zeugmax

Wow, i'll try. I see you snuck in a little shot of some of your personal sword collection, show-off

quietly awaits Stephen's response...

Used mineral oil tonight.

full frontal blade nudity

I'll take more pictures tonight.

i did notice the thin hamon across the bottom of the blade, but the only ones i'd seen were the wavy kind you see in pictures that depict hamon, so i wasn't sure if that was anything. it's neat to see that it is. I picked up some mineral oil that i will use tonight on the blade. hopefully it'll lift out the vegetable oil. Otherwise i might stick the whole thing in the deep fryer. That was a joke. I really am not going to do that.

I'm not offended, but enough about the oil for now. i intend to fix it immediately....let's move forward and talk about the sword. Can you see anything? Does the quality of the etching show age? Now do you see why i used photoshop?

The exposed blade is 29 inches long. i compared it to a friend's modern katana and it was about 2 inches longer. Anyway, here are the pictures of the tang, after a light coat of veg oil on it. i will get mineral oil tomorrow and go over it again. The rust became darker when i did this, but i think that's ok, right? that makes sense it would do that. I included what the blade looks like under the habaki. None of the pictures have been touched up, so good luck trying to read the etchings.... Thanks!

Is the sword outer style a match a blade made in the 1500s? I have tried doing some internet searches for similarly-styled katanas and was unable to find anything quite like this one. Not saying it's unique..just that i haven't seen anything. Have you guys? Also, is it common to see etchings on both sides of the tang?

hey, the earlier the better I'll look into mineral oil tonight. Damien

i don't have any special oil to use. is there any household stuff i can use in the meantime?

The only reason i used photoshop is because it's kind of hard to make out the etchings, most of which are quite faded...many can only be seen well when the blade is turned in specific directions to catch the light. I used tools like sharpen and unsharp mask, and some other variations and light levels to bring it out more, because with my lack of ability to recognize Japanese writing, i was hoping it would be easier for you guys to see and understand what kanji it was. i'll post non-altered photos for you this evening, along with pics of what the blade under the habaki. by the way, i want to thank you all for taking interest and schooling me with my sword. It's fascinating me more and more. The sword belonged to a distant relative, who was either a sailor or in the navy probably during the korean war, and he brought it home during his overseas travel. I found it when the family was clearing out the house, and no one had any stories to tell about it, unfortunately. i'm in the dark on this .

Thank you for the glossary link. i used it to find out what a habaki was i'll take some pictures again tonight. Wow, 1500s... pretty awesome

aaand one more thing. there was a tiny little etching on the inside of the hilt cap thingy. Please ignore my ignorance and look at the picture. lol.

Hey guys, i don't know why i didn't look on the other side of the blade beforehand...but today i did. there is more japanes writing ont he other side of the blade... can someone look at it and translate? I know there is a #2 in there = and the last 2 characters i think is Japan. Help?

Thanks, i'll look up Fred Lohman and work my way from there. Are they able to restore it to its original state? or do you think it's a lost cause? also, on the name etching, i did try some photoshop techniques to increase the sharpness and clarity to the name, which is why the sukesada looked so well-cut. It was a little faded and at least one character was really tough to be seen, i had to take the picture a few times and use photoshop to bring out the visbility wher eit would be read by someone on this message board. taking the sword apart was a little scary for me, but now that i've done it it's not a problem. Neat to see how that all works.

Do you have a good reference link i can read up on? The ones i find are snippets, doesn't give me a big picture. i'd be curious to find what timeframe the sword was made...

Thanks for that. I wasn't really serious when i mentioned the sand blasting. I slightly exaggerated my observations that it might take some tiny bit of effort to remove the rust.

My sword is rusted fairly badly...is there any way to restore it to its original luster ? Seems like it needs a lot of work. I found online that you get a kit and you wipe it 3 times. seems like you need a sandblaster for mine instead. I'm a little jealous of other blades out there with perfect sheen.

Sorry, i'm always a little reluctant to do that. I've changed it now. I wikid it and found the sword is a Tachi, slightly longer than a katana, for it was used for horseback fighting...and was sometime in the early 1500s. Anyone have any more insight on this sword or swordmaker, or the design of the sheath?

who is that? Bishu Osafune Sukesada

btw what is that handle covering anyway? lizard skin? feels like hard bumpy plastic but i don't think it is...

hmm. trying again

Ok i am posting a picture of the handle with the signature on it. It's really rusted so i took the best pictures i could, and traced the Japanese and show it next to it (please feel free to laugh at my interpretation of the writing)... Anyway, here it is. What do you think?

added a signature to please.