b.hennick

I have seen many ivory and bone tsuka/saya with "blades" - little more than strips of metal that were made for tourists. Some have good carving most are rather poor. I have seen one tachi with ivory mounts that has a decent blade. All others so far have been junk.

Hello:

I was asked for help with translating the 4 registration tags that follow. The measurments are easy enough. Some of the signature are OK but I have little experience with the handwriting of people copyng a mei. Assistance would be appreciated. The swords were purchased in Kamakura in 1954.

Thanks for the help! I tried to correct by adding the correct tag but my previous repeat appears by itself.

I remember at a show a few years ago a person came by and told me what he was looking for. I had a sword with everything he wanted. It was $10k. He wanted a $15k sword. I offered to raise the price . He wanted a $15k sword no matter what it was. He has since become a serious collector of good blades. I am not sure if he still shops by price or not.

My friends in the Rochester Sword Study group have been a sharing collective of people who love swords/fittings and who help other to acquire the best. I am fortunate to have had the group in my early years to help with sword selection. They still are people I consult when considering a serious purchase. Advice from seniors who are not self interested is exceptionally valuable. Sooo join sword study groups, go to shows and meet people that you know from messageboard and of course read and study. I fondly remember Allan Pressley and Herman Wallenga to deceased members of that group.

Good to know that he is alive and well.

I miss the guy!

I think that was a joke. When shinsa groups do not know what to call a blade they attribute it to Bungo. At least it appears that way. To all old timers "Where is Milt when you need him?"

My plan is to first publish the article in the JSSUS Newsletter and then once it is in the hands of the membership to post it to messageboard. I had several members of my club email or phone to let me know how much they enjopyed/learned from the presentation.

David - Ford was not replying as a tsubako so much, but as a student of sword fittings. He makes wonderful pieces because he studies fittings and has great talents. As an artist he has viewpoints on art. These exist because he has studied and learned a lot. He certainly does not need me to defend him, his views or his work. I have purchased his work as I both like it and want to support him in his journey.

I look forward to his posts as they are well reasoned and have evidence to back them up. We are lucky to have him on messageboard. Having said that I value your input and the pieces that you put up for discussion.

For $45 I suggest that you join the JSSUS. Go to http://www.jssus.org - look around and if interested click the join button. It will take you to Paypal where you send money to treasurer@jssus.org

With membership you will received 6 Newsletters that have several articles each as well as adds for sword shows and items for sale.

Regards,

Barry Hennick

Director/Ombudsman JSSUS

visit the JSSUS at http://www.jssus.org

To echo Tom: I would never open a zip file from someone I do not know. Even with those I know if the file is not expected I check before opening.

If anyone has a translation of the DTI 2011 catalogue I would appreciate receiving one. Last year I was able to get one due to the generosity of Robert Hughes.

Thanks in advance.

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The American Branch of the NBTHK (Ted Tenold and Keith Larman) put on a wonderful display of polished cross sections of blades at one of the shows a few years ago. It was easy to see the construction with those. Perhaps Ted will post a picture or two.

The presentation went well. I want to thanks all who contributed to this thread for helping me to formulate my presentation. I have quoted you liberally in the handout that went with the presentation. It will be published in the JSSUS Newsletter. The first part of the article is on how the presentation was organized and the second is a handout on what positivies to look for when looking for quality and the negatives one should avoid. We think that this will become a yearly program where swords will be presented with a view to judging quality rather than who made it and when was it made.

Again thanks to all contributors!

There is a child's soap that comes in a bottle that foams when leaving hte bottle. The type I have is called "softsoap" by Foam works. It has a picture of sponge Bob on the bottle. It is a colgate palmolive product and should be easily available. I too use a soft used toothbrush with the softsoap to clean same and menuki etc.

I agree Mike and Bob did a fine job. A job made easier by the quality of koshirae on view. Both of these gentlemen are not only knowledgable but they share their knowedge freely. Both love swords and fittings. They have turned this love into a business but they still give freely to the sword community. Thank you again for the time, effort and work that both of you do to further the knowedge of sword enthusiasts.

There is collectors insurance available in the U.S. that is comprehensive and inexpensive. My concern about your insurance, as with any insurance, is that you will need to provide documented evidence of value before you could collect from the insurance company. Your word will not count at all.

If you really want ot be insured, you will need to get legitimate appraisals. I suggest that at the very least you photograph everything and keep all papers seperate from the swords/fittings. If you have a safety deposit box, keep the papers and a description or a video of the pieces in the box.

Insurance ia great until you need it ,then it becomes a battle over what you lost and what it actually was worth.

Finally, unfortunately collectors insurance is not available in Canada. An inexpensive rider ($10) will bring the value of your home and contents together to cover contents losses. Same situation re: valuations.

Like life insurance you never do want to collect!

I'll be there Friday as well.

See you...Please drop by. You might recognize me by my avatar if it is working...

The menuki have an art deco look about them to me. This is the year of the water dragon. Interesting koshirae.

I always thought that color was best seen in the kissaki as it is easily changed in the rest of the blade.

My friend and I are working on a presentation for our sword club. The topic is kantei for quality or judging quality. We have considered starting with a discussion on what consitutes a "quality sword" and then have the group look at a group of three swords that all have the same hamon type (e.g. suguha). Individually they will be asked to rate them from best to worst. This will be followed by a discussion of the blades. The process will be repeated with a different set of blades.

What I am looking for is your ideas of what the discussion should include.

I have used a thin piece of leather. It compresses easily enough/ Cut to shape and your done. Leather comes in many thicknesses.

Here is a tsuba where the seppa dai has been enlarged but the ana for the kozuka left alone.

This one you pointed to is too wide and would not fit. If you look at the photos on picassa you will see how small the slot in the saya is.

Please do not overlook the leather wrap of the handle. That was done, I was told by the seller, by one of the best or very best with this type of wrap. Brian Tschernaga told me that he cannot get that quality leather to work with.

Hell Franco et al:

Kantei is great but one needs to learn to walk/crawl before running. One can use "study swords" to learn terms and activites in blades, shape as well.

At our next Toronto sword club meeting the topic will be kantei for quality of work in swords. Rather than who made it the question will be how well was it made?

We have run several traditional and Rochester study group style of kantei but this one will be for quality...

The Rochester study group developed a team kantei where the members were divided into two teams and the team discussed each blade and the reasoning for determination. The idea was that senior members could guide junior members with all learning. Making someone articulate reasoning is a good learning experience.