Ray Skin or Same on Handle of Reflex Deflex

[Pdwight]

I am in the process of getting my last few things together before finishing my David Knight  Ipe/Bamboo Reflex deflex bow. I was thinking last night in Iaido class about the handle of the bow. In traditional Japanese Swords the handle is wrapped with Ray Skin or Same as the term is used and them wrapped with silk or cotton. I have some Rayskin from doing some sheath repair a few years ago and was thinking about using some of this on the palm area of the handle, have you guys (or ladies) seen this before, if so can you point me there so I may get an idea what other people have done.....I want to make as few mistakes as possible with this bow.

Thanks
Dwight

[HatchA]

Hi man, I've got the same plans for my 'boo backed ipe bow.  Are you going to use silk/cotton tsuka ito or leather?  I'll be getting ten feet of leather wrap from Fred Lohman for mine.  Should hopefully turn out nicely.

What information are you lookng for, exactly?  I'm guessing you already know the Japanese used rice to make a glue for samé on hilts etc but I'm guessing it won't work too well on ipe as it seems to be an oily wood.  When I eventually get around to fitting it, I'll settle for araldite (two-piece glue) or some such adhesive and also stitch it along the seam.  Was gonna ask something else but can't remember what...  hehe

[Pdwight]

You will proabbly want to use "Tsunami" wrap instead of leather , it wraps much easier and does not stretch. I have some here.... enough for 2 or 3 Tsuka's. I was just planning on using ray skin or Same on the palm area of the bow, actually if it happens to work out I would like to sculpt the palm area and leave the back side flat like a target grip on a target pistol (Pardini , Walther etc.) take a look at this ....and think in reverse

Then on the curved palm side use the Same gawa and sand the nodules so its not so rough. I have done this on a couple of Saya's near the top above the kurikata...it was tough inletting to allow for the thickness of the same but the result was well worth it.

Dwigth

[HatchA]

I've seen some saya's with inlaid samé between koiguchi and kurikata, the nodes sanded down slightly and then smoothed over with lacquer and my God, they looked beautiful!!

Fred suggested the Tsunami wrap alright but I've kinda got my heart set on th eleather.  He said he also has some "reverse effect" suede and he'd send me a sample with the leather wrap.

Currently, the back of my bow has a makori laminate of about 8 inches which originally added about 4lbs of weight but last time I braced it and drew, I heard the dreaded "crack" sound...  the glue is separating between the lam and the 'boo     As I'm shortening the tips to build up weight, it doesn't really matter as a weight-giver but it's contoured and pretty comfortable in the hand now - though I guess the samé and the tsuka ito would bulk up the dimensions a fair bit too.

I've been half tempted to do like you're planning and leave it at the samé too.

Argghhh...  decisions...decisions...