Thanks, Guys.
Just to be honest, the bezel for the fuchi is made from fancy bezel strip. Most of what you see is there to start with. Of course, I have to form it into a fuchi, re-engrave the joint and add some details...and gild the flowers....but a lot of the work is done for me. In my upcoming book ( still working on the photos and some additional text), I will be telling how to make a very fancy looking sgian dubh with these materials and only basic skills.
The gold character for "13" is inlaid into the silver habaki. The menuki are all individual pieces of gold, hand fabricated, and have studs "nailing" them into the tsuka core. I got the rest of the tsukamaki done at work today, so tonight I will be doing the final knots at the kashira.
This sneak peek is only the most simple parts of this sword. The real interesting things will be revealed after Ashokan.
Murph,
The clamp is a small HF clamp with the movable jaws removed. I then file the jaw tips to a wedge shape so it grasps the ito. It fits exactly on a tsuka with a perfect grip. ........Tie next fold/knot, pop clamp off, pull the knot tight, pop it back on over new knot, roll tsuka, repeat. Fast and tight. No hand cramps, or "OH Cr@&, I lost my grip!!!" What I really hate is looking down and noticing that I had failed to reverse one of the wraps on one side or the other ( left over right-omote- right over left-ura)....about four folds ago. This usually happens when i am talking to someone while doing tsukamaki.
Stacy
