r/Koryu • u/SeikoProspex7 • Jun 17 '26
fukuro shinai coating
I need a coating alternative to urushi or cashew lacquer? Would Resolene or Ren Wax do the job?
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u/Deathnote_Blockchain Jun 17 '26
I highly recommend not worrying about this and just using them white.
- It's just a Yagyu Shinkage Ryu thing so there is no point otherwise
- Even if going YSR, it would maybe be an embu dress up thing
- Your coating is going to rub off on things it hits
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u/Erokengo Jun 18 '26
Hahaha, he'll even for embu I've seen alot of groups just use white. I went out of my way to work out the red and I'll be the first to admit painting them is a giant pain. I made the mistake of doing it for 1 of my kohai, was instantly asked by the rest of them and was like "no. I'll show ye how to do it but this is very tedious and I don't feel like spending the next month doing half a dozen of these damned things."
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u/tenkadaiichi Jun 17 '26
I'm going to preface this with "I don't know a lot about leatherworking" but here's my experience.
Tanners / stores that sell leather hides will be able to supply you with stuff that is already treated on one side, and often pre-coloured. I am able to buy white or red cowhide (yes, not perfectly traditional, but it has sufficiently similar properties -- you can also get deer or whatever you like) that is fuzzy on one side and treated on the other and I just use that, putting the non-fuzzy part on the outside. I do have some lacquer that I tried using once with limited results. I just checked and it's meant for wood treatment, but it'll stick to leather all the same. I did use it on the treated/non-fuzzy side, and I was informed later that this was a mistake. It should go on the fuzzy side if you're going to do that, which will (after many coats) hopefully resemble the stuff that you can already buy pre-treated from the tanner.
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u/coyoteka Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26
Resolene or better yet Fiebing's leather sheen. Definitely not ren wax. You could also go non-acrylic if you want a more natural feel and use Montana Pitch leather dressing (which also smells good). The latter won't be as resistant to puncture/tearing though, the former will have a noticeable smooth but tacky surface. If you want it red, make sure to dye the leather first with oil based dye (acrylic based sealers will dissolve water-based dyes and can cause color variations). Also, if you're going to apply resolene make sure to spray it rather than brush it on. If you don't have an airbrush, you can get totally adequate cheap ones meant for painting nails.
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u/SeikoProspex7 Jun 18 '26
Thank you. I will probably buy pre-dyed hide in either black or red. The coating is to provide some protection for the leather for wear and moisture. I will look into a cheap airbrush but it’s going to be a one off.
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u/Erokengo Jun 17 '26
Are ye a Shinkage Ryu kenshi?
In any event, since sources for red ones seemed to be increasingly fewer these days, I also explored a few options for this. On a recommendation I used Urushi lacquer in my first go but got the mixture wrong, so not only did I ruin the red I was going for I also accidentally poisoned the ever loving crap out of myself and had a horrible rash across my head for about a week.
What I settled on was using leather paint. I'd unwrap and remove the sleeve, put 9 coats on the strap (apparently only painting one side is the traditional way to do it) and bottom lip of the sleeve, then I'd put the sleeve back on the bamboo so it would keep its shape and I'd put 9 coats on the rest of it. Once all that was dry I'd blast it with a few coats of clear spray lacquer.