Grey Doffin

Bob, A polish isn't necessary to preserve the sword; a very light coat of Japanese sword clove oil, or fine machine oil on the blade, except for the dark tang, is all that's necessary. I would recommend you learn more before you have a polish done; polishes are easily scratched and beginners often scratch polishes. Look for a Japanese sword care and etiquette page online. There should be one in the links at NMB home page, or google NBTHK American Branch and find the one on their website. Learn how to properly care for and handle your sword. Value: hard to say from just a few pictures but maybe $2,000. wouldn't be too far off the truth. This, of course, presupposes that there are no serious flaws on your blade, something we don't know for a fact yet. Hope this helps. Grey

You guys are missing the boat entirely on this one! You know the little ear wax spoon on the top of kogai? They were for the genteel Samurai in the city. The real, blood & guts Samurai in the country didn't have time for any such foppery; they used a serious ear wax cleaner. I forget the Japanese word for these implements; maybe one of you can supply that. In any case, this is the real deal in Samurai ear conditioning, with the added time saving advantage of being able to clean both ears at the same time. Grey

The latest translation effort of the JSS/US is now available for purchase. Kyomono no Ko-Meisaku: The Early Famed Works of the Kyoto Smiths, is 8 1/4 x 10 3/4", soft perfect bound, 100# gloss stock, and 142 pages. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3069 is a link to another thread on NMB that more thoroughly describes the book. Price is $65 plus postage for JSS/US members and $75 plus postage for non-members. Non-members should join the Society, save themselves $10, and help us publish our next book. Postage is $5 in the US and $10 everywhere else. The book can be ordered from Harry Watson, PO Box 630, Cisco TX, 76437, USA or with a credit card by email: afu@afuresearch.com If you send a check please make sure it is in US$ and made out to Harry Watson. I think this is a very good book but I'm biased, having spent so much time in editing it. A bunch of you picked up copies at the show in Chicago. What do you think? Grey

James, According to my 2 Kanji dictionaries that isn't a proper Kanji; must be sloppy handwriting. Teru, as has been suggested already, is as close as I can find. Wonder if I'm part of the evil clique. Grey

Correct,the disclaimer was not on the sale page when the sword was listed. What's more, I told Mr. Chaffee when he bought it that Bob Benson had put in a window and that the blade has no temper, not partial temper here and there that might be fixed by a polisher, but NO temper. You can see the edge of the window in the shinogi-ji in one of the pictures on the sale. Sorry, but I don't think I owe an apology. Grey

The seller is Christian Chaffee. When I sold him this sword at the Chicago show last weekend it didn't have a hamon (it had been in a fire and had never been retempered). I told him about the problem when I sold it to him. He seems to have forgotten to mention it. Grey

For the past few months I've been working to get a new book in English out to all of you. Just had a call from the printer; the books will be ready early next week, in time for me to drive them to the show in Chicago. We can't take mail orders yet; I have to ship some to Harry Watson and set a price for postage first. But in case some of you want a copy and know someone who will be at the show and can get you one, here's what we have. Kyomono no Ko-Meisaku: The Early Famed Works of the Kyoto Smiths, by Yoshikawa Koen and the NTHK. First published in Japanese in 1980 in conjunction with an NTHK Annual Convention, translated by Gordon Robson, and published in English by the JSS/US. Paper perfect bound, 8 1/2 x 11", 142 pages on 100# gloss stock. This is a very useful book; also great fun to look at and drool over. I can highly recommend it to you. The first 33 blades are important pieces from the Yamashiro tradition in Koto: Kiku Gyosaku, Awataguchi, Rai, Sanjo, Ayanokoji, and more, Imperial collection and National Treasure, really amazing pieces and ones that hadn't been published before. There follows 5 high end Kinko kodogu, and the last half of the book is 40 blades from the Osaka Kobe branch members display (Kiyomaro, Kotetsu, Naokatsu, etc). All of the swords are extensively described and discussed, with excellent oshigata, and the kodogu is presented in color. The cost will be $65 for members of the JSS/US and $75 for non-members. You can join at the show and get the member price. Once mail order becomes possible (mid April maybe) I'll post here to let you know. Come say hello if you're at the show. Take care, Grey

I don't think it needs to be polished.... It's retempered, gimei, or both. I learned this one the hard way, at the NBTHK in Tokyo. Grey

Unless the blade, once in hand and not judging by photos only, shows promise, there is no logical reason to spend more money on it. If I were in your friend's place, I would put it back on ebay and use the proceeds towards purchasing something better. Grey

And I can vouch for Mark; he'll treat you fairly. Grey

I think the blade was broken and the nakago was welded back on; no reason why a happy grinder would limit his grinding to such a small ring around the nakago. Since no effort was made to disguise the weld it was done to make the blade whole again, not to deceive anyone. Either way, there isn't a lot of value in the sword. Grey

Which is yet another reason why you don't want a poorly (or non) trained polisher working on your sword. A good polisher sometimes can see these coming and act accordingly. At the very least he can minimize the damage. A polisher without proper training stumbles on the fukure and tells you, "Too bad." Grey

The downside of a possible gimei pales in comparison with the downside of a nakago that has been welded onto the blade. Grey

