The Armour Archive

Has anyone ever made one?

Glaukos

I helped, once.

We squashed a piece of 1 1/4" pipe into an oval, then welded an oval chunk we cut out of 1/2" plate onto the bottom as the kashira onto the bottom. The pipe fit over the rattan, screwed on like a normal SCA pommel, and was covered up when the grip was wrapped with imitation velvet and hockey-skate laces.

I always thought we should have drilled out the "oval chunk" part of the kashira as a lacing aid, but we didn't have the time. And besides, it was for a newbie who didn't know the difference. But damn it, we did.

A quick paint sketch of what we wound up with.

...plus the lacing hole we should have added.

Ahhh.. so desu.... interesting...

re-reading, I should amend that the pommel was screwed on through the sides. we didn't do that lag-screw into the end-grain business you see on occasion.

I put one one my katana (see photo bekow). I used a copper pipe endcap. A friend of mine blacked it with a torch. He heated it up just enough to slightly reshape it to the basic shape ot the end of the tsuka. Once the tsukimaki was finished we simply tapped it on with a hammer. It is secured on the end with the same clear epoxy (Devcon, High Strength, 2 Ton, All Purpose, Clear Epoxy) I painted onto the tsukimaki braid to secure and harden it on the tsuka. I just put some down the gaps left after tapping it on, and let it cure. Works great.

Kevin

http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd4 ... Handle.jpg

I did one out of brass. I raised it. It's long gone. I don't bother any more.

If you do real tsukimaki it is a good idea to have one.

Kevin

Are you planning on having a brass habaki as well?