Hi All,
I need to work a simple design into the surface of a 3" diameter piece of 1/4" thick copper plate. I also need to form 1/8" copper sheet into two different shapes; one is an elliptical cup shape and the other is an elliptical ring. These two shapes will also have designs worked into the outside surfaces. The only experience I have working with copper is sweating copper pipe fittings, so I'm looking for suggestions on how to go about this.
The material I have is C110 copper H04 (full hard) temper.
I have an oxy/acetylene rig, a Foredom TX flex shaft machine with a #30 handpiece and an assortment of burrs. I have lots of normal hand tools, including a 4" jeweler's saw and a bunch of blades.
Let me give you a better idea of what I'm trying to make. These three items will eventually be parts of a Japanese sword. The 3" diameter piece will be the hand guard (tsuba), the elliptical cup shape is the butt cap (kashira), and the elliptical ring shape is the hilt collar (fuchi).
Here are URLs to photos that show a set of parts that are similar to what I want to make: Tsuba:
For the tsuba my original plan was to scribe the design onto the copper, then cut it out with the saw. Then I would refine the design by grinding, filing, sanding, and polishing. However, I have since learned that copper can be difficult to cut and grind because it's soft and gummy.
Some of my questions are:
- How should I go about removing the material initially to form the shapes? Will the flex shaft and burrs work for this, or should I try something else?
- How to form the ring shaped fuchi? I'd prefer not to have a visible seam, if possible. Would it be better to machine it from a billet?
- How to form the cup shaped kashira? Again, I'd prefer no seam.
I thought about casting these from silver, but the last (and only) time I did any lost wax casting was back in 1970. I don't have the equipment for it anyway.
Any suggestions will be much appreciated.