Six Tanto and Wakizashi

I'm ready to do the ito wrapping.
I got the rayskin all fitted up and glued with Leatherweld.
I stumbled on a "pro-tip". Normally I would bind any kind of leather or rayskin handle with paracord and elastic bands while drying.
I used Pet Wrap bandage and it works great. It isn't sticky, but it self-adheres and holds very snug pressure evenly along the handle. Much easier to deal with than cords and elastics.

I lacquered the rayskins today in different colors chosen by my daughter (not sure I would have chosen purple myself...).
I have four combinations:
black ray with white ito
white ray with black ito
bronze ray with dark blue ito
purple ray with gold ito

I have the ito cords and some nice menuki ready to go.
I just need to carefully review diagrams and videos to remember how to do the final knot.
I also got some interesting woods to do the saya; African Blackwood, Kingwood, and katalox.
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Willie71 said:
I love these updates. Keep them coming.
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Thanks!
I started wrapping one of the tanto today (the bronze ray with dark blue ito) and it was going well, the menuki fell into place and it looks pretty nice.
For some reason I have a terrible time with knots and I got hung up at the end (on the second side). Even following a Turk's head tutorial for another project was a pain for me.
I had to step back to avoid having my frustration spoil my Father's day dinner.
I've now watched a video repeatedly and am ready to finish it.
The "good news" is that I have three more to do after this one so hopefully I can get into the groove (and then no doubt forget again until next time...).
 
I find that a printed photo tutorial is far better than a video (either printed from online tutorials or in a book). You can look at the images and follow what is happening. If yours looks different, you can see where you are off.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
I find that a printed photo tutorial is far better than a video (either printed from online tutorials or in a book). You can look at the images and follow what is happening. If yours looks different, you can see where you are off.
Click to expand...

I was following a printed tutorial, but perhaps not the best one.
I found a two-part video that clarified for me what is going on in the printed one.
I got the one I had started finished last night and lightly brushed with marine epoxy.
I'll try to do the other three while it is clear in my mind.

A minor secondary issue is that the slots in my kashira are barely big enough, so I had some trouble getting the two cords to go through.
 
Quick update. I got the knots figured out and got them all wrapped.
There were two unpleasant surprises.
1) While wrapping I was putting a tiny dot of CA glue on the sides each time I went around.
On the dark blue, white, and gold ito, there was no problem at all. For some reason, despite using very tiny amounts of CA, some white patches came through the black ito.
This surprised me since I did the same thing while wrapping black ito (same source) on my katana a couple years ago and there was no issue at all.
2) After wrapping each handle, I brushed on a VERY light coat of clear marine resin.
On the black, blue, and even white, there was no visible effect.
Oddly, when even the tiniest amount of resin hit the gold ito (on the waki), it turned very dark, almost purple.
I stopped immediately.
Then to try to fix the white patches of CA that showed through on the black ito tanto, I added some dye to the resin and brushed it over.
Once dry it turned out to be too much resin, so it looks glazed and unacceptable. I ordered another length of black ito and will redo that one carefully without CA.

The gold ito that had turned dark (and another test piece), nearly recovered the gold color once dry.
Since I plan to cut with the waki and want the wrap to be very secure, I applied resin over all the gold ito, even more sparingly than the others.

I think if I were doing one tanto, my default choice going into this would have been black wrap over white ray skin, but looking at the completed handles, the other colors, especially the white over black actually look more appealing.

I'm doing the sayas now in: purpleheart, kingwood, and African blackwood. If the purpleheart fades to brown I will lacquer that one.
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I finished all but one of the saya.
One tanto has dark blue wrap over bronze lacquered ray skin.
I made the saya for that one out of purpleheart and since that wood fades badly with time, I thought I would lacquer it bronze.
I did 5 coats, but it still has a slightly grainy look and not the nice gloss appearance you often see.
I'm going to try lightly sanding with progressively higher grits between additional coats of lacquer, and then put some layers of gloss clear coat on top.

The other two are Kingwood which took a very nice finish and looks great just with some paste wax.
However, I messed up badly on one of them.
The good news is that they all fit the blades very well, but on one of them, in addition to carving it out with chisels, I used some sand paper...
Well, of course a piece of grit was still in there while I was checking the fit. I put an ugly scratch onto one of my two pieces with hamon.
Now I need to polish and etch it again. Tough lesson.

The saya for the waki is in progress, made from a nice piece of African Blackwood. I expect that that one will take a nice finish also.

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Well, this project is about finished.
I really like how the saya for the waki turned out in African Blackwood.
It takes such a nice polish it feels like horn.
I'm pretty happy overall. I had not worked with any of the steel types before, so it is nice to have the san mai, 26C3 with hamon, and m4 all together on display.

I got a little stand from sword buyers guide for $20.
(mounting it over the fireplace cost me a patio set...)
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Work looks beautiful.

I will caution you about using woos for their look/color/pattern in a saya. Many woods have either chemicals, silica, or just plain hardness that will slowly damage the blade. There is a good reason that Ho, alder, and similar soft woods are used.
 
Thanks Stacy.
I did request some Alaskan yellow cedar samples as I heard it is a good substitute for traditional wood, but it never arrived. I will display these out of the saya and look for a better wood for next time.
 
That is a good idea. When I made my first bunch of Japanese blades I used all sorts of fancy patterned woods for the saya, too. After seeing scratches and even pitting, I realized the problem. I think I still have a few sitting around.
 
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