Deleted
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Menuki
Feb 27, 2014 12:01:49 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2014 12:01:49 GMT -5
A few years ago, I bought an attractive and affordable tanto from a vendor at a convention. Especially at the sub-$100 price point, and the fact that I am really only using it as jewelry, I have been pleased with my purchase. I have, however, recently found a pair of menuki that I would much prefer on the tanto. I know that on a katana tsuka, the menuki are held in place by the tsuka-ito. You can see in the picture below that these menuki are most likely glued in place. I'm just wondering what you all think I'm likely to encounter when I try to pry the old ones off, and what you think the replacement glue should be. I'm worried about damaging the same (real rayskin, though not super-high quality) during removal and losing my nice new menuki later if I do things wrong. I'm not too worried about damaging the (rather generic) menuki that are on there now.
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Menuki
Feb 28, 2014 9:03:08 GMT -5
Post by Please Delete on Feb 28, 2014 9:03:08 GMT -5
A few years ago, I bought an attractive and affordable tanto from a vendor at a convention. Especially at the sub-$100 price point, and the fact that I am really only using it as jewelry, I have been pleased with my purchase. I have, however, recently found a pair of menuki that I would much prefer on the tanto. I know that on a katana tsuka, the menuki are held in place by the tsuka-ito. You can see in the picture below that these menuki are most likely glued in place. I'm just wondering what you all think I'm likely to encounter when I try to pry the old ones off, and what you think the replacement glue should be. I'm worried about damaging the same (real rayskin, though not super-high quality) during removal and losing my nice new menuki later if I do things wrong. I'm not too worried about damaging the (rather generic) menuki that are on there now. It really depends on how they attached the menuki. It is possible that it might just be slightly connected at one or two points. On the other hand, it could be that the same under the menuki is covered in glue, so you may need something to help take care of that, or make sure the new menuki will completely cover it. -Ii
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Deleted
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Menuki
Mar 3, 2014 16:53:10 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2014 16:53:10 GMT -5
It really depends on how they attached the menuki. It is possible that it might just be slightly connected at one or two points. On the other hand, it could be that the same under the menuki is covered in glue, so you may need something to help take care of that, or make sure the new menuki will completely cover it. I got a small prying tool under the edge of each menuki, put a pad between the tool and the same, and with the application of a fair amount of force popped the old menuki off. They were glued on with quite a bit of glue. I'm still not absolutely sure what kind of glue, but it could just be rice paste. Anyway, it's brittle and I could scrape a fair amount of it away with a sharp knife without damaging the same. I am gluing on the new menuki with rice paste. One thing I had not expected about the old menuki is that they are not identical. The stud on the back that anchors the menuki in place is in a different spot on each menuki. I expected the stud to be in the center as it is on my new menuki, but it is off-center so that the majority of each menuki is actually aft of the anchor hole. Huh. Anyway, I'll try to get some pictures later. Anybody need some gently used generic brass menuki?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2014 7:36:43 GMT -5
On further examination, more becomes clear. The "asymmetrical" mounting studs were achieved by grinding off one the two studs the menuki was made with. Also, the old menuki were probably mounted with cyano-acrylate ("super") glue. Blech. Anyway, it scrapes off easily. They're not ugly or anything, seriously. Anybody need them? Here's what the mounting hole on the tsuka looks like. All the gluing on this is pretty bad, but I'm not prepared to do a complete overhaul on this item. The new menuki hides a lot of the old glue, and you can see why I prefer these new ones, right? I decided to use rice paste to attach the new ones, which has the advantage of being able to be soaked off with plain water.
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Menuki
Mar 6, 2014 21:33:12 GMT -5
Post by Torayoshi on Mar 6, 2014 21:33:12 GMT -5
Nice!
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