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Locating a Saya and Tsuba maker in Calif or SF Bay Area

Submitted by MHGreengarden on Wed, 2016-01-13 00:29

I have made a purchase of a roughly finished blade from a Chicago hobbyist and will need some contact information. I intend to make this into a useable sword and not a display piece. Any suggestions?

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#1Submitted by saipan59 on Wed, 2016-01-13 18:27.

tsuba

I would assume that there are a lot of fake/repro tsuba for sale. I would expect a custom-made tsuba to be very expensive.
Years ago, there were folks selling cast-bronze repros of high quality tsuba. They looked nice.

A saya is going to be expensive no matter what (I think).
If you have enough skills and tools, you can make your own using poplar wood from a home improvement store. Poplar is very similar to the honoki used in Japan. I made one years ago for a short wakizashi. It came out OK. I used black enamel paint instead of real lacquer.

Pete
#2Submitted by MHGreengarden on Wed, 2016-01-13 23:58.

Thank you for your reply. Any

Thank you for your reply. Any information is a help. (Domo Arigato)
#3Submitted by Looper on Thu, 2016-01-14 00:49.

tsuba

You could look for tsuba from Japan on ebay, there are late edo tsuba that go for reasonable money. They wouldn't be lovely, but probably nicer than most modern reproductions at the same price.