BenoitD

This is Great. Thank You Very Much. BenoitD

Yes indeed ! Very good Idea. It is in fact one of the most popular topic on the forum. Conundrums ? Sure, but not too hard at first. The ones on the old forum were, I tought, for experts Perhaps keeping them as a progressive tutorial somewhere on the site ? Could be too much work perhaps BenoitD

Could there be a chemical reaction between alcool and the mounting of the sword (Habaki, seppas, tsuba ...) ? An interesting link. http://www2.una.edu/Takeuchi/DrT_Jpn_Cu ... uchiko.htm BenoitD

As for me, I buy a piece of white flanel tissu (3 X 6 feet), wash it in cold water without soap at gentle cycle and let it dry by itself. I then cut it in 1 X 1 feet sheets (18 sheets). You can the fold them in two and you have your cleaning sheets of tissu (very cheap). For oil I use top quality sewing machine oil. Just a little. Uchiko is made of a fine powdered whetstone known as uchigumori-to. It is an abrasive. Use as less as you can to remove the old oil. If used too often it could result in slight scratches and over time the texture of the jitetsu will lose its brightness (It happened to me). BenoitD

Do not talk too much about your collection around you, especially about its value. You never know who is listening and then ... - You know this guy at the end of the street, I heard he has a great sword collection. Worth a couple of thousand bucks ... A question for Tonyb, what is your adress again ... :D BenoitD

If you see metal under it, you probably have remove the leather covering already. Do you have pictures of before and after? BenoitD

In june 2005, I bought some land in the mountain and build a new house. I moved in 6 months later. A part of the rez-de-chaussé was for displaying my Japanese swords. A great little Japanese spot. When the burglars came in 3 months later, it was like looking for nails at home depot. They just serve themselves. Now, I keep my swords in a safe place and only display my old boken. I display my swords only when we are in the house. So be carefull ... BenoitD

Hello to you all knowledgeable people. This what I make of this kanji. What do you think ? 藤原兼永以耐錆鋼作之 Fujiwara Kanenaga Taiseiko o Motte Koreo Tsukuru Made by Fujiwara Kanenaga using anti-rust (stainless) steel. BenoitD

$ 600.00 or more ? Please have a look, e-bay item # 170098430631 Benoit D

I think there is more than 28 gerenations of Sukesada's. This sword is circa 1900-1930. Who did it ? Thank you very much. Benoit

Another one ...

Picture

Hello to you all. On this tsuka I read : BIZEN (no) KUNI SUKESADA. Do you think I am right ? Thank you (sorry for the bad quality pictures ) Benoit Desruisseaux

At first buy from know collectors or people proficient in the field. Stay away from E-BAY if you are not sure about item or seller. Read, read and read about Japanese sword before collecting. Learn the vocabulary and the history about the Japanese sword. Focus on one field. Stay on this board, a lot of knowledgeable persons. Start small (about money). Sell some items to get better ones. But do not forget to have fun.

:lol: Benoit D

I love the saya with flowers. Verrry Prrretty !!! :? If you are collecting gunto like me then, Some replicas are easy to spot: SWORD 1 - http://cgi.ebay.com/Japanese-WWII-Milit ... dZViewItem Some, well a little harder ... SWORD 2 (SHIN-GUNTO) - http://cgi.ebay.com/SAMURAI-SWORD-HANDM ... dZViewItem SWORD 3 (KAI-GUNTO) - http://cgi.ebay.com/WWII-WW2-Japanese-N ... dZViewItem Is the tsuka-ito brown or black ? SWORD 4 (NCO) - http://cgi.ebay.com/WWII-1935-TOKYO-Gun ... dZViewItem Others, really hard. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS ONE , TRUE OR FALSE ? SWORD 5 - http://cgi.ebay.com/Type-98-NCOs-WWII-J ... dZViewItem Better and better, except for the blades. Benoit D

Here is another non Japanese studying to become swordsmith in Japan. His name is Pierre Nadeau and he lives in Montreal, Quebec. http://www.soulsmithing.com/PERSONS/NAD ... eauEN.html Benoit D

Good repro but all repro. Fittings and tassel included. Tsuba is a very good repro (but image not clear). We see more and more of those swords. Benoit D

I had the same problem with my Iaido katana some years ago and I used small pieces of leather glued inside the koiguchi and the problem was resolved. While doing research on saya lacquering (again some years ago), I was told that the traditional Japanese brush for applying lacquer was from women hair. My wife also use her hairs in soup and salad as a secret ingredient ... Benoit D

What a beautiful picture. I will add it to my file on this sword. Here are some pictures of the sword. It is not tamahagane but stainless. I know some swordsmith experimented forging with stainless stell during WWII. Perhaps he did so ? As you can see there is also a showa stamp. An historical but not very good quality blade. Benoit

Thanks a lot. Benoit

Thank you for your help. This sword was made by KANEMICHI (Kojima Tokijiro) a Seki swordsmith born 1902. It is a stainless steel blade with two groves (bohi) in civilain mounts. He was the n rated as low-medium swordsmith but eventually became high quality ranking. Some of his sword were tested by Nakayama Hakudo. I think he was experimenting with stainless steel at that time but the sword is signed: MOTTE YASUKI KO KANEMICHI SAKU. Is not yasuki stell from Izumo province and is it not mill-produced ? By the way what does the kaji KI GEN means ? Benoit

I think this reads as indicated. What is the date please ? KI GEN ? NI SEN = 2 X 1000 ROKU HYAKU = 6 X 100 ICHI = 1 2601 ???

Don Myra is a sword polisher from Vancouver, Canada. I have bought the seven video tapes he sells on his internet site. The videos are very well done, very instructive and very funny. Don has a lot to say about Japanese swords and his knowledge is vast. You can be against his modern adaptation of sword polishing with sand paper and all but he also has a lot of informations about habaki making, shirasaya making, tsukamaki ... The information is there on the tapes and it is fun to watch. I also know that there has been a lot of complaints about ordering and not receiving his tapes. He told me he had been sick the last time I wrote him. Benoit

What a nice suprise. My first tsuba. 2007 is looking like a lucky year. I would like to take this opportunity to intoduce myself a little bit. My name is Benoit Desruisseaux and I have been collecting Japanese swords and armors for about 20 years now. I live in Quebec, Canada (yes, a french canadian). I also have been practicing martial arts (mainly Aikido and Iaido) since 1984. It was my iaido training that got me interested in the Japanese sword at first. I have been at it since then. I do not know much about tsubas but perhaps I will get interested now ? Another bank account for this one .... Well, thank you very much to Brian Robinson and the guys at japanesesword.com for this great opportunity. A happy new year with health, love, happyness and a lot of Japanese stuff ... Benoit