Making a tsuka (handle)

The wood on the outside of Japanese sword tang is called the tsuka, which is used for encircling the blade tang, allowing people to carry the sword conveniently, and it is also a part of samurai sword mountings. From a piece of wood, to the design, and the method of manufacture, it is not easy to make a custom tsuka to fit a blade. 

1. You need a hard wood

2. Sawing wood from the middle

3. According to the shape of the tang, dig the wood with a wood carving knife.

4. Matching the front of the tsuka to the fuchi.

5. At this point you can see that the two pieces of wood are indeed not the same size. It is not that I have done something wrong. The purpose is to make the position of force is not at the seam, to ensure the strength of the handle.

6. File the shape of the handle with a file. This handle will be wrapped with full ray skin, so the thickness of the ray skin should be kept in the wood part. Drilling the mekugi holes using a hand powered post drill.

7. The rayskin is cut to shape and glued on to the tsuka core.

8. Drill holes on the rayskin and install Mekugi (pegs), Kashira.

9. Wrapping the Tsuka with ito.

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