New Saya Needed

[jeremy]

Hi guys

 

I'm in the need of a new saya for my nihonto which I use for iaido. What's the best place to get a new saya made? Anywhere in USA maybe?

Cheers

Jeremy

[TheGermanBastard]

Randy B. ... PM sent

[b.hennick]

John Terado does fine work as does Brian Tschernaga.

[jeremy]

Thanks for the suggestions. Actually my current saya is cracked, and may be salvaged with a samegawa wrap to strengthen and prevent it from cracking further. Would any of these gentlemen do this type of work also?

Thanks

Jeremy

[Ken-Hawaii]

Jeremy, if your saya has split (as they all do in iaido), check out http://www.nihonzashi.com/sword_repair.aspx#Repair_split_sayaor you can do it yourself with some bamboo & rice glue. The technique can be found here: http://ejmas.com/tin/tinart_fowler_0602.htm.

[jeremy]

Hi Ken

I think my saya is bad enough to have it fixed with a samegawa wrap, the longest crack is about 10 inches starting from the koiguchi, and hairline cracks on the other side. I don't feel confident enough doing it myself. The best would be to get a new saya made but that would mean I'd have to send my blade overseas which Im trying to avoid if I can help it.

Thanks again

Jeremy

[Stephen]

Fred Lohman   would be best for iaido, IMHO

 

http://www.Japanese-swords.com/

[Ken-Hawaii]

One hint, Jeremy, is that almost all iaito have the same sori, so see if you can find an inexpensive saya locally that the same length or a bit longer. Pretty good chance your blade will fit. I have three blades that all use the same saya with the rattan wrap. Fred is good if you decide to buy a new saya.

 

BTW, when I managed to crack my saya, it was a lot more than 10"! Just made me learn to do saya-biki correctly.   Wrapping with bamboo/rattan is fairly easy, & it looks really cool when you're done. Mine looks like the one on Fred's page: http://www.Japanese-swords.com/pages/saya.htm. Took me a couple of tries, but mostly just to get the right effect.

[jeremy]

Actually it is a shinken made in Japan with a Japanese made saya, so I doubt any old saya will fit it unfortunately. I've contacted fred Lohman and randy for now, compare prices etc and take it from there. Thanks for all the advice.

Jeremy