Reported practice · r/Urushi

Sourcing urushi and hake, and understanding final lacquer thickness by technique

Where can a practitioner in Europe or Japan purchase urushi and lacquer brushes, and what is the realistic final thickness of a finished urushi surface across different technique families?

This page is written from one discussion thread. It records what practitioners reported and what they linked it to — not documented workshop practice. Every claim below links to the comment it rests on, so you can read it in context.

Safety

Raw urushi (ki-urushi) is a potent skin sensitiser; contact can trigger a delayed allergic reaction that worsens with repeated exposure. Gloves, long sleeves, and avoidance of skin contact are essential when handling uncured lacquer.

What the thread establishes

The answer.

The thread compiles a list of working suppliers in Europe (Kremer Pigmente, Dictum, Korest) and Japan (Watanabe Shoten, Kato Kohei, Minowa Shikko, Tsutsumi Asakichi, Sato), while flagging that the hake market is in acute shortage: Tanaka and Hiroshige are no longer available and Kitsune is backlogged. On thickness, a typical decorative finish coat (basic wipe-on, tamenuri, most maki-e, thin raden) sits in the 0.15–0.25 mm range, with extremes from 0.05 mm up to about 1 mm. Wood-substrate work in the Wajima tradition adds a composite ground of clay-and-lacquer and cloth reinforcement that brings the total build to roughly 0.5–1.5 mm, and heavy cloth-reinforced boxes can reach 2–3 mm. Kanshitsu shells and carved choshitsu pieces are a different order of magnitude, from a few millimetres to well over a centimetre.

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What goes wrongThe hake supply chain is broken: two major Japanese brush makers (Tanaka, Hiroshige) have disappeared from the market and a third (Kitsune) is under delivery pressure, leaving European and other non-Japanese buyers with limited access to quality lacquer brushes.

What recovers itThe OP lists alternative Japanese and European suppliers that still stock urushi and, by implication, some hake, though the brush shortage is acknowledged as an ongoing problem rather than something the listed shops fully resolve.

··Reported

What was reported

A typical decorative urushi finish, once cured and sanded, is around 0.15–0.25 mm thick, with a possible range from 0.05 mm to 1 mm depending on technique. ↗
Thin decorative surface work (basic finish, tamenuri, kawarinuri, usugai raden, most maki-e) falls in the 0.05–1 mm band. ↗
Wajima-tradition wood-substrate work with clay-and-lacquer ground and cloth reinforcement typically totals 0.5–1.5 mm from wood surface to finished surface. ↗
Heavy cloth-reinforced work, such as large boxes, can reach 2–3 mm of composite build. ↗
Kanshitsu (dry-lacquer) shells have wall thicknesses ranging from about 2 mm to over 1 cm depending on the size of the piece. ↗
Choshitsu (carved thick-coloured-lacquer) pieces can have lacquer layers of 5–10 mm or more. ↗
To keep light-coloured urushi from darkening during cure, use high-quality urushi, a white pigment at a higher-than-usual ratio, and cure at very low humidity and slowly; exact parameters must be determined by testing. ↗
Pens made on ebonite or plastic substrates generally do not require a thick foundation build because the substrate is already even and stable. ↗
Cashew lacquer is a separate material from urushi and the OP has no sourcing information for it. ↗↗

Limits of this source

What the thread does not answer.

Where to source cashew lacquer in Europe; the OP has no information and no commenter offered a supplier.
Exact relative-humidity and time parameters for curing light-coloured urushi without darkening; the thread defers this entirely to individual testing.
Whether the hake supply crisis (Tanaka, Hiroshige, Kitsune) will resolve or whether alternative brush makers will fill the gap.

Read the documented methods →