Antti

Regarding Tsuba #7, there is a very similar one for sale on Tsuba-no-bi.com, attributing it to Late Akasaka. http://tsuba-no-bi.com/tsuba/detail/T00087/52/ I enjoyed the first Tsuba, and I assume it portraits a constellation? Big Dipper or Little Dipper perhaps, which would make the rightmost star the North Star, which seems to have a special significance in the design?

Terry, Thanks for your detailed response. I bought my first tsuba over a year ago, just as a relic from the era that is not coming back. The thing with tsuba is, they are very, very addictive, so watch your back Looking forward to see your next tsuba!

Terry, if I may ask, what is your... ambition concerning tsuba? Perhaps you have mentioned it but I cannot recall. Are you planning collecting, or just getting an item with philosophical / historical value or is this just one of those things that one has to do for personal amusement? I can relate to all of them, just wanted to know what you are planning to do, as your tsuba count is going to be three soon. By the way that "bodyguard without a client" expression was great.

... but the coffee maker really is terrible

Terry, for whatever it's worth, if you love that tsuba, then love it, cherish it and embrace it. The main thing is that you enjoy it. I have an old coffee machine which I love passionately. His name is, loosely translated, mr. Purr. Doesn't really make that good coffee, its ugly, and on its last legs. Every coffee enthusiast would be disgusted. I still love it, which is the thing that matters. If you are planning to start a collection, then perhaps that's another thing, and requires the effort mentioned by so many others.

An easy way to achieve something is the toothbrush - soft soap - approach. I recently spent some time brushing a lighty rusted tsuba and quite a bit of the rust came off, turning the water filthy brown several times. The more experienced guys can give you better advice, just my two cents. Also: http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/tsuba/tsubacln.htm Good luck.

Ah thank you Junichi! I already thought it was lost.

Welcome Terry. Recommended books about tsuba: http://home.earthlink.net/~jggilbert/reading.htm Recommended books about Japanese swords in general: http://www.nihontomessageboard.com/faq.html (see "What books...") The link section including shops/clubs/info pages: http://www.nihontomessageboard.com/links.html These should get you started! Btw, I was going to recommend Stein's website for starters, but I cannot seem to be able to access it? Has it been taken down?

Would this be an Edo period Owari, or done in the style of Owari? Some rought cuts there, like in the first picture 1 o'clock, inside the rim. Also, in the first picture (in its wrong way around position), on the bottom part of the seppa dai, there is a cut there, outlining the seppa dai. Was this made by the smith perhaps, to outline it, or does that kind of cut come from the seppa itself. Perhaps it's just my inexperienced eyes, but the tsuba feels like... unfinished somehow.

Another similar Hamano school-tsuba with the distinctive pine tree. http://www.nihonto.us/HAMANO%20NORIYUKI%20TSUBA.htm

I've bought two tsuba from them. Service was always helpful and quick. They speak pretty good english. Items were shipped quickly and were packaged well. No complaints whatsoever regarding my purchases. I've paid with PayPal. They have huge volume indeed. I check out their website every morning, and usually there are 2-5 new items every day.

Thank you for you detailed reply mr. George. The camera I bought was just an attempt to get something half decent on a very tight budget. I do not understand completely all its functions yet. But it does have a "exposure compensation" slider and White Balance slider. The autofocus mode can be set to manual, but I havent quite figured out how that works. As I said I'm on a tight budget, and perhaps in future I can buy a better camera. Until then, I'll do my best to compensate the weaknesses of the camera with several tricks you people have told me.

Yeah I had a hunch that it might be the lighting issue. I have one lamp on the ceiling right on top of the table I'm taking the pictures on, and a floor lamp that I can direct where-ever I want. That daylight hobby-bulb thingie sounds interesting, although I've never heard from it. I'll see whether I can find one at the local supermarket. Would be perfect for my floorlamp. Nice tsuba, looks old to me. Could you share some info? Tosho? Shoami?

I must say that I am glad I asked about this in the first place. Many of my misconceptions were corrected, many interesting sources were shared! Thanks guys!

Thank you so much Jean. I am looking forward to see your research. The Verhoeven book you mentioned was available online as PDF and I already acquired it. I hate reading from computer screen so I'll try to print it somewhere. Other interesting book I saw: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ancient-Metals- ... 0982933827 At first glance at least, seems to be an academically accomplished author. Publication date 2013, so not that dated either.

Thank you Christian. I do not know much about metallurgy. Despite having two engineering degrees, metallurgy was not a big part of my studies. But I am interested finding out more as I plunge myself deeper into this hobby. If you could suggest a book (in english) for me, that deals with metallurgy in the pre-industrial era, that would be understandable to an educated man with little understanding of metallurgy, that would be great. However, the tekkotsu via wear-(nonsense) theory is not just some old wives' tale which is spread around to the gullible by the ignorant. For example: http://www.shibuiswords.com/early%20iro ... 0tsuba.htm ...notes "With the mixture of soft and hard steel of the tsuba, as it rubs against the apparel of the samurai, the softer steel wears away and leaves the harder steel behind. Therefore you get bumps, ridges, and ribs of hard steel - tekkotsu." This combined with some very impressive names below is rather convincing. Now if sites like this mention it, it is no wonder newbies like me think that it is so. It's not like saying that "you can see the Great Wall of China from the moon"- kind of nonsense that would immideately sound like rubbish. Perhaps sites like this should be updated. Jean, would it help if I could get more/better pictures of the feature? I dont see any cracks in the feature, just a bulge.

