loui

Just when you think you have seen just about everything a sword like that comes up - very interesting and thanks for sharing.

How big is it? Interesting!

Craig it was always pleasure doing business with you, very professional and excellent service. My heart goes out to you and your family at this time, if there is anything I can do to help please let me know, if you need anything listed on my website I can put it up, links, books, sales etc etc. I'll front page it for you, no commission or fees or anything, let me know if I can be of assistance. Best regards, Louis

Some blades don't take a type of polish very well, all depends on what is in hand at the time, and sometimes a blade is just so tired it needs a little make up - keisho. Louis

Stephen, not so simple! I don't have a polished blade here! everything is back to my customers or sold, I appreciate that though and might take you up on that if Chris holds a proper competition - that would be great! Louis

To respond to stephens suggestion "Louie i think thats a great idea, why not bring a blade to show? i know id really like to see you there maybe Ron and Dr B as well, Known Chris and Louis for years both fine people nothing like a nice sit down face to face to clear the air. What say ye?" LOL, bwahahahahahahahhahaa man you should see what my life is like right now! I am sending emails out this week to my fishing buddies to arrange our february snowmobile/ice fishing trip = and I am late in doing so! My summer trip emails go out in september! I wish I had the luxury of just packing up and heading to a show, it has been years, actually as soon as my kids came along my show attending all but stopped, but being 6 and 8 yrs now I suspect I'll be able to attend in another 5-6 years if I am lucky! I am mr. mom here you guys should know:) While I am very busy and might sound like I am complaining I am loving the time I am getting with my boys right now and have to take advantage of it, hence my limited time this fall, we are ramping up for several events that we have planned and we will have a great time, bailing out on them so i can polish and go to a show wouldn't be an option - not fair to the wee ones. Man to be able to pack up on short notice and head to a show - can't imagine what that would be like. It will happen one day and I'd be happy to sit down and have a cold pint with all of you. Retired guys.....just pack up and travel, whip up a sword for display, go to another country.....lol, guys I simply don't have that luxury right now. Louis

It's quite simple, I don't have a sword to submit to this less than fair impromtu judgement, I do have many blades of my own and could find one to polish but that would be done without having a shirasaya and habaki made (not enough time for the sayashi and international shipping), then it has to go out to your event and then back for shirsaya and habaki which is not the desirable order as I hope you understand. My other issue is time at this point, for some seems like a lot of time right, well not in my life right now as the timing is bad because of other commitments, usually I have tons of time but not at this juncture for the fall. Look at it any way and surely it will be seen here as some admission of failure to provide. I expect that most polishers would say they would have no problem displaying their work, especially seasoned polishers, but I suspect there are some they would rather have displayed than others and to show their work, without consulting would be less than professional - a professional courtesy if you will. The problem you run in to is what potentially you will be displaying and from which polisher. was the sword actually polished by that person was it touched by another polisher after the original polisher. was it touched by the owner after a polish what was the condition of the sword prior to the polish, was it a basket case? was it damaged beyond all practical repair? Some polishers offer one level of service and others offer varying levels of polish - what level is it? Did someone simply lie, mislead, or simply forget who the real polisher was? A bad foundation polish may be judged but the sword had a bad foundation polish to begin with and it best thought by the polisher to save metal and just leave the bad foundation, something that would surely be criticized without knowing the history. The above mentioned are some examples of why I say your idea is unprofessional, your reasons could be genuine but the method has no controls, and a test with no controls is simply a not a true test.. just because you say it has controls does not really make it so. I'll also add that it is very possible that a blade could show up that I polished that I would be happy to display, or a blade could show up that I polished that I would never want displayed, and that could affect my business, I quite simply have polished many basket cases, swords written off by fully trained polishers, swords damaged beyond any real state of repair, blades of very poor quality that were polished for people on a very low budget - all quite simply to get an old sword polished up to be admired for what little beauty it has left. Definitely a blade that a seasoned professional polisher would not polish as in doing so might tarnish his reputation if displayed and compared to others in public - but something I would have polished so as to bring a sword back to life after no other polisher would touch it. I take on several basket cases a year and polish at a loss, yes at a loss, I buy some very poor quality blades on ebay and polish them and sell them at a loss, yes a loss by the time you add the cost of the blade, the cost of shirasaya, shipping etc, the polish at that point is free. Those are issues with your display, and like I said, put together a polishing competition in the future to be judged by professional polishers, and at this point I would submit a work for sure (like I'd have a choice not to:)...), something of my choosing and something I have time to restore properly. To do otherwise is less than professional, that is my opinion. Edit, How about this, put together a real competition to be judged by Japanese Trained polishers and I will submit, you have my word, good enough? Or give me more time next time around and I will send something to your show, you have my word on that as well, how does that sound? A sword of my choice of course - the proper way. And I had never heard of any offers that you had made in the past, just to be clear. Is that acceptable?

