GrimesSU

I bought it for its history, not as an artistic example of a nihonto. I was just hoping to get it polished eventually. Was thinking about a window polish, but I didn't just want one small section looking nice if the entire thing can't be done. It would look worse in my opinion than the condition it is in now. I don't have any calipers, so I have no way to get accurate measurements.

I talked with David Hofhine here in the US about a possible polish, and he said because of the age (possibly many polishes over the blades lifespan) and the degree of the pitting. He would not recommend getting it polished and enjoy it as-is, because it is a very interesting older blade. I did hope it could be somewhat cleaned up and the hamon brought out though.

Two more pictures of the tang and one closer of the habaki.

Hello, I recently bought a WWII Japanese sword for a fair price. ($600) What caught my eye is the high quality mounts and the fact that the blade was definitely an older one with many re-mounts in its time. The suspension mount has been moved to the proper location since the original pictures as it had slid up over time before I got it. The mounts appear to be early WWII Type 94 or 98 mounts and look to be pretty good quality as the Tsuba is pierced and not solid, and the Habaki has a rain pattern to it. Handle is in very good condition, but is missing the cloth sarute. The remnants of the cloth sarute are still in the hole for it. The blade has 6 holes in the tang, one of which being a filled hole. The 6th hole is at the end of the tang where it was cut down at one time, indicating it was a much longer blade in its pre-WWII days. I was told on another forum that the blade dates likely to the end of the 1500s to early 1600s. Unfortunately the blade has some rust and pitting issues as seen. No signature is visible on the tang as it is a cut down, and may have had more holes at one time. Any other input?