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Post by thomasmacfinn on Oct 7, 2011 8:53:41 GMT -5
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Post by Yagyu Jubei Takemori on Oct 7, 2011 11:52:32 GMT -5
No, If I am going to make a rattan katana or o-katana im going with proper sized tsubo. Though I tend to play with regular greatswords. Others may feel differently. I think they look great as-is.
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Post by thomasmacfinn on Oct 7, 2011 12:56:03 GMT -5
Okay, do you think it would be fair to say that more people prefer a 3" - 3 1/2" diameter tsuba or a 4 1/4" - 5" tsuba?
I'm at the design phase now and if I am going to dump money into prototypes I'd prefer knowing that I'm making what other people are going to buy.
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Post by Uryuu Ujishige on Oct 8, 2011 5:29:54 GMT -5
Personally, I would go for a 4". I increased the size of the tsuba on my SCA katana from the 3" on my real katana to 4" because the blade is thicker due to SCA standards, and the tsuba needs to accommodate that increase.
Kevin
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Post by Uryuu Ujishige on Oct 8, 2011 6:08:21 GMT -5
Additional thought. The 4" gives you the increased size that people seem to want, but not overly so, and still maintains the basic look they want the katana to have. I don't know if it is a good example but here are a couple of photos of mine. Kevin
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Post by Uryuu Ujishige on Oct 8, 2011 6:10:44 GMT -5
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Post by thomasmacfinn on Oct 8, 2011 7:52:10 GMT -5
Nice. What material did you use for that tsuba?
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Post by Uryuu Ujishige on Oct 8, 2011 18:45:24 GMT -5
Leather. I glued and double stitched two 4" disks of 8oz leather together. Then I cut the nakago-ana (hole) the same shape as the end of the handle, but slightly smaller for a tight fit. I dyed it black on both sides, and then painted the main charge of my mon on one side.
Just as an aside. I based my SCA katana on my real katana with the same weight and balance. The three modifications I made were to lengthen the handle a few inches to accommodate full gauntlets, the blade is about 1 1/2 inches longer for the thrusting tip, and the tsuba is 4" instead of 3" because of the width of the blade.
Kevin
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Post by Uryuu Ujishige on Oct 8, 2011 22:57:02 GMT -5
By the way, I really liked the laser cut tsuba on I saw on the Armor Archive link. A bit expensive for me though.
I am in the process of designing a couple more tsuba. Same design as my SCA katana has now. However this time they are going to be made of metal, and the mon is going to be a cutout. One will be for a cut & thrust katana blade I am going to purchase, and will be normal size. The other will be for my SCA heavy katana to replace the one on it now. I will have to redo the tsukamaki, but that won't be to difficult. The tsuka needs to be thinned down anyway, The braid makes it feel a little thicker than I like.
Kevin
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Post by thomasmacfinn on Oct 9, 2011 9:42:14 GMT -5
By the way, I really liked the laser cut tsuba on I saw on the Armor Archive link. I'm working on new ideas all the time. A bit expensive for me though. I'm working on that too. The fancy aluminum one is $110, but the plain mild steel one is only $10. I'm working on some mid-level options too.
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Post by thomasmacfinn on Oct 10, 2011 11:31:02 GMT -5
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Post by Uryuu Ujishige on Oct 10, 2011 15:46:06 GMT -5
Looks very nice.
Kevin
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Post by thomasmacfinn on Oct 11, 2011 7:55:14 GMT -5
While I am on the topic, at foxknife.com, I have always had both a 'design your own' section and a 'standard designs' section, but I haven't created a standard katana yet. For my standard katana, I'm thinking 38 inches overall length but haven't decided how much of that length should be blade and how much handle. 29"/9"? I'm also thinking of posting a 28" overall length wakasashi with a 7" grip. For reference, the katana at the start of this thread is 43" overall length with a 12" grip.
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Post by Suzuki Ken'ichi on Oct 11, 2011 15:32:55 GMT -5
Well, for reference, my Shinken has a 29" blade, and a 12" tsuka, for an overall length of 41". I find that to be pretty comfortable, and still shorter in the blade than the typical SCA basket hilt, which has a blade about 36".
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Post by thomasmacfinn on Oct 11, 2011 17:24:05 GMT -5
I'd say a 29" blade is about standard for the SCA. Do you think a 9" tsuka is far too short?
I did an impromptu survey a little over a year ago and the result was that most SCA one-handed weapons were between 24" and 42" overall length with the majority within a couple inches of 36" overall. My sales since then have born that out.
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