No, it is not justified. Clearly by advertising this as open to all polishers, it is not aimed at one individual, but there is no doubt that the thread in which he participated was the genesis of the idea. I have submitted an ad which details the event and the polishing exhibit to the Japanese Sword Society of the US, which will publish it in their next Newletter. In addition, this aspect of the event will be advertised in other venues as well, due to the fact that you note, "not everyone involved with nihonto are on this forum". Very interesting, I just saw this thread now as I have been enjoying a nice family day here. I already said I wouldn't attend your event, I will however seek an avenue to submit my work to the next NBSK polishing competition, don't take this as an insult but I'd rather send a blade of my choosing that I have deemed appropriate for judging at a professional competition than just any blade I have polished, much the way it is done in a proper professional and recognized competition. ie. not just any sword that a polisher has polished is dragged in to a hall and scrutinized by a bunch of people, he has the choice as to what he submits and where he submits. If the NTHK-NPO actually put a true polishing competition together to be judged by professional polishers for its next North American show I would consider it though, a competition yes, a slammed together exhibit with a bunch of poorly polished blades on one side and some top of the line blades on the other side seems more of a witch hunt than an information session, based on your obvious dislike of "amateur" polishers and business of arranging polishing in Japan. Honestly this whole thing seems a little unprofessional to me and could probably have been handled in a more mature manner - this was a "calling out", pretty funny and old school, kudos. Good luck with your show!

Chris, not sure about the importing and exporting end but that could be a factor, I would use a broker if I had to, would be easy enough. The naginata was an obscure smith with no record that I could find (Kane...)iirc but I'd have to check my notes. The blades was finished with keisho as it was determined at the time to be the best finish for that blade. I'd prefer to submit to the NBSK if it ever opens up, a personal preference but perhaps I may change my mind, no insult to the head of the NTHK_NPO of course. I see your point about learning and damage done to blades in the process and agree with it, guaranteed there are many swords damaged by amateur polishers. Louis

I had contacted the NBSK (Kenji Mishina at the time) last September and asked if it were possible to enter a blade in the competition for the very same reasons that Clive had mentioned, the response (of course I can't find the email now and maybe Kenji Mishina might chime in here) was something like - At this time we will not accept swords from polishers outside of Japan for the polishing competition, it is being looked in to - not verbatim but something like that. I will send another email as it has been almost a year and maybe something has changed. The hesitation of some of Clive's polishing acquaintances is understood but I am confident that the NBSK would make the "proper" decisions in the competition. Of course there would be skepticism if a western non-trained polisher did rank in the competition but there will always be that factor for many reasons, personal, bias, business related etc. I would enter a blade in the competition as soon as it were open polishers outside of Japan, if it didn't rank I would continue to enter the competition every year, competition is a good thing for the soul whether it be physical or mental but it is evident that no matter the outcome the work and rank may not be respected as we can see in a previous post. I am glad that Brian opened this back up as a couple of questions were left unanswered, namely that I had not answered Chris questions and I had done so purposely as no matter what answer I give it will surely not be the correct one (in Chris's opinion as I believe at this point he is incapable of making an unbiased and non-judgmental opinion on my work, Brian I'm not attacking but in my defence there is a pattern here), and if Chris had read the previous comments he would have seen that I had polished that sword many years ago and in the early phase of my polishing career, and I'll add that yes to answer Guidos query that the angle of the photo does throw off the kissaki, and please by all means judge an old work but remember that it is an old work and one of many. If one wants to pick apart someones work do we pick the best or the worst, do we pick his first works or his most recent works, do we pick a poor quality sword or a top quality sword, a sword polished for someone with a very low budget and the polisher helped the individual out with an otherwise to costly restoration somewhere else.....and the list goes on but I suspect a sword submitted for competition would satisfy that question right?. I could show you polishes that I would be ashamed of and I have told the customer to not tell anyone I had done the work, this is because I had helped the customer out with his sword, polished it on a budget as they don't have enough money to pay for a higher value polish (by me), or because the sword was written off by "fully trained polishers", quite frankly the swords don't warrant a complete, very time consuming and costly polish, some may argue that every sword deserves the best polish but that might come from a sword broker or less than honest polisher. No matter what though I'll never be able to make everyone happy, there will never be an unbiased critique of my work and in the end I'll continue and endeavor to produce the best result I possibly can to be judged by competent polishers, not people who "know a good polish", my peers are polishers but I do respect constructive criticism from knowledgeable collectors. At a sword show in Chicago a few years ago I had a collector come to me and show me a sword, he was very excited as it was a sword in fresh polish and new shirasaya, he was wide eyed and very happy with his purchase, he removed it from the saya and said I love this sword and it was polished by! "........." it was a horrible polish and it was hard to maintain a smile through my clenched teeth, but it was also evident that the sword was very old and tired and that it simply did not warrant a top of the line polish, it was what it was. I did not judge his work based on that polish. If a customer or client has questions about my work then I am more than happy to answer them as I have been doing so since this topic was brought up, these topics usually bring in many inquiries and ultimitely more work which is not what I need or want at this time - I am overloaded and don't like the pressure of having too many swords on the wall. I won't answer questions about my polishing on here as we know where that leads and I am trying to keep to the high road on this one as the topic deserves it. I'll post the video that was mentioned in the very first post of this thread along with other sword related videos as I make them (before and after work, interesting works etc), and I'll post the response from the NBSK if and when I receive one. Again thank you for re-opeing this topic. If something I have said is construed as an insult or "bait" then please accept my apology as that is not my intention. Regards, Louis

