truelotus

as a newbie, I may be wrong but as I have seen before, could this be a sunobe abura yaki ire to ?? sword cut down, forged to shape and (oil quenched) ? in this form, the blade will not have any signature but will show some hamon and some activity, though it is not a gendaito :D read this out http://www.ryujinswords.com/shostamp.htm

woah ... a very thorough explanation ... thank you very much ... it gave me new insight ... and as usual, I always stick to choji ... its capability to preserve sword for hundreds of years speaks for itself :D

... and I bet it smells better than choji ?? :D

camelia oil ? hmmm ... this is new to me is it any good ? as I have a friend, who once tried chrysanthemum oil for his blade and he ended up staining the blade and fittings luckily the blade can be saved :D

plain mineral oil will do ... I once tried sewing machine oil and it's not too good - I mean it accumulated on the surface of the blade as droplets instead of making a thin layer of oil like it was supposed to be so I'm back to choji :D

several do and don'ts regarding old blade : 1. never clean the rust using sandpaper, 2. never use power buff / similar stuff to make your sword shiny ... Japanese swords are never intended to have mirror polish 3. never clean the nakago 4. never touch the blade with your bare hand ... oil and acid from your finger may and will stain the blade ... 5. never try to test whether a blade is sharp by pulling your thumb over the cutting edge ... you may end up with nasty laceration what should you do take 96% alcohol and clean white cloth, wipe clean the blade to remove excess oil, dirt, etc make sure your fingers are safe from cutting edge buy mineral oil or best choji oil, put some drops on clean white cloth, and gently wipe the blade surface evenly ... no need to use a lot of oil here ... just a thin layer of oil will do repeat every 3 months or after the blade been used for practice enjoy :D

Hi Morita-san thank you very much for the help ... really appreciate it :D anyhow, this sword has been stored inside a cabinet since 1945's and never been taken out even from its saya for more than 50 years ... considering the climate here, which is quite humid, the sword itself is in good condition comparing to other gunto I've seen before the tsuka is not in best condition and need to be replaced, as the ito is frayed and the ho is no longer solid. about the nakago, this is exactly the condition when we pulled it out of the tsuka (with great care) ... and since there are no metal chips inside the tsuka, I think it is safe to assume that the nakago is intentionally chipped for some reasons sometimes in 1940 - 1945's this is kinda interesting, since I've never seen nakago in this condition before ... and from what I know, mantetsuto tends to have a well finished blade & nakago ... is it possible that someone tested the integrity of the blade using the nakago as comparison, hence intentionally chipped parts of the nakago ?? anyhow, thanks once more, Morita-san

woah ... this is a koa isshin ?? In indonesia ?? woah ... never thought of that ... !! any ideas why the nakago is so chipped out ?? thanks, Mark anyhow, how do we change our profile name to our real name ?

Hi all I am new to this forum, and I need help :D I think it is proper for me to introduce myself, my name is Donny WInardi, and I am from indonesia we have small group of nihonto enthusiast here, and we are fond of discussing nihonto, especially shingunto left by Japanese troops during WW2 in Indonesia a friend of mine comes with a type 98 shin gunto in average condition, and need help translating the mei this gunto is his family heirloom and is said to be taken in some sort of execution place in East Java after the officer who owned it fled for his life ... it is not for sale, and kept as family heirloom and now since we have succeeded in disassemble the sword for the very first time in 50 years or so (since 1945's), we have some mei inscribed, that unfortunately I am not good at :D could someone help ?? as I am not good with kanji ... here it is I tried to take closer pic on the nakago, but still could not make a clear pic, so I use a piece of paper and pencil ... here it is my friend wrote it in bahasa Indonesia, so for easier understanding I translated it as follow 1. ATAS = MUNE (mei written in mune section of the nakago) 2. KIRI = left side of the nakago 3. KANAN = right side of the nakago since this shin gunto is only recently taken out of its fitting, since 1945's we can see that the nakago is not smooth, I personally did not know why is this happening, since this is my first time seeing nakago in such condition anyone can explain ?? thanks regards Donny Winardi (INA)