mas4t0

Great picks all around, thanks for sharing.

Maybe @Rich S will see this thread and let us know what's really happening here. I was assuming the reaction was: (3)Fe + (4)H2O → Fe3O4 + (4)H2 Which would be an oxidizing chemical reaction. My assumption was that the water needs to be heated as the iron will only react this way with stream (or water vapour) and not liquid water. Or are we assuming the reaction is converting hematite into magnetite? The net reaction in that case would seem to be: Fe + (4)Fe2O3 --> (3)Fe3O4 If that's correct, it would seem that the unoxidized iron is acting as the reducing agent. I don't know the details of the reaction mechanism, but in this case would the water be acting as a catalyst?

I believe the reaction described above is a form of Bluing. Bluing involves an electrochemical conversion coating resulting from an oxidizing chemical reaction with iron on the surface selectively forming magnetite (Fe3O4), the black oxide of iron. All exposed rust will be involved in the reaction, there's no way to prevent it (other than applying a surface coating) if the object is fully submerged.

Thank you Curran, much appreciated.

Have these been discussed before? Does anyone know what they are, what they're made of and how they were used?

Did he tell you what he did to "clean them up"? It looks like he gave them a Hydrochloric acid bath, or they were underwater for a long time.

I read this a while ago and didn't know what to say. I don't know Guido personally, but I've learned an immense amount from him over the years and feel an immense debt of gratitude. I hope he makes a full recovery and is able to enjoy a long life beyond this.

If people click the X to hide them, they have to dig through the settings to get them back.

Thank you for all your help, I really do appreciate it.

https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/akaito-odoshi-yoroi-armour-laced-with-red-thread-nishioka-fumio/XgHdL1KHu7fPeQ What would we guess the cost of a commission such as this? Are there any pricing details for Nishioka Fumio San's work? I'm assuming it compares reasonably favourably to the original on which its based, and given the stated time taken to craft it, I'm assuming the cost would be somewhere in the region of ¥50,000,000.

Thank you for letting me know. I'll spend some time reading though past threads. I agree that would be the best approach. This is exactly the information I was hoping for. My intuition was that much of the high end armour is somewhat undervalued and likely couldn't be reproduced today (with traditional methods) for a similar price. I'll be researching Nishioka Fumio over the coming days to try and guage the cost of a commission. I understand of course that it'll be far higher than the example linked above. Thank you for helping me find my footing, I greatly appreciate it.

Thank you for the information. Reading through his site gives me some clarity on armour related conservation practices too. It's reassuring to know that these services are available locally in the UK.

Looks like it was cut a little off centre and at a slight angle.

Thanks Chris, I'll take a look.

Would it be fair to assume that is best approach would be to seek out antique examples and store them behind glass?

Thank you Uwe, I'll check out Michael's work. I'm not so much concerned about cost, I'm not looking at new armour to save money. My wife is very sensitive to odours, to the point where I have to replace vintage tsuba boxes with new ones. I'm guessing that vintage armour will have an odour and I'm concerned of the home being a poor conservation environment. Can vintage armour be cleaned and restored in such a way as to remove odours without doing harm? Are such services available and considered acceptable or is this considered poor conservation practice? Would it be reasonable to restore an antique armour to "like new" condition (using the services of appropriate professionals), as with sending a sword for polish or having tosogu repatinated; or is generally considered good practice to leave them showing their age? I think I'm grappling with the Ship of Theseus problem and I'm wondering where others stand on it. Is it (for instance) acceptable to have the silk replaced and other age related damage repaired on an antique armour?

I don't know if I'm interested without some more information. Why do you want to keep everything obscured and waste time covering these things privately in PM?

I'd usually expect more transparency and a few references when professional services are being offerered.

Really, how so? Surely Japanese armour is Japanese armour whether antique or contemporary (as with nihonto and tosogu)? Could you please elaborate on why this post is inappropriate here? I would prefer to find a company (or preferably individual artisans) making original works to the same standard as antique examples. There are contemporary makers of nihonto and tosogu who's work compares favourably with antiques, so why would it necessarily be different with armour? If it's the wrong forum, I apologise and I'd appreciate it if this thread could be moved or deleted as appropriate.

I'm curious how newly made armour compares to historical examples in terms of craftsmanship. I'm fond of this armour and would appreciate any opinions on it. I'm not expecting it to compare favourably with the original, but how does it compare to an antique example in the same price bracket? I'm limiting myself to contemporary pieces as I would like to display it and I feel an aversion to keeping antiques on display at home. Are there any highly regarded contemporary makers of menpō, kabuto, kote, etc? Any thoughts are much appreciated.

I don't think it should be considered a sword without its tip, but best to check with whoever makes the decision. It doesn't look like a sword and if it's not labelled as a sword, nobody will know that it ever was a sword. I'm with Stephen on this being a camping knife or maybe even a gardening tool. I think the real question is; would someone who doesn't know what this is realise it's a broken sword if the word "sword" was never mentioned? I'd be inclined to ask some friends what they think it is and see what kind of answers you get. I've had an experience of this kind of thing in the UK, and it's not so much the law that matters as the view of the agent you deal with. The specifics of the law don't necessarily matter unless the agent makes the wrong call and you challenge the decision in court. My main point being that it's not really our take on if it's a sword that matters, its the take off an Aussie bloke who doesn't know swords. It's not a semantic, philosophical or legal question; its a question of what its identified as by someone entirely ignorant to what they're seeing.

I've been looking for years for a nice maki-e kake, but haven't found any for sale which I really liked. Does anyone know of any contemporary maki-e artists who take commissions for work on kake? I have a few ebony kake including a tachi kake like this:

Hi Mauro, As mentioned in the post, it was commissioned from a goldsmith as a test piece as I was curious to see how etching of a geometric pattern would turn out. Without a time machine I'm not able to commission antiques.

I'm surprised they thought it was worth photographing and listing. The figures somewhat remind me of Japanese Keshi figurines, but with a lot less detail and much less visually interesting.

Thank you for the link Robert. It was somewhere around 1mm deep prior to lacquering, the black is a lacquer as opposed to a patina. It could have been etched deeper if desired. Even at this depth it effectively establishes the design elements and could very much aid the placement of chisels to further deepen and refine the design as needed.