For those who are interested please feel free to subscribe to my youtube channel as well, the video will be posted up next week. Regards, Louis

You are right Sergio, direction from a trained polisher is essential, no proper progress could be attained otherwise in my opinion. Louis

Clive very well said, perfect points. This has also lowered the prices of blades in my opinion, market flooding/saturation etc.

Mdiddy, i built this truck from the ground up: Sent from my iPhone

Lol, that is some old school footage i found a while back! Check out mt newer cruiser videos, the white one. Yes it was 40 series, nice to see you know your cruisers! Ive owned well over 30 now, maybe 40, i used to import turbodiesel cruisers from Japan.

This was done about 6 years ago, shinshinto naginata, very hard steel. Not perfect but a modest improvement.

Jacques keep searching as I'm sure you'll find more on my website that will surely stun you, that was put on there about 12 year ago, OMG! I am sure that 15 years ago I said something that was truly stunning, maybe 20 years ago I am sure I said something offending! I loved polishing this blade, Bizen Osafune Sukenao as papered by the NTHK in 2004.

Andrew was it just a spray lacquer on the blade? Get it off?

Hi Guys, I'm on Facebook, if anyone wants to join me there feel free at "Louis Skebo". Guido, that blade was a write off by a "professional" polisher, "not worth the money to restore", that's how it ended up with me like so many other "write off's". Wish I had it back though as I'd tune it up a bit, I think I polished that one 7-9 years ago. I'll have to update that restoration section with recent pictures but it is hard to find time and I rarely list anything on my site anymore, everything is usually sold before I need to list it. On pictures, please beware, yes my pictures are kinda crappy, bad lighting, bluish sometimes or whatever, but they are untouched and outside of cropping they have not been altered by photoshop, this cannot be said by some polishers and dealers on their websites, the pictures are edited, lines are sharpened, kissaki's are cleared up and made perfect, jigane is made perfect, suddenly all imperfections and ware are gone in the photos etc, beware that what you see in a picture might not be what you get in your hand. Guys my work isn't perfect, I'm too modest and realistic to claim perfection and I think that no polisher would ever make that claim, a person with a big inflated head would be one to watch in my opinion. Of course there are blades I wish I had back here so I could make subtle changes to for one reason or another, and I'm sure most polishers would feel that way about some of their work from the past. My work has been viewed by polishers in Japan, I have received some good criticisms, and I have been told that my work is "acceptable as a Japanese polish". I listen to constructive criticisms from respected polishers and strive to make a better result as most would do. If I could go back in time to when I was a young lad of 18 or 20 I would most definitely have gone to Japan and studied for years, but hind sight is 20/20 and I'll continue on my journey in the real world. One fortunate luxury I have is time, being a full-time firefighter on a 24 hour schedule that I work 7-8 times a month, the rest of the time is devoted to swords and some of my hobbies as some of you may have seen in my other videos. Thanks for the insightful debate, most if not all has been said before and will be said again, horror stories will be told on both sides and most will do what they feel is right no matter what is said. Bike ride with the kids, 10 year wedding anniversary dinner tonight and back on the swords tomorrow, life is great! EDIT, for a very honest and reputable dealer who offers polishing, shinsa, handling etc services please use the Kashima sisters at USAGIYA as Peter mentioned, here is their website: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/ Their views and business practices are a welcome relief from the usual sword world sliminess, truly a pleasure doing business with them and a welcome relief.

