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jezah81
15th June 2007, 06:38
Hi guys,

I just received a tsuka that i had re-wrapped from Japan. Everything is nice and tight, and aesthetically pleasing, BUT the damn thing wont fit back onto the nakago. Before I sent the tsuka to Japan, it was fitting fine onto the nakago, not loose, but not extaordinarily tight either. Now the nakago will not go all the way into the tsuka, there is about 1 inch of the nakago that refuses to go in. Is there any way to fix this problem myself? Has anyone else ever experienced this or heard of it before? What are the reasons for this?

Kind Regards,

Jeremy Hagop

Andy Watson
15th June 2007, 10:25
Jeremy

Was it a tsuka for an iaito? If so these are normally quite tight fitting and you might need to bash it in with a wooden or rubber mallet. If you have a decorated tsuka gashira which might be damaged by this then cover the end in masking tape first.

The reason this happened: I can only guess that the rewrapping has tightened up all the wood.

Ken-Hawaii
15th June 2007, 20:09
I had the same thing happen to me a few years ago, Jeremy. It turns out that when a tsuka is rewrapped, especially if it's fairly ornate, the tsukamaki-shi will often wet the ho (mine is magnolia wood) & same-gawa when he's reassembling them, & keeps them damp while wrapping the ito for the tightest fit.

In my case, I just had to let the tsuka dry out for a few weeks, & it fit back perfectly. I was tempted to use a hair-dryer to accelerate the process, but luckily decided against that. If yours isn't damp, then Andy's suggestion of a wooden mallet sounds good to me.

jezah81
16th June 2007, 04:43
Thanks for the answers fellas. I just tapped the tsuka back into place with my rubber mallet. All is well now. Nice and tight, and very beautiful to look at, not to mention great to swing :)

Kind Regards,

Maro
17th June 2007, 23:32
Post some pictures and details for us Jeremy!

jezah81
18th June 2007, 02:25
Hey Matt,

Everytime i try to post pics on this forum, the file is always too big. Today I am going to see a friend of mine who is an expert in swords and photography, and I will talk to him about it, and see what we can come up with.

Kind Regards,

Maro
18th June 2007, 04:51
You need to upload the pictures to Imageshack or Photobucket and then link them here via the image ling above (the one that looks liks a mountain)

You can then add the URL to the picture of your swords, as many as you like and it wil appear.

hyaku
19th June 2007, 07:34
Sword related questions to sword craft and questions please. Seminars to the forum seminar section and obituaries to E-Budo Memorial please

Thanks