ROKUJURO

I will give it a try although I know that our native speakers here might laugh about GAIJIN pondering over so simple riddles! The name of the maker may be MASATSUNE, and the 'date' could just be ...made by 70 year old YUKI........(perhaps familiy name?). Besides all this: a very nice TSUBA!

It is probably not the son as he is not nearly as knowledgeable in the subject of TSUBA as his father. Instead, after SASANO SENSEI passed away, he was eager to sell TSUBA instead of keeping the collection together.

I am a smith and I know the usual processes. Normal horseshoes are made of iron, not steel. Because of the low iron content they cannot be hardened and so it is useless to quench them. When the iron is cooled down in water, there is no heavy hammering afterwards. Nevertheless, slag may form on the surface of a heated workpiece which is indeed hard, slightly metallic and dark gray in colour. It comes off in small and thin flakes, is not sticky at all and will definitely not be found on a NAKAGO or in a MEKUGI-ANA.

If I may quote the seller:....So i say nothing to mutch..... Nobody would seriously expect to find a Renoir or van Gogh at E-Bay - not as an unidentified find but with that famous name! Why would anyone believe that an obviously uninformed seller had a true MASAMUNE to offer at that price? Compare with real MASAMUNE blades and you have your answer.

The KATANA in the translation forum which I have been asking for help for (YOSHU no JU HIROMASA) was unpolished (HAMON not visible) and in WWII mounts. It was bought by an individual at a knife shop at € 13.800.--. At least it is Japanese, and the blade was made by a good smith....... I wonder if you could sell people an old car from the junk yard telling them it was a Ferrari. It seems to work with swords!

Vielen Dank, Klaus!

An almost true Picasso for only USD 100 is no bargain. In your case you have to decide if you really want to buy a sword which was made especially for betrayal. In fact it is not close to a Japanese sword, it has no historical value and you could never be proud of it nor show it to someone who is knowledgeable in this field.

This may have to do with the really bad photo quality.Try to get a better one!

Gentlemen, thank you a lot for these informations! I was on a wrong trail and would not have gone far with my trial!

I have seen door lock-plates and belt-buckles made from TSUBA......Sensitivity in dealing with objects of other cultures is rare....

Gentlemen, a friend has got a GUNTO blade with a signature which I cannot read completely; it may be KIYOMASA.

The TSUBA has nothing to do with the quality or value of the blade. Tiny amounts of gold do not increase the value of a TSUBA. We just have a thread on the value determination of Japanese arms. Have a look!

As far as I know these very lightweight SHIKO were mostly used for hunting. They could carry a limited number of arrows. The age is difficult to tell as they were in use up to the end of the 19th century. There were several types of quivers being used: standing quivers (looking like an armchair), similar but smaller versions called EBIRA (military and hunting), and the odd-looking UTSUBO - long closed quivers with a fur cover used by SAMURAI on horseback. Besides that there were closeds quivers for KYUDO called YAZUTSU or YATSUBO (just transport containers).

As I said, it is possible under special circumstances, and it works only when oxygen can be kept away from the heated surfaces. As the artist on TAGANEARTS explains:...Classical techniques were never meant to work material like this...... In making stainless MOKUME GANE or damascus steel, you only need to pile up the sheet metal and seal-weld it (electrically) from the sides so no air can reach the steel inside. Then you can weld the billet in the forge, but you have to grind the surfaces clean before folding again, and you have to repeat the electrical welding every time you make a new fold. It is a slow and labourious technique! I admire the artistic performance shown but I would not buy stainless steel KODOGU.

SASANO-SENSEI used to carry TSUBA in the pockets of his trousers for restoration purposes. This meant some work for his wife who had to repair the pockets from time to time! As I have learnt, restoration on high quality TSUBA is a very slow process in that it tries to respect the natural forming of oxides on the surface. Removing loose rust with suitable instruments of horn, copper, ivory or wood, exposure to natural air humidity while protecting from rain, and regular rubbing with dry cloth should restore the natural beauty. Oil or wax should be avoided because rust can continue it's destructive work under such protective coatings.

Must be a very very small tiger......

You cannot fold and weld stainless steel because of it's chromium content. When heated, these steels produce a fine layer of chromium oxide on their surfaces acting like a separating coating preventing any welding. Technically, you could forge-weld such steels only under vacuum conditions or with absence of oxygen. So-called stainless tool steel is likely to rust under favourable (or unfavourable, if you like) conditions as long as it contains carbon. As far as I know there is no tool steel that is absolutely rust-proof, but these steels oxidise very slowly. On the other hand, stainless steel for household use (e.g. sinks and some kitchen tools) lacks a carbon content and thus cannot be hardenend and used for cutting instruments.

......but as far as I know this shape is not called SASAHO YARI but SANKAKU YARI.

At first glance it does not look like a fake to me although the lines seem not so sharp as we find them with KATAKIRI BORI technique. I have seen the dark colour in the engraved lines on many YAMAGANE TSUBA, and it was probably patinated by the TSUBAKO. They did that on almost every material except gold, and of course it makes the fine design stand out.

If you have enough YEN and get that exchange rate, you are a happy man! For 500.000,00 JPY I usually get only 6.179,50 USD!

It is not 'stringray' and probably it is not even stingray at all. As far as I know pearl ray is RAJA UNDULATA while stingrays (there are many types of them) belong to the DASYATIS family. In case you continue to have problems with the customs you might mention that pearl ray is widely use in the leather industry for decorative purposes. I have not heard about any commercial restrictions with both types. I hope this may help you to get your TANTO back before the custom's fingerprints on the blade turn to rust....

What really counts is quality. Age alone does not make the value - there is so much old scrap on the market!

Inspite of the bad photos it looks like a KOBUSE SAN MAI TANTO to me. Destroying handmade blades is always a sad loss! Please do not throw the pieces away, they can always serve as material for research. One could even forge a new blade from it!

This IS a dilemma. In case you want to re-mount them you want them in good condition. If you clean them down to bright metal, you will not like them. Maybe you will not get away without some loss of patina. How I would proceed with items of lesser value is this: I would try hot water with some mild soap which in most cases will not attack the patina. If this does not work sufficiently go ahead with the toothbrush of your wife - no abrasives at this point! Chemical solvants will also not damage metallic surfaces, but I think it would be wise to find out first the nature of this dirt. Sometimes - in cases of faked age or quality of the item - they use glue to obscure the true nature. If nothing helps you have to clean them with a toothpick-like instrument of wood, bone or horn, if necessary brush them with Colgate or similar. Then of course you have to repatinate them which is not too difficult in case they are made from brass. All that said if the MENUKI are really cast copies, of course! Good success!

Did I really choose the wrong terms? I wanted to express that in composite blades less high-end material was needed for the skin steel (which I know as KAWAGANE) in comparison to mono-material blades which were made entirely from this kind of steel. By the way, construction principles like these are to be found from the European Iron Ages to the end of the Middle Ages in knives and tools as well, and the reason was always to save expensive material while obtaining good cutting performance.