Advice for a loose tsuba?

[taken67]

Hello all,

Is there anyway to tighten the tsuba, and the seppa that sandwich it, without dismantling the tsuka? To clarify my specific problem, the tsuba will rock slightly from side to side (not up and down the blade) as does the seppa between habaki and the tsuba. Its a cheap sword ($100-$150 or so), given to me by a friend so I don't think its worth sending away, to be professionally fixed. Just wondering if this is something that I can fix, or should I just keep it as a junker and buy a better sword?

Incase anyone is wondering it looks identical to this sword (http://www.chenessinc.com/higo.htm) (withouth the bo-hi, and the Same is synthetic I believe), but apparently my friend got his on ebay for less than what they are asking.FWIW

[John Lindsey]

You mean without taking the tsuka off? It looks like it is not one of those really cheap plastic tsuka, so it should come off ok. But, they can be very tight. Once you get the tsuba off, just put some copper shims inside of it to tighten it up. You can even cut some new seppa if you want to. It might need just another seppa to make it real tight. That way, with a tight tsuba, they won't move very much.

If the sword is a real junker, why no use some strong glue?

I am sure other members will have better ideas...

[Hattori]

I would advise using some felt. Cut a piece of felt the same size/shape as the seppa. Remove the tsuka and place the felt "seppa" between the seppa and the Tsuba. Choose a brown or black felt so it is not so noticeable. Felt in small squares can be bought at any craft store. This was an old trick used by soldiers during WWII and you can find many gunto with felt seppas.

[Ronin_21]

My sensei told me this and it worked perfectly, I cant even shift the tsuba if I tried, and it was really clickin bad and sliding up and down. Pop mekugi and pull the tang only out enough so you can see a little space between the rear seppa and the tsuba, wrap dental floss in this gap, apply more or less depending on how severe the shifting or clicking is. Tie it off, cut it, push tang back in and compress dental floss in the space, put pin back in and Voila
:D

[jest]

My sensei told me this and it worked perfectly, I cant even shift the tsuba if I tried, and it was really clickin bad and sliding up and down. Pop mekugi and pull the tang only out enough so you can see a little space between the rear seppa and the tsuba, wrap dental floss in this gap, apply more or less depending on how severe the shifting or clicking is. Tie it off, cut it, push tang back in and compress dental floss in the space, put pin back in and Voila
:D

I heard about this trick the other week too!

[Bailemor]

I had the same problem with my iaito i bought from eurobogu. The only way to fix it would be to take the tsuka off and I used Bamboo fillers to tighten up the tsuba then refit the tsuka.

David

[Charles Mahan]

Unwaxed, unflavored dental floss. Just wrap it around between seppa and tsuba until it is tight again. Use soemthing thin to shove the loose ends into the seperation. The pressure will hold it, no need to tie it off.

[taken67]

Hooray for dental floss and Hooray for E-Budo!!!!!!

The floss worked great and was really easy to do, thanks everyone for the great advice!!!

[ojiji]

Who is this 'Lou' fella, and what is wrong with his tuba?

[taken67]

Who is this 'Lou' fella, and what is wrong with his tuba?

Hahaha! It took me way to long to get that.