# Katanakake (Japanese sword stand)



## BTimmons (Aug 6, 2011)

*Rough shaping - Mortises, tenons, bandsaw profiles*

A katanakake is an elegant way to display Japanese swords. Like much of the aesthetic that descends from feudal-era Japan, it can be purely functional or highly decorative, but form always follows function. The Edo period of Japan saw the creation of countless beautiful artworks in every possible medium, be it woodworking, architecture, sword making, painting, etc.

*So how did I stumble upon this specialized niche, anyway? *A few years ago I started practicing Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu Iaido, but I've been out of martial arts ever since my daughter was born over two years ago and I probably won't be continuing. In any city, it seems like you're a stone's throw from a Karate dojo no matter where you stand. But dojos that teach sword arts, with a legitimate lineage from Japan, are extremely hard to come by. The dojo I attended is an hour away from my house, and it's simply too far away to be practical now that I'm a family man. But my inclinations and appreciations haven't changed much since then.

So, on to the current project at hand! Here I have some pieces of mahogany, cut to length and planed smooth. I tell you man, there's nothing like nice wood just after you hit it with a #4 Stanley plane.

All pieces are roughly 1/2" stock, with the exception of the square stock that will be shaped into the feet of the stand. At this point, I'd already chiseled out my mortises in the feet and fit the tenons of the main rack pieces into them. The center piece has also been cut to shape. The center radius cut out was done with a cheap paddle drill bit, if you can believe that. All it took was a light touch, and drilling from both sides to meet in the middle to avoid blowout. I also need to refine the curves on a spindle sander.










Since the tenons on the center piece have already been cut and trimmed, it's time to mark out the mortises on the racks. A few pulls from my new wheel marking gauge, and voila.










Time to chisel out these mortises. I used nothing but the chisel pictured to do this, taking extra care not to go through the other side! A through tenon is not what I'm going for here. I did chip out a little morsel at the bottom, but it will be covered up by the center piece so it doesn't really matter. On the other rack piece I managed to leave it intact. The tenons look a little chewed up, but they fit much better than they look!










The rack pieces have now been rough cut on my band saw. Here they are sandwiched together in my vise so I can refine the rough spots with some files, before I even it all out with my spindle sander.










Stay tuned…


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## RGtools (Feb 18, 2011)

BTimmons said:


> *Rough shaping - Mortises, tenons, bandsaw profiles*
> 
> A katanakake is an elegant way to display Japanese swords. Like much of the aesthetic that descends from feudal-era Japan, it can be purely functional or highly decorative, but form always follows function. The Edo period of Japan saw the creation of countless beautiful artworks in every possible medium, be it woodworking, architecture, sword making, painting, etc.
> 
> ...


The fit is more important in the end when it comes to the joints.

At some point I really should build one of these, My poor blades are all huddled in my closet. The design on the las picture is quite elegant. Thanks for sharing.


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## BTimmons (Aug 6, 2011)

BTimmons said:


> *Rough shaping - Mortises, tenons, bandsaw profiles*
> 
> A katanakake is an elegant way to display Japanese swords. Like much of the aesthetic that descends from feudal-era Japan, it can be purely functional or highly decorative, but form always follows function. The Edo period of Japan saw the creation of countless beautiful artworks in every possible medium, be it woodworking, architecture, sword making, painting, etc.
> 
> ...


RGtools, you totally should make one (or buy one from me, haha)! It's a fun project so far. Besides, good swords deserve to be shown off.


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

BTimmons said:


> *Rough shaping - Mortises, tenons, bandsaw profiles*
> 
> A katanakake is an elegant way to display Japanese swords. Like much of the aesthetic that descends from feudal-era Japan, it can be purely functional or highly decorative, but form always follows function. The Edo period of Japan saw the creation of countless beautiful artworks in every possible medium, be it woodworking, architecture, sword making, painting, etc.
> 
> ...


nice. I have no Japanese sword, but it still looks like a cool project.


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## RGtools (Feb 18, 2011)

BTimmons said:


> *Rough shaping - Mortises, tenons, bandsaw profiles*
> 
> A katanakake is an elegant way to display Japanese swords. Like much of the aesthetic that descends from feudal-era Japan, it can be purely functional or highly decorative, but form always follows function. The Edo period of Japan saw the creation of countless beautiful artworks in every possible medium, be it woodworking, architecture, sword making, painting, etc.
> 
> ...


I was curious about the line in your plane handle…is this a retrofit?


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## BTimmons (Aug 6, 2011)

BTimmons said:


> *Rough shaping - Mortises, tenons, bandsaw profiles*
> 
> A katanakake is an elegant way to display Japanese swords. Like much of the aesthetic that descends from feudal-era Japan, it can be purely functional or highly decorative, but form always follows function. The Edo period of Japan saw the creation of countless beautiful artworks in every possible medium, be it woodworking, architecture, sword making, painting, etc.
> 
> ...


The oak splines in the rosewood tote is a repair from a previous owner, who knows how many steps removed. The tote had snapped in two at some point and these just reinforce the glue joint. I bought it from Don W and blogged about my initial experience with the plane here. It is an eye catching touch, I think it adds character to the plane.


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## BTimmons (Aug 6, 2011)

*More bandsaw shaping, some drilling, and lots of sanding*

In case you missed it, here is Part 1 in this series.

First thing I did was employ my new-to-me drill press to establish an inner curve for the vaulted feet. Placing the center brad of a Forstner bit ensures that an even radius is cut into both sides, which were held together with blue tape. Not an ideal clamping solution, but it's adequate for this. Always use a backer board to avoid blowout!

