Fuchi Kashira ?

[dpanther]

I dont know if this is the right forum to post this thead. sorry if should be somwere else, but i was wondering if anyone could tell me how to make Fuchi Kashira. If I need a mold how do I make one? Iv made some out of copper but im looking for something with more of a visual appeal.

Thanx in advance for your replies

Dave

[Galloglas]

When you say visual appeal do you mean doodads like carving and scenes and stuff? I can't help you with that as I personally don't care for that stuff on my hardware *but* I think it's cool if someone else wants to go to the trouble....

Traditionally fuchi/kashira were fabricated by assembling sheet stock and brazing/soldering and kashira were made by hammering stock into a form. Modern stuff is made the same way, cast, or in my case done via stock removal.



I drill out and hand ream 1/2" thick blocks of mild steel to make my fittings and it is tedious but gives me complete control over wall thickness and exact size and balance. The trade off is that they are plain but plain works for me. I like my stuff to be robust and functional so plain black steel hardware suits my style fine.



It does take me a whole 2 days to make a set of hardware and get it patinated and fitted/finished the way I want but I still have not (and won't) exploit an easier faster way. Casting is perfectly fine but you'll have to make your own originals and molds and then cast them and clean 'em up and patinate them. For a short run or a one-off it'd be easier to buy them or commission them.



I patinate my steel with rust and boil and oil it to make it black and durable...different non ferrous alloys can be patinated as well for various colors and this is a whole art unto it's own. Fred Lohman company makes a lot of cool stuff that is cheap and pretty nice for the occasional project or if you can't devote your life to it...

http://www.japanese-swords.com/fuchi...y/frameset.htm

At $70 you can't touch making your own for that kind of money unless you are gonna make a career of it. But casting is good enough for Fred so it's a valid way of making fittings. I doubt you'll find existing molds but you may be able to commission a jeweler to make you a mold if you have an original to work from.

Brian

[dpanther]

Brian, holy crap those are awesome!!! I like plain but the copper just wasen't doing it for me. I'v made a straight sword and my fittings are just to bulky. I'll try steel and hope for the best. Wish me luck

How long does it take you to make the Habaki? That sliver of copper get's me every time . Is there an easier way to do it?

Thanks for the info Brian

Dave

[Galloglas]

Yeah, I made a few sets of hardware out of copper a few years ago via my stock removal methods. It was a bit faster as the copper is softer and easier to work but 1/2" blocks of copper are freakin' expensive now. 1018 mild steel drills and works like butter and is downright cheap. Plus, it patinates in a variety of ways that are easy and durable. So it's steel for me.

Making habaki is a terrible, terrible thing. Even when it all goes right it's a PITA...

Long ago I learned to make habaki out of sheet stock. It is very tedious and the resulting habaki is not as strong as a forged habaki with a machigane (that dreaded little trianglular sliver we all hate to install...) but if you use some of the higher temp. solders now available or even braze them with silver solder they end up quite durable and strong.

Check the tutorial at: http://home.mchsi.com/~samonji/gallo...tutorial1.html

I have made quite a few like this and also a number of forged habaki and have a multilayer habaki of sheet stock on my personal training sword. It has been used hard and by quite a few very big and burly guys and shows no sign of stress. I have never had one fail except when I clamped it in a vise pinching the ends. With soft solder, the kind that melts below 600f, they can't take abuse as the joints will let go if stressed against the joints. In normal function there is no stress in that direction so they are fine.



By the way, this same technique is an option for producing hardware like fuchi, kashira, and even tsuba. I have produced some pretty keen tsuba of alternating layers of copper and steel this way and when you rust the steel the copper doesn't rust. So it looks quite nice. Making stuff via layering is tedious but if you make up blocks of material 1/8" to 1/4" thick and then do your cutting and openings and stack the resulting billets the construction time is actually less than forging them.

Play with it. alternative crafting *RoCkS* and it bends the traditionalists out of shape every time..

Brian

[dpanther]

Hay brian that's some kind of work you do there. Very impressive! And the Website, Very cool! Thank you ever so much, I will never do another Habaki the same. NO MORE COPPER SLIVRES this is great. Anyway back to it. Just a question about shipping. how hard is it to ship over the Canadian bourder? With 911 and everything. The reason I ask is because alot of the guys from this forum are in the States, and I would rather get my knives from people I have been talking to and trust, rather than some stranger that talks a good story and sells me crap.

Thanx again for the info you are a life saver. The wife says thanx to, now she don't have to here me every time I screwup my Habaki.

Dave