I think the black is there to stay. It looks much better than it did when we first saw it; leave well enough alone. Grey

I was watching the ken: Noshu ju Kinju. The original Kinju was Masamune jutetsu (student of Masamune) and is considered the founder of Seki sword smithing. I was unable to find any reference to his signing like this; everything I saw was 2 character mei. My guess is a late Koto ken by a later generation. Both the price for the ken and that for the Nobufusa are much more than I would have chanced. Wish I had customers like that. Grey

Sue Koto can be ordered from Harry Watson, who handles supplies for the JSS/US. If there isn't a link at NMB links, just google afu and you'll find him. Another good book in English will be available soon. Kyomono no Ko-Meisaku by Mr Yoshikawa has been translated into English and will be printed later this month, I hope. This book covers great swords from the Yamashiro Den, most of them Koto, and great swords from other traditions also. This work also was made possible by the JSS/US (and all your memberships, hint). Once the book is actually available I'll post a message here on the Board. I can highly recommend this book; it's very good. Grey

For my money, the best reference in English for swords of all periods is the 59 volume set of "Token Bijutsu" English edition, put out by the NBTHK. There's usually a set available somewhere; expect to pay close to $1,500. Both my "Index of Japanese Sword Literature" and the Rich Stein (hope I got that right) website have indexes to the set. The JSS/US has a 2 volume set in English titled, Sue Koto. 700 plus pages on swords of late Koto for $50. plus postage. Heck of a deal! Grey

Even mild steel is harder than brass, thus any sharpened sword, whether tempered or not, will cut into brass. Can't tell enough about the sword from the one picture; sorry. Grey

Marc Porpora, the big cheese of the Chicago sword show late this month, has asked me to post the following. His hotel is telling him that they aren't getting enough room reservations to justify the price they quoted him for the show. Marc knows that some guys who are staying at the hotel for the show aren't on the list the hotel gave him; he's not getting the credit he deserves. If you have made a reservation at the Marriott Chicago Schaumburg for the show, please email him to let him know. ichimonji7 (at) sbcglobal.net If you post on other Nihonto forums, please copy this message and place it there. Thanks, Grey

And don't try the finger stones either. Put on a very light coating of oil and leave well enough alone. Polish should be left to a properly trained professional. http://www.nbthk-ab.org/Etiquette.htm is the NBTHK/American Branch website's sword care and etiquette brochure. It will tell you what you need to know to keep the sword properly. Grey

Sandpaper is no way to remove paint; the paper just gums up and drives paint into the wood grain (I'm a furniture maker and restorer; I speak from experience). Another reason not to use sandpaper is it would likely introduce grit into the saya and scratch the blade. A cabinet scraper would be a better solution if you didn't want to strip the paint. No matter what you try, the proper surface of shira-saya will be gone and will need to be redone. This is definitely an after market paint job (done in the States, not in Japan). A real saya-shi wouldn't put up with those paint drips. Grey

Paint stripper is the obvious answer for getting rid of the paint but that will most likely change the patina of the saya. If you do use stripper, don't clean it with water (even if the can says to use water). Denatured alcohol will clean off the stripper and paint but won't cause the saya to fall apart and won't introduce a lot of water into the saya where it can rust the blade. If you do this be sure to let the saya air out for a week or so before returning the blade to it. A better solution would be to send the sword to a saya-shi (scabbard maker) and have him do the job. If you chose the right person (John Tirado comes to mind) you know you'll get a proper job. To remove the handle, follow directions you'll find here: http://www.nbthk-ab.org/Etiquette.htm on the NBTHK American Branch website. If that doesn't work for you (if the blade hasn't been out of the handle for 60 years it may be stuck) try this. Place a bath towel on a kitchen counter, with an inch or so of the towel hanging over the edge. Remove the pin (mekugi) from the handle. Lay the blade on the towel with the handle over the edge of the counter. Slide the handle into the edge of the counter, gently at 1st, and with increased vigor, until the blade comes loose from the handle. Grey

Hello folks, Many of you are familiar with my "Index of Japanese Sword Literature", but for those who aren't: this is a combined index of 60 or so periodicals and books. If you want to know where to look for information/oshigata on a sword signed, "Unshu Ju Kiyonori", you can look him up in the index and it will tell you which of the included references cover the smith. 3 indexes actually: one on smiths (over 3,000), one on kodogu artists, and the 3rd on articles (polish, grain, etc.) I've done the work but the index belongs to the JSS/US. We last published it in 1997 but since then it has been kept current and expanded greatly, on my computer. We, the JSS/US, would like to make the index available to everyone, free, as a searchable database on the JSS/US website. That's where I'm hoping one of you might be able to help. I don't know enough to convert what I have on my computer to what will work on the website; I need a computer person. If there's a chance you might take this on, send me an email (link below) and I'll get back to you with what I already know about the project. Take care, Grey

Makes me feel better about being called a loser. Wonder how he managed to keep 100% positive feedback. Grey

Once again I have someone wondering if the sword they have listed on ebay is real or fake, and not anxious to take my word on it. If you wouldn't mind, check out this sale: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110237277705&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:US:1123 and give us your opinion. Thanks, Grey