J Reid

The NTHK has passed a few blades with hagire (that I know of). The NBTHK could do the same.. human error, I guess? It is a possibility that it developed during polish, however unlikely.. Sword was probably polished after paper and revealed an existing hagire. I can't imagine they would do it knowingly.. unless it was a very important sword.

So klaus if the blade can be bought at a good enough price to leave room for a kissaki job (if necessary).. I would buy it. If it did need repair it would just be a matter of reshaping the tip only slightly and would be a simple fix for a good polisher.

Also yes.. the repair quote was $100-$150 at that time.

The kissaki is a small area to repair and because you can tape off the blade at the yokote it is easier to focus on a spot repair and polish. As long as the yokote doesn't need to be moved down it should inexpensive.

Bob benson repaired a kissaki for me in 2012 for $225 including shipping.

Nobody is going to add an umegane to a kissaki that close to the tip. There is still plenty of boshi left to remove it if it was damaged. Alan, if you have held many swords and seen all different types of issues.. than you would know that it clearly looks like light corrosion that has been de-neutralized and is now just a dark patch. Every time I clean light active surface rust off a blade it leaves a dark spot like this. Don't be so quick to dismiss (what looks like) an impressive sword. The words the seller uses are vague because English is clearly not their first language nor do they do they know nihonto terminology. Long story short it doesn't matter what kind of damage it is.. the boshi is healthy and a kissaki job is actually only $200. That's nothing.

Congrats! A fine sword indeed!

Yes! What Grey said..

You bent your sword purposely?! ....

Well here's my 2 cent: We know that wakizashi went to war, but that the standard was a katana. We know that some wakizashi were custom fitted with properly proportioned koshirae. We know that some soldiers had money, and others did not. The variation in sword quality, and components, clearly displays that. ...My guess is that these wakizashi in not proper mounts are solider put togethers.. Family wakizashi with standard Gunto koshirae purchased pre made (probably cheaper than having your "uncommon" wakizashi custom mounted at the time).

my copy is up for trade/partial trade.. Looking for a cheap wakizashi or tanto..

Wow didn't realize these were worth a small fortune now! $425 on Amazon! .. Bought it like 3 years ago for $40

An exciting dream come true, Joe! Congrats!!

Use never-dull to remove minor surface rust, finger prints, and residues. Works like a charm. Safe on nihonto. Safer than uchiko.

Bahahahaha

Very skillfully cut mei IMO.

and another!

better picture!

I'll take better pictures tonight and post them ASAP. Thanks for your help guys!!

Hmm didn't expect that. It doesn't have any stamps or the hot stamp. Mei seems well done and sword is traditionally made. Gendaito? Special order? What is the date?

Without the chalk

Hey guys! I just acquired this new sword. Looks like a late Shinto/early shinshinto mino blade. It is signed in sosho script with nenki. It's just too long and kind of messy for my translation skills.. Any help? P.s sorry about the bad pictures.. My camera is broken.

Hey! Sorry for the delay.. So the first picture is of the hamon going around the kissaki. The second is the nakago signed "sadamune". My friend said he had a few people take a look and all agree on gimei. I can agree with that! Looks to be O-suriage (so would have been longer, Jussi) This sword was just polished by the current owner and the polisher (I don't know who polished it) was the one who informed him that this sword was made this way. Everyone who saw it before it was polished thought for sure it had been reshaped. I'm personally still a bit in awe at the whole thing myself.

I think bob works on a piece to piece basis. I had a kissaki repaired by bob for $225 and about a 2 month turn around. It's the full polish and shirasaya that takes time. 1-1 1/2 years. Kunitaros service is also efficient and takes a fraction of the time. Regards, Josh

Jussi, I didn't even consider a Chinese dao. I'll look in that direction. Thanks for the tip!