I love my stones, stones can still be had if you know the right people, one of my stones, a 5 pound koma nagura is on the mantle, it is a natural piece of art, I have a 22 pound chu nagura plate that will be mounted on my wall when I get it. Take note though, there are many red herrings, fables and outright lies that are told by various people with interests in the sword world, many are simply fabricated out of greed and to overwhelm the less knowledgeable if you will, many westerners and impressionable collectors sad to say fall for much of these hook line and sinker. Not on all points mentioned of course but some posted within and in other threads from time to time. Makes sense though, the best way to protect ones business is to baffle with BS, many polishing secrets are kept, some made up to baffle, false secrets revealed, videos made with red herrings to throw people off, messengers in the west to throw people off etc., it is a very interesting business, and make no bones about it swords, polishing and papering is a big business. Some of my stones. Regards, Louis

Hi Ron, I've purposely not been taking any work on so I can clear out a backlog of work that I have here, I'll be able to take the yari soon so feel free to contact me. I still have 10 or more blades of my own to finish up including a beautiful Jumonji yari that I have almost ready for the Saya-shi, have some blades coming in from Japan for polish as well, damn these things pile up. I'll probably only take 2-3 blades in at a time from now on as I hate swords on the wall. Ron I also suspect that if Chris examined one of my polishes he would find much wrong with it:) Chris, when expressing opinions based on experience you have to make sure the opinions are unbiased and not self serving, those are the opinions I and most others respect, opinions to put food on the table - not so much. I don't peddle my work on here often, I maybe list 1-2 swords a year if that (while making subtle donations to the board fund), maybe comment on a sword or two because some professed "experts" have condemned a sword based on nonsense. Your comments are not offending because I see clearly what you are doing, no boo hooing here, but your business tactics are pretty sad actually, maybe pathetic, but I have no doubt you are probably a very nice person. Don't get me wrong though I do agree with Chris's comments on most "amateur" polishers, they make a mess of blades and I usually end up having to fix Nihon-to that have been acid etched, mis-shaped etc. some are too far gone to be saved. I've also had blades freshly polished by "fully trained polishers" in Japan sent to me by dealers to be re-polished after a very expensive restoration, quite a joke really so be wary of who you send your blades to in Japan, if convinced you need to send your blades to Japan I can recommend a very honest and reputable dealer there that will handle the transaction - and not at inflated prices, polished by the actual polisher not a student like what is so often done:) Not is all as it seems. (anyone interested please PM me). A "fully trained polisher" once said to me while working with him "the apprenticeship system is Japan is rediculous and antiquated, it does not take 6,8, 10 years for you to learn how to polish a sword, but maybe for some it takes longer", he convinced me to continue polishing and I have a great relationship with him and other polishers to this day - I probably bother them too often though:) I should update my site.

Drbvac, cooler heads prevail and I heed your sound advice, I edited my previous comments directed at Chris. Have a good night! Louis

Henry thank you very much for your kind words as they are truly appreciated, Drbvac thank you as well as you are a true friend. EDITED, As per Drbvac's sound advice I'll retract my comments, sometimes I should pause before hitting the "submit" button. I need some sleep. Regards and all the best, even to you Chris. Louis Skebo PS, I had removed the video from youtube yesterday as I am working on setting it up on several other sites as well, it will be back up next week if all goes as planned. The sword has some incredible history for Canada and is a beautiful piece, please check it out if you like.

Someone ran a quick foundation on it and then ended up with the uchigumori with some quick fingerstoning. I can still see scratches from all the other stones in the process that were left behind. Louis

Speechless.