loui

Hi All, help with this mei would greatly be appreciated. I think I see ".........Ni gatsu hi" And "Bishu..........Kore" I'm rusty. Thanks! Louie

Hi All, I'm trying to return some yanone to David Smith a collector in California. The email I have does not work for him...does anyone know David or have his contact info? Thanks! Louis Skebo.

Seemed to work fine for me, he responded to my PM, seems the blade I was interested in was snapped up - I expect through PM as the original snipe was on this post and then......all went quiet:) I forgot how much fun sword collecting was.

Shinto23, they are iron, but they do look like shakudo - there is some slight surface rust.

It's nice to see when someone has koshirae commissioned, not too many people do that as the focus is usually on the blade and papers...and on to the next. Very nice. Louis

I bought this locally today, had met the owner years ago and liked the mounts.....found his phone number and picked it up. Very simple and interesting tsukamaki, can't say I've seen it before, iron fittings, the tsuba looks like it has seen a mount or two, I believe this is a Handachi style of mount. The blade is not perfect nor the mounts, but simple and weathered the way I like them. Any ideas what the wrap is called? Cheers. Louie

lol, ok, if anyone has anything they'd like to sell ...... please PM me.

PM sent Peter. Thanks!

Hey John, all is good! I wish I could spend more time on here, but more time in front of the computer means less time in my studio. Cheers. Louie

Hi John, That's a little dramatic, but not a big deal I had just responded to a Message from another member that was sent to me in November of last year. I don't have much time here so I respond when I can, and this calm sunday morning with the sound of children's video games blaring in the background seems to be the most opportune. Cheers. Louie

I'm looking for sashimono or similar, if anyone has something please let me know! Cheers. louie

Hello all, I'm looking for tanto and wakizashi, possibly Karan depending on pricing. From basket cases to about 2k usd. Also looking for sashimono, woodblock depicting battle scenes, and low class armor not high class museum pieces as I like the used look;) Thanks! Louie

I feel this is one of those threads that is quickly going down hill and will be locked shortly. Chris the only thing you haven't mentioned yet is that you offer polishing services, broker services, and shinsa services, if you want everything to be forthright then please dont forget to mention your financial interest in this topic. Cheers. Louis

Hi Josh, I'm currently swamped with polishing and won't see the light of day for a couple of years most likely, I am located in Ottawa, if you are in the area we could always meet up for a chat. Best regards, Louis

No Problem Dave, there are other forces at work and I call it as I see it. Last night we got rain so our snow has been knocked down a bit, but north at my camp is going to be just great. I'll be snowmobiling, ice fishing and snow shoeing - it's how us Canucks roll:)

Hi John, actually heading north to my camp tomorrow morning, my friends are stuck at km 34 on the road so I'll have to help them out - tire chains on the LX470 and the thing is like a tank. Wow john, you better keep that fire stoked!

Dave, just picked up on your post after quite a while, kudos to you for restoring that sword, most would have trashed it and written it off, in fact i have seen blades in much better condition written off verbally on this forum by many. Kudos to the polisher for polishing that blade as well, that would have taken a toll on ones joints and much longer to polish than most swords. Most polishers would not have touched that blade so it is nice to see it restored. The fun just never stops on the NMB eh! Have a great and prosperous new year everyone! Sincerely, Louis Skebo

I love yari, do you have pictures of the jumonji yari? Regards, Louis

Very nice to read the experiences of Mr. Haynes, very interesting views on how Western collectors/dealers are viewed by the Japanese. Thanks for posting the articles. Louis

Very beautiful up there. I am always on the look out for matsutake mushrooms, i know they are there, just have to find the right spot at the right time!

Just looked like the big old pine tree at my camp in northern quebec:)

I'm with Jacques, looks like the bark of the pine tree. Louis

How about this, the polisher endeavors to maintain the characteristics of the sword as the smith intended based on available knowledge at the time of the polish. Louis

I'll show these pics, I was requested by a person to polish this blade in this particular manner, no burnishing, a tired old blade but in the owners eyes best to not have burnishing and best in sashikomi, he was right, the blade wasn't quite done there but these are the only pics I could find. No peddling my work but I thought a good example to show, keisho on this blade would have had a very different outcome, the nugui would have muted much of the tempering effects on this sword, burnishing of the mune and shinogiji would have muted much of the tempering as well - the mune was even on fire when viewed. You be the judge. This is an interesting topic and would be nice to not have it locked up - I have faith! The pictures also provide a decent angle in the light to view a sword - for the new guys. This viewing with a sword finished with keisho should provide the same result - a nice nioi/tempering structure.

I have asked many questions with respect to the types of finish, Keisho, modern sashikomi and even an older sashikomi with no burnishing - or maybe it's just a preference but was more acceptable in times of old. Anyway, there are a few reasons why one would use one polish over the other, tradition, type of blade, condition of sword, tempering of the sword, polishers training, polishers choice, customers choice etc etc. Yes a keisho finish can be very hard to see though if done too harsh, some keisho polishing is done with a machine if you can believe it, no idea how or why but done none the less, some keisho is done with a chemical process (no idea how - I repolished a blade done with a hybrid polish for a customer, the chemical process actually hid a hagire, was amazing to see it under there), keisho can also be done to trick a person - make them believe the blade has a complete temper but in fact does not - or maybe has lost the temper all together. Some claim a keisho finish to just be plain deceiving. My opinions take them or leave them depending on how you view my polishing are this, (and my opinions change as my tastes and experiences change, and I am always discussing polishing with polishers fully trained and otherwise), sometimes a blade will just look very poorly in sashikomi finish with varying reasons from type of tempering, tired blades etc, and sometimes a sashikomi finish is what is needed, some say that very few blades will actually really take a sashikomi finish well - but that notion might be skewed for personal reasons. With keisho there are a meriad of reasons as well and here are some but not limited to, a swordsmith making a sword today may prefer his work to be done in either, or a sword is very tired and a keisho finish is thought best to dress it up (for looks or to make look better for selling), maybe a papering body prefers a specific polish (???), some blades with much activity look great with a keisho finish if done properly , all of the activities are highlights, and if not over done the nioi guchi/tempering can be seen very easily. Fashion is definitely a factor - simply could be that keisho is in fashion. If one were to polish a blade as the smith intended then that is a whole new topic, how would we know what smith preferred what final polish? And it would mean that all swords made before keisho was discovered were polish with sashikomi, and any swords made before sashikomi were polished up to nagura and then previous to that..... and so on. Frankly it is impossible to know what style was preferred or used in most cases. One other issue is this, and hold on to your hats, here we go......much emphasis is placed on making sure that the finished product represents the work of the smith in the end, and as polishers the colour of the steel is a large piece of the puzzle, but keep in mind that both styles of polishing utilize two different nugui in the finish polish, sashikomi uses a mixture to darken the ji (very simplified) and lighten the tempered area, keisho finish uses a different nugui to darken the ji and the as a result the tempered area becomes darker - and is then whitened and highlighted with hadori work. So the two different finishes result in two final steel (ji) colouring (keisho most often darker than sashikomi) - so how does this represent the proper colour of the steel. But perhaps it is more of a philosophical polishers question than one for here.