Making a tsuka. 
Outside of of the hilt
Check that the tsuka halves are carved smoothly with a sight taper in thickness towards the rear.

Marking the curve again
Cut one of the tsuka sections along the "curve" line that was made earlier, you may need to re-mark it.
Close up of curve
Now glue both the sections together. The end result should look something like this.
Trim the excess material on the other half to the same "curve" as the already shaped half.
Close up of Habaki spacing
Now trim the end of the tsuka to allow room for the tsuba (guard), seppa (spacers) and fushi-gane (collar).

Check with furniture fitted
Fit the tsuba, seppa and fushi-gane and check that the holes still match up nicely.  Hopefully they will.
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This page was updated on Monday 17th January 2000