I had a bit of tearout around the mortise here, but the rack will obscure the flaw after it's all glued up.










And away we go.










My super fancy compass that I used to draw the outer curve of the feet. The outside corner was then removed with the band saw. I used my marking gauge to draw a line bewteen the inner radii on each foot, and then I sawed that waste out as well.










Which leaves me with this basic shape. Here is the tenon from one of the racks illustrating how deep its tenon will fit into the mortise. Perhaps I should have hogged out more wood on the inside curve or made the tenon longer so I'd have a nice clean through tenon that is flush with the underside. But hey, this is basically a learning piece and the under side isn't what will be on display here.










After a ton of hand sanding these curves smooth, here is the piece dry fitted together.










Once it was all together, I immediately noticed that it does not sit flat on my workbench. One "toe" on each foot hovers above the bench by about a 1/16". That'll have to be trimmed up during my next session, before I start doing my finishing.










I'll be putting a chamfer on each 90 degree surface. It'll protect the corners from edge damage, and it'll just look cool too.

I want a very natural looking finish on this, so I'm planning on using boiled linseed oil and wax. No polyurethane shall touch this. I really want the truth of the wood to show. That's all for now. Stay tuned…


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## BTimmons (Aug 6, 2011)

*Tweaking the fit, first coat of oil finish*

Last time I didn't have all four bottom surfaces sitting flat. Turns out this was due to the center piece being fitted with a slight twist because one mortise had been carved out with a slight twist. So, by the time the mortise was straightened out somewhat with a chisel, the tenons didn't quite fit as snug as they should. So on both tenons of the center piece, I glued some thin mahogany strips to shim up the tenons to tighten the fit. These will likely end up being pared or filed back anyway. Gotta creep up on that final fit.










At this point, I'm far enough along to start applying some boiled linseed oil. I always love this part, when the oil darkens the wood and really makes it pop.










Here's a closeup of the top of one rack piece, illustrating the chamfer that I filed off by hand. And only after applying one coat of BLO, I realize that one of the racks had not been chamfered along its rear side. Oops. So I'll just wait for the oil to dry, file away, and carry on.










Once all the pieces have several coats of oil, followed by a couple coats of wax, I'll proceed to glue up and call it done. I plan on giving it one coat of oil a day. At this rate, I'll probably be finished with this a week from now.


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## RGtools (Feb 18, 2011)

BTimmons said:


> *Tweaking the fit, first coat of oil finish*
> 
> Last time I didn't have all four bottom surfaces sitting flat. Turns out this was due to the center piece being fitted with a slight twist because one mortise had been carved out with a slight twist. So, by the time the mortise was straightened out somewhat with a chisel, the tenons didn't quite fit as snug as they should. So on both tenons of the center piece, I glued some thin mahogany strips to shim up the tenons to tighten the fit. These will likely end up being pared or filed back anyway. Gotta creep up on that final fit.
> 
> ...


That last shot is great. The chamfer looks perfect.


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## BTimmons (Aug 6, 2011)

*Fixing stupid mistakes, but it's finally taking shape.*

The shims I glued to my tenons are ready to be pared back. Seems like the mortises were just a little less than square with each other, which caused the twist when connecting the two of them with the center piece. So this session involved a lot of me hunching over the bench paring away paper thin shavings.










Testing my fit. The top of the tenon cheek is good, but the rest of it is still a little too fat.










Shaving just a bit off, and then it fits nice and snug.










I also determined that I need a bar connecting the feet for better structural support. This is a pretty common design feature for these pieces, and I think it offsets the curves nicely. It hasn't been oiled yet in the picture, hence the color difference. Oh yeah, I just eyeballed the placement of these mortises, rather than making sure they were square with each other. So like an idiot, I was totally surprised when the bar didn't run parallel to the center piece just above it! Seemed OK from the front, but from the top you could see that one end pulled backward slightly. After moving the mortise on one foot slightly forward to compensate, it looked better. Although there is a tiny visible gap behind one side of the bar caused by a now too-big mortise. I'll need to plug that.

Let my mistake be a lesson! *When you're cutting joinery, eyeballing it is NOT good enough.*










So here's the finished shape. It needs more coats of boiled linseed oil all over, especially the spots where end grain is exposed. Look at how dry the feet look compared to the rest of it. This mahogany is seriously thirsty. At least from here on out there's no cutting involved. Let's hope I don't find a way to screw up a BLO finish.


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## sixstring (Apr 4, 2012)

BTimmons said:


> *Fixing stupid mistakes, but it's finally taking shape.*
> 
> The shims I glued to my tenons are ready to be pared back. Seems like the mortises were just a little less than square with each other, which caused the twist when connecting the two of them with the center piece. So this session involved a lot of me hunching over the bench paring away paper thin shavings.
> 
> ...


Well done considering the challenges of dry wood. Have you tried making your own sword handle? Recently purchased a true katana (student sword but wicked sharp) and I've taken it apart for some maintenance. Having done so, I've added sword handle to my list of future projects.


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## BTimmons (Aug 6, 2011)

BTimmons said:


> *Fixing stupid mistakes, but it's finally taking shape.*
> 
> The shims I glued to my tenons are ready to be pared back. Seems like the mortises were just a little less than square with each other, which caused the twist when connecting the two of them with the center piece. So this session involved a lot of me hunching over the bench paring away paper thin shavings.
> 
> ...


JC, thanks. And no, I've never made a tsuka (hilt) for a katana. If you're looking for tips on customizing, I'd check the forums over at Sword Buyers' Guide.


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