So I guess the big question is, can the feature, displayed in my pictures, be classified as tekkotsu (as Jean wrote) or perhaps not (as Mariusz wrote). I'm assuming that the word "tekkotsu" and "iron bone" are exactly one and the same thing. Perhaps I'm wrong. My assumptions are not improving their track record today. Also I'm shocked that tekkotsu does not form from wear. I've seen this claim so often.

Aha, well that destroys my theory So that is a fold line then? It was difficult to photograph but it feels like a slightly raised edge on the round mimi, as perhaps best seen on the photo on the left. I should note again that this not seen anywhere else on the mimi. Well, this just raises new questions. Folding, as far as I have understood it, is to even out the heterogenous carbon content of the steel. Now if I've understood this correctly, the late Edo steel was often mass produced, more homogenous "factory iron". I would assume, that there would be no need to fold a factory iron plate. So could I draw a conclusion that this tsuba was made from heterogenous steel, as it has been folded? (edit) One more try:

Greetings again, Now that I have a camera, I wanted to ask you about linear tekkotsu on my Akasaka tsuba. The tsuba was discussed more in detail here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16346 There seemed to be agreement that the tsuba was made in the late Edo period, which was also my conclusion when I acquired it. However, there seems to be one clearly visible, linear, bone on the mimi. The rest of the mimi is perfectly rounded, and this bone was therefore very distinctive. A couple of questions 1. Is it common to see tekkotsu like this on a late Edo tsuba? 2. Does linear tekkotsu automatically mean it has a layered construction? I know that earlier Akasaka tsuba had layered construction, and the later ones, like this, did not. I attached a picture of inside the sukashi, which, in my eyes, shows no sign of layering. It should be noted that I havent seen many examples of layered construction sukashi, so perhaps I am wrong. 3. If it does not have a layered construction, would this be just natural tekkotsu, caused by the rubbing against the apparel of it's wearer? As I noted this long tekkotsu is the only abnormality in an otherwise perfectly rounded mimi, which, I think, would implicate this. Now I do not know how long it takes for this kind of effect to form, but I would expect it to take quite a while. However, again, if this is a late Edo example, the tsuba could not have been worn by several generations. The bone was not easy to photograph, but I gave it my best shot.

Perhaps some better pictures would help mr. Myers! Surely you have a friend or someone who can take better quality photos.

Ah the timer is a good idea! Thanks! This tiny camera would look very silly on a tripod Funnily enough it seems that the lighting in my flat (man made lighting) doesnt seem to be enough. Using exactly the same technique, with flash, nice crispy photos, without, blurry as hell. Sunlight is in damn short supply currently, so perhaps when that orange bastard finally shows itself, I will open the curtains and get down to business. I'll read some guides about macrophotography and see where it takes me. However the photos are on a barely acceptable level at the moment, so this'll do for now.

All right, I decided to act according to Brian's instructions and bought myself a camera. Nikon Coolpix 3400 seemed to be on sale for 99€, so I scraped the bottom of my war chest and bought it. I can get quite nice shots in macro mode with flash, but of course it ruins the real color and causes reflections. Without flash, it seems that the picture is always blurred, no matter how much lighting I try to add to the background. I took about a 100 shots, these were probably the best ones. If you have any good tips on how to take pictures of tsuba with a low-end camera, I'd be interested finding out. Especially the lighting issue could use a few pointers. The last picture is quite nice even

Thanks Brian for your advice. I've tried to take pictures with two inexpensive small digital cameras and they were both awful, when trying to take close up shots. Serious focusing problems. The reason might be my complete incompetence with cameras, but I doubt it. That Samsung Galaxy S? the pictures were taken with was actually pretty decent, and did a better job at it than the cheap digital cameras. I've actually been thinking about a digital microscope that could also take pictures. It would also be great for examining the steel. I'd still like your opinion about the rust spots (see my last message).

I'm very glad you liked it gents! I gave it some gentle TLC with a soft toothbrush and mild soapy water, and I got rid of that smudge seen on the dealer's photo, on the seppa dai, on the right side, opposite to the signature. However, I think there are some rust spots visible on the surface in the first photo. Especially above the seppa dai. Are those... I dont know the word to use here, but "dangerous"? Should immideate action be taken to remove these, or should I just let them be? I doubt the toothbrush wont get them out. The picture was of course taked against light, and perhaps they are not as bad as they look in the photo, but still clearly visible. I'm always scared one of my tsuba will deteriorate somehow while it's in my possession :? Kind of like those dreams some people have about their teeth falling out :lol:

Mr. Stiles I know the pictures are bad. We took about 100 photos with the smartphone and these are the ones that somewhat made it. The camera needs a lot of light to get clear photos, but then the color goes slightly wrong. I wanted to get some shots in sunlight, but in Finland, in January, sunlight is in very short supply. I am in a dire need of a good camera, or perhaps a friend with a good camera. I am not much into photography myself and wouldnt like to spend on a good, expensive camera just for the purpose of taking photos of tsuba. Money is tight as it is.