My Foray into Sword Repair

In the summer, Ka Muso Kai hosted Colin Watkin sensei. He came from the Philippines to give a seminar on Kage Ryu and Hyoho Niten Ichi Ryu. Kage Ryu is the art of using the Japanese long sword. Normally, it is practised with a choken. However, you can see that I have a bit of a challenge with the choken.

Watkin-sensei brought a san shaku for me to use. It 's been well used and has good energy when I hold it. It just needed some TLC:

I named it "Raijin" or "Thunder God."

You can check out some photos taken from our summer seminars on Ka Muso Kai's Facebook Page.

I finally got around to fixing up, thanks to some guidance from a clerk at Home Depot. Here's my journey:

Step 1: Sand off the old finish and smooth out the knicks.

Step 2: Apply the wood filler and let it dry. Sand everything down so it's nice and smooth.

Step 3: Apply the satin finish.

Step 3a: Repeat steps because I noticed a few spots that weren't filled in completely.

Step 4: Touch ups

Drum roll please...

Now, I have to stretch, stretch and stretch some more so that I can draw Raijin properly and consistently! Time to dust off my old yoga stretches.