Re: Let it begin! An accurate Kill Bill replica!
Been a busy month, but finally got around to making some progress - ordered some more leather wrap (ito) from Fred Lohman in Oregon. Very nice guy to deal with, and the wrap is excellent. Got the fittings finished (finally) and coated with a couple of layers of clear-coat.
Started wrapping sword B, to get a feel for how the ito would work and if I would run into any problems. Used paper triangles (hishi-gami) made from a thin cardboard, and the template from
Japanese Sword Projects. I usually print out the template, glue it to cardboard, and then cut them out. An hour later, you've got a bunch of little truncated triangles. They're used to add support to and help shape the diamonds of the wrap, and get inserted inside every half-diamond of the wrap.
Things went fine with the wrap - the ito was a joy to work with, very strong, and only a tiny bit of stretch. Ended up having to shorten my handle (tsuka) by half and inch or so to get everything to work out. and have the same number of cross-overs as the OP.
As I reached the end of the wrap, I discovered that the butt end of the tsuka was just a little (.5 mm or so) too skinny to work out nicely with the size of the end cap (kashira). Had to add about 6-7 layers of rice paper strips to bring up the side, staggered as to not introduce a lump to the handle.
Once that was done, everything went fine. Trying to get the two strips of leather through the hole in the kashira (****odome) was a bit tricky, but not too bad.
Anyhow, other than etching the foodog on the blade, and adding a brushed finish to the blade collar (habaki), the sword part of sword B is now done
Next up, wrapping sword A (Adam's sword). Then, all the little tasks associated with the scabbards (saya).
Thanks,
jason