I had been looking for a while for Tsubadome, the rubbery ring that prevents a Tsuba from sliding off the Bokken.
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| 2 tsuba dome |
You can easily purchase a set of Tsuba and Tsubadome, at a
price of about $4.50, but I had no intention to buy all these tsuba
when what I really needed is a bunch of Tsubadome.
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| Tsubadome holding the tsuba on a bokken. |
DIY department stores – where I spend several hours every week - carry a wide assortment of vinyl and rubber hoses and I thought I probably could find a hose that would slide over a Bokken blade and do the work at a fraction of the cost.
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| Braided vinyl hose |
So one evening of May, on my way home from the dojo I
decided to stop by Lowes. I took the tsuba off my bokken so it would
look more like a stick than a sword. You never know...
I got in the plumbing department and having found a salesman asked him if he could cut a piece of 1” ID hose to see if it would slide on my stick.
The guy looks at me and says :
“Oh, a wooden katana !”
So much for being incognito...
As the hose was too small I asked him to cut a piece of the 1 1/4” ID hose.
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| 1 1/4" OD clear vinyl hose |
That one was slightly too big.
- So I ask : “ Would you by any chance carry 1 1/8” ID ? ”
- “No Man, I’m sorry, but... Huh... I know what your problem is !”
- “Really, and what is it ?”
- “You’ve got a metric katana !”
Et oui....
