With a tanto blade in my possession, as I mentioned in the part one, I decided to focus on making one of the metal fittings. Japanese swords do not fit tightly in their scabbards. The scabbards (saya) are made from wood and the blade floats inside them. This protects the valuable surface polish and keeps the blade from getting stained or scratched. To secure the sword tightly in the saya a wedge shaped collar called the habaki was employed. The collar is installed right at the base of the cutting edge. Traditionally the habaki was made from copper. The copper was sometimes jacketed in gold. I decided to go for a more utilitarian design and leave the raw copper color.
The construction practice that I used is very traditional. It essentially consists of heating a strip of copper until it is red hot, allowing it to cool, and then forming it by tapping it with a small hammer. The copper quickly re hardens so you must slide it off of the blade and heat it repeatedly. I heated the collar about ten times before it was completely formed. The habaki is formed directly around the blade itself. This way you get an absolutely precise fit. In Japan this is only done by the most experienced artisans because you are literally hammering a piece of metal just millimeters from a finished blade. Once the habaki was formed I silver soldered the seam closed. The last step is to file and shape it so that is has pleasing lines that compliment the blade. I also put a protective coat of clear lacquer over it so the copper would not tarnish.
It was at this time that I oiled the blade and wrapped it with fabric to protect it from corrosive skin oils. This also serves to protect me from the sharp edge of the blade.
The next step will be to fabricate the wood parts: the scabbard and hilt. Stay tuned...
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