h1st0ryhunter

It's definitely worth giving Bill Tagg a call: http://www.liverpoolmilitaria.com/ Thanks Peter, I appreciate your suggestion and I'll look him up.

Thank-you John and Steve. I appreciate your assistance. John, I've PM'd you. Thanks again David

Thank you Geraint, I really appreciate your assistance. I'm somewhat overwhelmed by the generous and genuinely compassionate assistance that has been provided so quickly by all of you. You have all been a tremendous help and I am truly grateful. I'm now on the way to getting things sorted out properly and I can only thank all of you again who have helped to make that possible. What a magnificent community. David

Thank-you Brian.

Thank-you Stephen C and Brian for your support and kind words Yes, I'm UK based, about 20 miles north of London, but am happy to travel anywhere to get things sorted out. This is a totally unexpected series of events and I would be grateful to anyone who can help me. I'm sure that in the future I'll be able to start over again, but in the meantime the needs of others must come first. Thank-you David S.

Hi all, Haven't been using the forum much recently due to unfortunate events. I won't go into details, as it's not the sort of thing that people want to read on a forum, but two deaths in my family have left me in a lousy place and also left me with some not insignificant associated costs. As a result, I'm having to find ways of meeting those costs and that, unfortunately, means that my swords have to go. My concern is this. I want to be absolutely certain of what I have before I advertise my swords for sale as I don't wish to mis-describe or incorrectly value anything. To that end, I wondered if someone would be prepared to meet with me to look at my small collection and correct me on anything that I might have got wrong. I am very happy to travel, that's not a problem. I just need some fairly quick help. I appreciate that this may be a wholly inappropriate post, and I may have posted it in the wrong place. If so, I apologise profusely, but I'm just a bit knocked about at the moment and need to get things sorted out. Thank-you for any help. David S.

Ah..I never thought about not using oil, simply because every article I've read about blade care tells you to leave a clean blade with a very fine coating of oil. I no longer use Uchigumori as I hear it can scratch a blade, and anyway, mine don't get 'dirty' as they're not handled at all and reside most of the time in their sayas. I usually remove and re-oil twice a year. But not oiling them is a very valid point! They don't live outdoors and I never touch the blades with anything other than Japanese paper, so I can't see that they're likely to become damaged. Once I've made myself some decent sword stands, I'll display them out of their sayas, but boss-lady doesn't like them and I currently have to slink off to a hidey-hole to look at them. Ho hum I live in Hertfordshire, England, Jean. A Yari's throw from London.

Sorry. Making changes now.

I see from the Aoi Art website that they suggest the use of Choji oil is not a good idea as it promotes oxidisation....machine oil being preferred. Should I now be considering thoroughly removing it from my blades and using sewing machine oil? If I do so, there could remain the possibility of cross-contamination between the oils, and I don't know if that could be a problem. Should I use something like surgical spirit to remove all the choji before re-oiling? :?

Hi Pete, thanks for your post. Yes, I agree...no sense in waiting, so I'm going to renew my membership to the Society immediately.

One ticket please....first class.

Thank-you George. Yes, I can see that this is a very helpful forum and I will be posting a few bits very soon. Glad to be aboard! :D

Thank-you Denis! Yes, I will rejoin next year.

Thank-you sai jo saku

Thanks Alex....looking forward to it! Best wishes David

Toot toot !!

Hi everyone, just joined this site because having viewed several posts as a guest, I felt that this was the place to be to find friendly information regarding the collecting, understanding and appreciation of Japanese swords. I have absolutely zero interest in the financial value of a blade. I only wish to further my grossly inadequate knowledge in order to make informed purchasing decisions in the future. Brief history: I have learned (probably to my cost), that buying a Japanese blade as a beginner is rather like placing your hand in a pool of piranha fish and hoping they've already been fed! There is a wealth of information to be found on the web, but its still easy to be caught out by those who feed on people such as myself who are, or have been, keen to buy but slow to learn. I do have a few swords which I have purchased over the years (more on that later), but have decided to go back to the beginning and start all over again by reading books and taking advice from genuine and sincere collectors who can offer honest advice. I did belong to the Token Society of Great Britain (yes, I'm a Brit but I'm sure you'll accommodate that), but felt like a minnow amongst whales due to my inexperience. I intend to re-join the society, but only once I have gained sufficient knowledge to stand my ground. It is my humble opinion that there is no such thing as a stupid question when learning. If you don't ask....you won't learn. If some of the questions I may ask on this forum appear silly, please bear with me because I wish to learn, and learning is best achieved when you have confidence in your teachers. Having been a professional photographer for over 14 years, it gives me immeasurable joy to be able to take a complete novice and encourage them to ask any question they like and give them an answer which not only improves their photography, but leaves them feeling that they were comfortable asking. Treating people in this manner has made them ask more, experiment more and produce constantly improving results. Hopefully they will go on to become far better photographers than me and then use their knowledge to instill in others a similar desire to learn and confidence to ask. One of my greatest concerns has been the understanding and translating of NBTKH/NTHK papers. I have asked assistance from many sources in the past and received zero response. After much searching I have now found a wonderful gentleman/collector/author in Europe who has helped me enormously with not only translating the one and only NTHK paper that I have, but also answering my questions about swordsmiths. He will always have my gratitude. So, back to the swords I mentioned earlier that I already own. I have four Katana and one Waki. Of the 4 Katana, one is mumei, attributed to Ishido Teruhide by the NTHK and is a relatively modern 20th C blade. The blade is wonderful and I seriously enjoy looking at it, but the fittings are mismatched so I discount them. The remaining 3 Katana are, I believe, Gunto, but I will post pictures and ask opinions as I believe the blades are machine made, but require confirmation. My Waki is signed San Jo Yoshi Nori, but I think its probably gimei, as I understand so many are! The Nakago has been cleaned (not by me), and that's not a good sign. I got the signature by trawling through Hawleys vol 1 and 2. I was pointed in the right direction but I'm still not sure of its authenticity. Blade is not papered. So there you have it. I really hope to enjoy being part of this forum and learning as much as I can. All I ask is your assistance. With kindest regards David