Dave R

Live rust is a real no-no. .Scrape the tang with a piece of bone, ivory (piano key) or antler, then lightly oil your fingers and give the tang a good rub over. The idea is to get the bare minimum of oil on the tang that would do the job.

So you are able to access it, but I cannot. Something going on here. What I am trying to get to is https://www.thejapanesesword.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=29 but I get a 404 Not Found. When I truncate it to get to the homepage I get a different site completely.

Does anyone know what happened to this site? http://www.thejapanesesword.com I found it very useful, especialy for tips on Tsuka Maki from the Japanese contributer.

Traditional male dress did not have much in the way of bling, so pouch clasps could be quite elaborate, usualy larger than sword menuki with a pierced plate on the back for the closure hook to fit in. You can also find Meiji era pieces copied from menuki, that were used as decoration on export items such as boxes...... I bought a job lot of the latter years ago, cheap stamped and plated thin copper that were probably based on real menuki.

In western terminoligy "softwood" means stuff like Pine, Larch or perhaps Cedar, basicaly wood from coniferous evergreens. There are however soft "hardwoods", Lime is one of them and Alder another. What do you take as the meaning from the document.

Search the forum for "satsuma" and "Okashi to". The later are old refurbished swords of very variable quality stored in the armoury and issued as needed.

Tempering is a process that follows hardening. "Tempering is most often performed on steel that has been heated above its upper critical (A3) temperature and then quickly cooled, in a process called quenching, using methods such as immersing the hot steel in water, oil, or forced-air. The quenched-steel, being placed in or very near its hardest possible state, is then tempered to incrementally decrease the hardness to a point more suitable for the desired application. " Type 95's were an industrial product, so I would not be surprised if they were made using the latest technology of the 1930s/40s. Original Wiki article here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempering_(metallurgy)

Yours is not a Shin-Gunto! So I was actuallysaying that you had little to worry about.

It's the Shin-Gunto that tend to be faked the most.

Hi Andrew, would you be OK posting the photo's on here, or having someone else do that. The problem with imgure and other sites like it, is that the link dies in time, and then a very interesting thread dies as well. As for how your grandad got the sword, I like the story, (we always take the battlefield pickup stories with a spoonfull of salt), and he ensured that you have avoided some nasty "yurei yokai" haunting the family.

That's actualy a traditional shape, "Shobu Zukuri", as described here. http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/styles.html It might actualy be a nihonto!

The best wood to use is Honoki, which believe it or not is easier to get than Paulownia, though that is available from makers of traditional surf boards. You can buy Honoki blanks here. I have found them helpfull and fairly easy to deal with, and they accept Paypal! https://www.namikawa-ltd.com/product-list/12 Other substitutes used at the time are listed in the last post here. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/32714-wet-dirty-saya-liners/

I think it's why you see some quick and dirty fixes, like metal shims under the Ito, and shrunk on permanant leather covers stitched over or in place of the Ito.

The problem here is that if you don't read old style Japanese you are stuck. However, a reference that might encourage you, or give a lead ...

Always a problem with the rounder section grips, and with asymmentrical guards as well. The guard was problem enough that you find a suprising number of patterns, usually cavalry, where they have a symmetrical guard despite the other drawbacks to such.

I am posting this one, simply because a much more knowledgeable friend described it as "very Wabi Sabi". I bought it in 2013, and I am posting the vendors pics because they are better than my own. Nothing very special about it in my eyes, but I like it all the same.

If you are getting tannin stains, then the liners cannot be Honoki!

I would suggest Bakumatsu era, and a variant on Toppei Koshirae. You find some very non traditional pieces under that designation.

Personal opinion,as a collector for 50 years, and having access to the Royal Armouries Library which is publicly accessable and staffed by really helpfull people.... I recomment starting online. This site is a good place to start with a good old "lurk and search". Ohmura' site is excellent for Gunto, Military Swords of Imperial Japan (Guntō) . For more general nihonto information and a good primer, Usagiya, usagiya. Books are lovely, and very handy for a quick reference and an enjoyable read, but you need to spend hundreds to get the same quality of information as you get online. The primary advantage though online is the search function, and the ability to instantly reference something that you read. See a reference or a word you don't understand, left click and highlight, right click to get the drop down menu, left click google search. Nb, I say "start online" and then you will get the basics, for some things only (expensive) books will do the job. ps. the photo is a screen shot from http://www.nihontocraft.com/japanese_sword_home.html

Borrow the liners out of another scabbard to use as a model. It will save you a lot of work, even if it is rotton or trashed. I use the same trick when making a new tsuka, which is why I have a collection of trashed originals.

The job looks a good-un. For future reference when posting tangs, show them point up.

My only comment is that it is a damn big Tanto, barely shorter than a Wakizashi I have.... Oh, and congratulations on a realy nice blade.

To me, the real nightmare is the unsigned modern steel blade in original WW2 koshirae.

Alibaba sells swords all the time, starting at $99, the saving grace this time is that the money is held in escrow until the customer confims satisfaction with the item. I bought a replica Dadao from them some years ago, not happy with the quality, a couple of messages back and forth and I got a large discount. Regarding these, in another 20 years they will be illegal to export as originals, because of the PRC law on antiquities, nothing over 100 years old may leave the country. Of course secondry dealers will be the route then, and probably are already.

Funny enough, menuki seem to be one of the areas where there was a bit of latitude, either offered, or taken. Frankly I see no point in reproducing an emergency improvisation..... unless you are repairing a sword with evidence that this was its original form. But that's me, we all have our prejudices.