Alex A

Great site, been a great help so far, in the few weeks ive been on here ive learned a lot, i will still talk crap on a regular basis , but thats a learning curve, appreciate the help. Alex.

Huge Kissaki, great looking katana, a similar shaped sword for sale at Aoi art, dated 1596.(10307) Alex.

Hi Brian, id be happy with a sword like that, maybe thats the way i should go. Plenty of time to think on it, thanks for all your advice Alex.

Cheers Keith, from a financial point of view that makes sense. Funnily enough i was talking to someone at christmas who has just got a rarther large tachi in, it was in old polish, not sure if he is actually selling it, may contact him for its details, just out of curiosity. Alex.

Ive seen blades for around 10k, one in particular caught my eye, tokobetsu hozen, attributed to Oomiya, maybe go for something like this, healthy blade, no kizu, nice large kissaki, looks a good blade. Alex.

Hi Chris, all of the blades i have owned have been shinto, im looking for a change, something older, any other suggestions within my budget? Alex.

Keith, ive gathered there not cheep, Jean $10k ish hopefully will find me something decent. Alex.

Hi Keith, from what i have seen every blade in my price range is o suriage. I may need to adjust my sights and thinking :?. Alex.

Some serious reading there. Alex

Cheers again Paul, Franco, im in no rush so i will just see what crops up. As you say Paul, it is easy to get side tracked. Il check out the sites that have been mentioned. Alex

I have started to look at information regarding these blades, wide tachi with large o-kissaki (odanbira). From what i can gather most are unsigned and some are signed by appraisers due to orignal mei being cut off. I have already bought one shinto mumei blade and said to myself i would only stick to signed blades in the future, Now i am on the lookout for an old tachi as stated above. Are o suriage tachi of the era above more acceptable in terms of lost mei? and to find one signed, from a reasonably good smith (with papers), how much are we talking?.. Alex

Cheers John, il bare that in mind. Alex

Hi John, have you ever used this method to detect ha giri? Alex

Might be worh geting an expensive sword magnafluxed(sounds like someting from back to the future )on arrival..If anything shows up, return it to the seller. Alex

Is there anything the polisher could do to detect hagiri at the start of the process? If it where the polishers blade, would he do things differently?. Could he perhaps start with the hamon/boshi, or is the process written in stone so to speak, just a thought. Alex

Where theres money to be made,theres shenanigans..... Alex.

I suppose in battle, if a sword takes an hard knock, the bend and stress will cause cracks. Alex

Cheers Chris, out of curiosity, how are they caused,breifly, are they battle scars? or are they a fault in the forging/quenching... Alex.

Cheers Paul, i suppose a no quibble return policy is adamant. Alex

Cheers Mariusz, now i get it. The joys of buying on line :?. That would seriously ruin my day. Alex.

Sometimes difficult, and sometimes impossible to see. Jean you mentioned that the cracks where not visable until the blade had been polished. Now that as really put me off ever buying a sword in old polish. When i do recieve a blade i examine every inch of the hamon, boshi, infact all the blade with a strong magnifying glass, is this all that can be done? Alex.

Cheers Ken. Alex

I agree, if you dont buy a papered sword sooner or later you will want it to be a papered sword and thats MORE expense. Alex.

Ok. some good advice there. Alex

Google japaneses sword index, plenty of advice on kizu there, Alex.