Need a handle maker fora katana and wakazashi

J

Jim T

Active Member
A friend in Alberta, Canada recently purchased an authentic katana blade and a wakazashi blade he chanced upon while on his travels. The blades require handles. He would like to commission someone who can put a handle on both blades using authentic materials and techniques.

Does anyone know of a reputable maker (preferably, but not necessarily, in Canada) who would be willing to do this?

Jim
 
If you fail to find one in Canada, let me know. I can recommend a gentleman in San Antonio who can do it. Ben taught me to do it while I was living there. Believe it or not, your friend could probably do it himself if he wanted to. It's not that hard to do, but it is very time consuming. I believe it took me about five hours just to carve the slots for the tang in the tsuka. Fitting the fuchi/kasira was just trial and error removing small portions of wood and checking for fit until everything was just right.

Has he already chosen his furniture (fuchi/kashira, menuki, tsuba, seppa, and style and color of ito) for the piece? Also, will he need a saya carved as well? Having all if this custom made is going to be an expensive project. I think I spent about $300 on inexpensive fittings and did the work myself and I already had the saya for my blade. Of course, if he needs habakis for the blades, that will be a whole new project with lots of decisions to be made.

Sorry, not trying to overwhelm this thread but make sure he has a good idea of what exactly he wants when he contacts someone to have the work done. A quality blade deserves a quality koshirae.
 
Hey Murph, thanks for the feedback. My friend loves Japanese swords, but he's not a knife maker or sword maker himself. He'll need the whole ten yards when it comes to handles, fittings and saya and I've told him it'll cost to have it done the right way. I'm really pleased he respects the sword making craft enough to want the handles completed properly. I'll give you a shout back if he can't find someone in Canada willing to take this on. Thanks again, Murph.

Jim
 
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