iron mokume tsuba

[Richard Furrer]

Hello All,
Here is a tsuba I just finished. It's 3 1/4" diameter and 3/16" thick and rings like a bell.
I love the texture of wrought iron.

tsuba

[Richard Furrer]

A close-up of the cut outs

sukashi cuts

[Richard Furrer]

Last shot of the folded/welded pattern flowing around the edge of the tsuba.
Edge

[Dan Pfanenstiel]

Wow! Nice, Richard. Love the flow of the grain in the wrought.

Makes me want to pursue my ideas on tsuba, then I remember that I'm focusing on blades.

Dan

[Christopher Makin]

Nice tsuba ,what was the other steel you used with the wrought?
I have been playing around with some W.I. that I got from a 200 yr old barn and have made a tanto tsuba out of one piece,quite a chore making flat sheet out of 3/4" square spikes with out a power hammer.I love the way it looks after a quick etch in nitric.

[Richard Furrer]

Christopher,
I don't understand the question.
The tsuba was made entirely of reforged wrought iron.

[Christopher Makin]

Rich
I thought it was mokume which is usually a combination of differring metals.Although I guess the word itself just means woodgrain.

[Dave Ellison]

That's really nice! What sort of folding pattern did you use? How did you do the sukashi cuts? They look so crisp and clean

[Richard Furrer]

Dave,
The pattern is from a fold forged on edge, but a bit off center so the fold ended up coming to the surface of the tsuba.
The sukashi cuts were drilled and then cut out with a jewlers saw then filed to finished shape.