cleaning silk wrapping on handle

[Joeandmich]

Does anyone know the easiest way to clean dirty silk handle wrapping (tsuka)? The stains are just from usage accumulated from practice.

 

[Sukerkin]

I ordinarily would say that you really shouldn't have to clean the ito, especially not silk ito. If it's too disgusting to use then getting it re-wrapped is the expensive alternative .

A suggested approach I have found is:

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Cleaning the Handle Wrap (Courtesy of Paul Smith):
Take some woolite in a dish and a soft toothbrush. Wet the toothbrush and touch it to the woolite. Gently scrub the ito until it's clean. You'll have to get more water on the toothbrush and more woolite periodically. Once you are done scrubbing, take a wet cloth and wipe down the ito several times, then take a dry cloth and wrap around the handle and squeeze it to get excess moisture out of the ito. Let dry for at least 24 hours before using. Don't scrub too hard because that will roughen the silk. You do want to work quickly, but as long as the water doesn't sit on the tsuka for hours, it won't hurt anything. Do not get any water down inside the tsuka. It is obviously much easier to do this with the tsuka off of the nakago if you can remove it.[/FONT]

 

[Grenadier]

If you're willing to unwrap it, then a mild soap or detergent such as Ivory soap flakes in warm water can do the trick. Rub the silk gently against itself, and change the soapy water frequently.

Then do another rinse, this time with warm water, and a bit of vinegar, to neutralize any remnant soap (Ivory is alkaline).

Rinse two more times with warm water, to remove the vinegar.

Blot the silk with a soft cloth towel, and hang dry on a padded hanger.

 

[Joeandmich]

Thanks

 

[Ken Morgan]

Don't unwrap it.

Use warm water and soap as everyone else has said or use isopropyl alcohol, (rubbing alcohol). Take a toothbrush and give it a light scrub.

Personally i've never cleaned mine. 10 years with my iaito, with a tan wrap, quite dirty now, but i earned every stain. My shinken has a black wrap, so you really can't see anything, but after 5 years it has that nice shine to it. Again i earned it.

As long as its servicable, and does not hinder my iaido, I touch mess with it.

 

[pgsmith]

I agree completely with Ken, don't unwrap it. It is virtually impossible to rewrap a tsuka with the same wrapping you took off of it. You cannot tie the end knots as there isn't enough ito to manage it.
I've only ever cleaned display swords personally. The method that I wrote up quite a number of years ago with the woolite was actually explained to me by a collector friend of mine. It is how he cleans up his nihonto when it is needed.

 

[kaizasosei]

I've been practicing wrapping for the last few months...I'd keep rewrapping with hinerimaki, making sure to alternate sides and finished off with the endknots...but after one unfortunate decision to snip off some cord, i also ended up with too little cord. So i'd always make some kind of halfassed improvised knots that would hold for a while as the lack of cord and not using any glue at all usually, made it hard to achieve lasting hold and the kashira would come sliding off after rigorous cutting.
So coincidentally, just today i decided to experiment with katatemaki battle wrap. I mentally calculated that there should be enough cord. After finishing the katatemaki part, i used the remainder of the short cord i snipped after the first hineri diamonds, to continue with the bottom hineri and finish off.

I then used a paperclip and some hempstring to make a needlethingy, and tied some improvised knots and halfhitches. Looks a tad messy and the knot not quite as symetrical and slightly too pointy, however, it seems to hold really well, and i can't imagine it coming off by itself soon.

So you can learn how to wrap. But i wouldn't unwrap unless you already have a good idea of how to go about it. Can't you just wipe it with a wet cloth or simply moisten the dirty spots and scratch them off gently. Don't know just how dirtly your cord is? If you learn how to wrap, you can order as much cord as you like and in any many colors.
When i was a youngster and once unwrapped one of my swords without knowing how to rewrap, i resorted to doing the best i could and taping over everything with hockey tape then electrical tape- terrible i know. Got me thinking about different grips. I was even thinking of using tenniswracket grips. That would make for interesting tsukamaki too.


j

 

[Joeandmich]

I used a hot damp towel and it all came off.

thanks everyone