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loui

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Everything posted by loui

  1. Hi Guys, the blade is at the scabbard makers, it is a stunning blade now and will certainly be an eye catcher when it is done. I'll take some good pictures when the finishing touches have been tended to. The large chips came out with no problems, although a few pits will be staying in the kissaki area - will be easily overlooked. Regards. Louis
  2. $223 is a bargain - take it and be glad. That will probably include tracking and will be there in a few days. It might include insurance but unless it has a recent appraisal by a certified appraiser insurance is useless when shipping swords and antiques - thank ebay for that. Don't get me wrong, you can buy insurance but good luck getting money from a claim with UPS. If you want a cheaper method that doesn't have door to door tracking and signature required then you are asking for trouble. I have all but stopped shipping to Australia because of the nonsense I have been dealing with. Good luck. Louis
  3. I used to bring swords to work as I was at a slow station, had my own room (with a lock)for finish work. Not a good idea to bring swords to the workplace now though:) Regards, Louis
  4. Hi Guys, just saw this post, not on here much anymore, no real time for internet. There is no acid etching on that blade, I do not use acid, never have, never will. It is a common practice by alot of polishers to do so but I chose the old style, conservative with no enhancements other than keisho on some tired swords. Who ever said I used acid I would like ot know how you came up with that. That sword I thought to be soshu influenced, but a bit of an enigma, will be interesting to see how it comes back. I received it from a guy that pulled it out of a barn in the US, it had been shoved in a hay bail at the bottom of the pile since just after the war. It was entirely written off and I might add that someone had used acid on it prior to me receiving it as well as a wire wheel. The acid had etched deep into the jigane and was coming off in chunks - that is what I dislike most about acid, 99.9 percent of the people out there don't know how to use it. Acid is very popular in the UK and I have not seen one come from there that isn't all but ruined. I shaped it and put a quick polish on it to move it on to a new collector, price was right for him, it is not a top quality polish but the shinsa team will have no problems with it. Regards, Louis Please no acid, just say no to acid.
  5. Hi Guys, I am still polishing, also dealing with a back injury from my career job - firefighting. I am very behind as usual and won't take on any other work for a long time. Remzy, your blade is straight, chips removed, edge fixed, reshaped, kissaki reshaped. Will be interesting to see how it turns out. Brian, still gazing at yours, will be working on it shortly. Thanks for everyone's patience. Regards, Louis
  6. It can be repaired, but what will be left when it is finished? The hamon looks very healthy in the picture, but not sure how it runs into the kissaki. A gamblers blade perhaps, I think it might be ok though. And as far as the repair goes it is pretty straight forward. Regards, Louis
  7. Always nice to see pictures of jumonji yari. There is a museum in Japan somewhere, they have a large collection of yari and restore them frequently for their collection, when doing so they take some very nice pictures - I'll see if I can find them. I have been working on a very nice Jumonji I have for about 4 years now, I tend to push it aside when other peoples work comes in or when my hands get chewed up. I don't usually wrap the blades when polishing as I like the feel of the blade and find it I know where it is on the stone better - but that results in many small filets of flesh over the course of a day. I'll probably be done this Jumonji in a couple of years, not sure what I will do with it when done. I polished one of these that had a part of a tine missing, the amount of work it required was incredible - what is done to one side has to be done to the other:) Picture of the jumonji I am currently working on: http://www.japaneseswordcollector.com/hisa/hisa4.jpg This jumonji has a nice inscription on it, the smiths name, a special order as a gift to a person, and the best part is that it is stated that it was made in the style of Kanabo Masazane (mid 1500's). So, it is historically a valuable piece just based on the written history and because it is an example of a work - as compared to a picture or oral tradition. Picture of the mei: http://www.japaneseswordcollector.com/hisa/hisa2.jpg Regards, Louis
  8. Hi Deron, I'm alive! I've just been really busy with some projects that I have been working on and don't have time for the message boards, I also tend to be a bit vocal and I don't need the aggrevation:) I have also found that I am pretty sick and tired of the scumbag dealers out there and just need a break from it all, not all dealers are scumbags of course. I am backlogged in a big way with polishing and I am still dealing with a bad back and a left wrist that throws a wrench into my polishing time - a real pain in the ass. I also have my 2 young boys who are demanding alot of time now with kid stuff - and a wife who is a professional, so I tend to do all the house stuff and as much kids stuff as I can. Sorry if I sound like I am whining, but these are the facts. I have also stopped consigning swords as it is too big of a chore and I don't even have time to take pictures. When the kids are older and I have more time I will be back into the swing of things. Sorry that I haven't gotten back to you, I am still trying to resond to the 7-800 email in my In Box. Flip me another email if you please and we can discuss old times. Regards, Louis
  9. That blade was sent by me. Out of the hundreds of times I have shipped blades I have never had this happen - was a real jaw dropper. I have shipped via many methods and here are my experiences: DHL - they open your package before it even leaves the country to inspect the contents - DHL staff does this! They also stole a nice fuchi I sent to P farrar. FEDEX - great when sending from USA to Canada - very quick and never a hassle. BUT, can't send from Canada to USA - seems that any knife (including a butter knife) is a waepon and they won't ship it. UPS - I use them all the time, I ship 1-3day service depending on where in the world it is going. If you ship UPS ground the receiver will pay an outrageous broker fee. I have never had a problem with UPS, I always ask for a signature - I have never had a balde left at a door, if that happens it is not UPS's fault - it is the monkey dropping it off. Canada post - I never use them. Blades still have to be shipped though so we have to deal with idiots along the way - that is life. So my advice is to use the quickest method as possible - never send surface unless you dont care about your sword.
  10. Likes like mine - was shortened to fit into gunto mounts - and before that to fit katana mounts.
  11. Could be, or muromachi, hard to tell at this point. Very nice looking blade - very nice. I will be posting a Nagamaki Naoshi on my site that I am working on now for the Canadian War Museum, it has a 29 inch nagasa and was shortened as well, I think the one I have is mid Muromachi, yours could be earlier. I like the shape of yours. I'll post pics as it progresses. Very nice blade - get that one polished. Regards, louis
  12. Yes, by all means post them on sword groups for opinions, but like Brian says you will find many different opinions on swords - some educated and wrong, some educated and close, and some bang on. Shinsa's can be good, I am just not impressed by the commercialism of them these days, there must be alot of money in shinsa's as we see a couple a year now in the US? That's quite alot - and the way they pump through them mistakes do get made. The key is to not be heart broken when a blade doesn't do well at shinsa, chances are that it would do better at the next shinsa it was submitted to - unfortunatly. Regards Louis
  13. Examples, well, ya, tons - just go to a shinsa in the USA and look at all the crap that gets papered. And there are still lots of blades out there that aren't papered - not too hard to find. Stephen, probably not goin gto any shows anytime soon - trying to clear out my backlog of swords I have waiting on the wall for polish. Between a bad back, bad wrists, 2 kids, 1 full time job and 2 businesses it is tough to find time. But the kids are in daycare now and physically I am doing well - so I am back to the stones. Incidently, I am working on a few interesting projects that I will be adding to my site that people can watch as I progress. Regards,
  14. Buy a sword for the quality of the sword, not for the papers it has. It is obvious that humans make mistakes by nature - so Shinsa teams make mistakes all the time. What would you rather have - a sword with papers that is poor quality, or a sword that has no papers and is of great quality? Regards, Louis
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