where you can see I've worked the join in to hide the seam.

 

The other group is in this image is not so far in terms of defining the needles but you can see the larger patch I set in and how I've outlined the needles. The excess iron was then simply carved away to leave the fine cluster neatly separated and appearing to lie on the undisturbed iron ground. 

 

 

...and what can't easily be seen in the photo is that the centre of the pine tree's trunk also has a section added in  that it allowed me to create some volume and a feeling of roundness up beyond the level of the base plate of iron.

[vajo]

Ford in my example the motiv is made seperatly away from the tsuba. You built your motif on the tsuba? 

 

Maybe my knowledge of english is too limited to explain it.

[Ford Hallam]

Chris, with only your drawing to go by I can't say for certain but it sounds to me what has happened with your example is that the inlay patch has simply become loose over the years and now easily falls out as the lip that held it secure perhaps corroded away.

[vajo]

Hello Ford.

Yes it is loose on one side, the other side fits. But my question is. Why they made the motif extra on a inlay and not directly build up on the tsuba like your example. First they forge the tsuba, than made inlay on a forged plane. Then cut the tsuba on the position and fit in the inlay. After this they must work on the tsuba surface to unseen that there is a inlay. Thats a lot of work more?

 

Or is this not correct?

[Brian]

Chris, steel/iron is precious. If you want a small raised area, do you really want to start with a thicker disc and then cut away ALL the rest of the tsuba to bring out the area you want raised, or do you start with a thinner plate, inlay a section, and carve that to the desired profile?
All about economy and time management and conservation of material and adding volume I expect. Plus things can be changed and altered as you go along.