b.hennick

If you are a member of the JSSUS we would publish descriptions of the stolen blades in our Newsletter. Membership is only $40 in the USA.

I just received this from LULU

20% off site-wide

Enter code: EARLYSHOPPERCA305 at checkout

Go for it.

Darcy's book is a very good one. You can get it for less from Lulu. They often have sales of 20% or 30% off.

Here is a slightly different take on things.

The first thing for me is shape. If a blade has a poor shape then it can't be vey functional or very beautiful. Shape first drew me to Hizento. Hizen blades as a group tend to have great shape.

Second comes pattern or hada. I love great hada. Hizento have great hada unless shintetsu is showing. Then the blade is not so beautiful.

Third comes hamon/edge. I used to be attracted to the wild hamon of Masahiro and Tadakuni. With experience I have come to appreciates suguha.

Lastly the tang. I good smith spends the time and effort to creat a well finished tang. File marks, mei shape all need to be correct. If a blade has everything else but has a poor tang it is not going to be a great sword.

With time what constitutes a beautiful sword changes in one's mind. I know that when I attended a Soshu exhibit I fell in love with a blade by Norishige. It took time, effort and a big expenditure to become the temporary custodian of a blade by Etchu Norishige a great sword!

So here I have laid out fouth things that a great sword needs to have. If any is missing then the blade may be functional but not great.

Nice tsuba!

Thanks for the information. I asked for more photos of the blade and it does seem to be a Chinese copy...

Thanks for your help!

Please help with this mei. I am having trouble with even the stroke count...

Thanks in advance!

It would help to know what part of Canada you live in. I live in the GTA (greater Toronto area) and know several serious collectors.

Welcome to the message board David. I knew a Robb Prior many years ago in the Tampa St. Petes area of Florida. He at the time shared our interest in Japanese swords. I lost touch with him about 15 years ago...

You might try the book that accompanied the exhibit at the Met last year. It is called Art of the Samurai It is probably still on Amazon. Hard cover and paperback as well if I remember. I went for the hard cover (two actually).

The person giving the presentation used a very fine uchiko. The particle size was tiny. My uchiko was large by comparison.

The Samurai Sword by John Yamoto has a blade with a three body cutting test made by Shodai Tadakuni.

Blades with cutting tests are not all that common but not rare either. They increase the value of the blade. I am not certain by what percentage. There are different cutting tests - some more difficult some more rare.

Today, at a sword club meeting, one of our members, who is not a traditionally trained polisher discussed the making of an uchiko ball and its use.

One thing that he told the club was to use the uchiko ball (pom) to hit the mune of the sword. The powder will float over the blade and land gently. He felt that this was the best way to apply uchiko. I, on the other hand, have uchiko on the mune.

He showed a $30 dissected pom. The core was a cotton ball, next came a few grams of actual powder, then a couple of layers of silk. It was interesting to see this - sorry no pictures.

Which do you use? Can you give a reason for the method used other than that is how you learned to do it(my reason)?

As is often the case I checked out the book sellers on the commercial list looking for new additions. This time I noted the closing of "Bridge of Dreams".

I have had the peasure of buying books from Craig Harris for a number of years. I always felt that I got a fair deall from a "straight shooter". When Criaig did not have a book I was looking for he would point out who else might. Craig could always be counted on for little pieces of old ivory for removing rust from a tsuba.

I want to thank Craig for the service he provided the sword community and to wish him much success in future endeavors.

I hope that you continue to dream and continue to maintain a bridge to the sword community.

Craig was kind enough to warn me about the book business when I posted a list of 30+ books for sale. I thought that he was joking but now realise that he was indeed providing a warning worth listening to.

Craig thanks again and I do wish you all the best.

Compare those to any that Grey is selling from the Skip Hollbrook collection. The differences will be fairly quickly apparent.

Boris of Yamabushi has a pair for sale. At least he had them the last time I checked. His are the "long life" turtles.

I too have purchased from Mike - at shows rather than on ebay. Good vendor, good merchandise always fair. I personally love the "guaranteeed gimei" tag line.

When in doubt ask questions. You will get truthful answers.

Dubbin works well on leather. It contains mink oil and some silicone. Just rub it on and the leather not only becomes supple but also waterproof. I have never used it in a restoration context but I have used it on leather up to 20 years old. I remember using it years ago on my winter boots. Last night I treated a leather belt with it. The belt looks new again. Rub it on with your hands or a soft cloth let it sit and polish if wanted.

Here is what wikipedia says.

"Dubbin is a wax product used to soften, condition and waterproof leather and other materials. It consists of natural wax, oil and tallow.

An open tin

It is different from shoe polish, which is used to impart shine and colour to leather.

Dubbin has been used since medieval times to waterproof and soften leather boots.

The name dubbin is a contraction of the gerund dubbing, describing the action of applying the wax to leather.[1]

Ongoing conjecture abounds[where?] about whether the constituents of dubbin promote rotting of the natural fibre stitching used to attach leather pieces together. There are centuries of experience that suggests it is safe, but selected pieces of literature have demonstrated some deleterious effects on high–order cellulose structures by bacteria which survive and propagate in the amino acids and fats contained in tallow, one of the chief ingredients of dubbin.

Dubbin can also be used as a moisturiser and chain lubricant."

Congratulations to board members who were mentioned in the post. I would appreciate pictures. Is there a link?? Ford, Mark, David can you provide us with some photos of your entry?

Hi Darcy:

Here is a note just to let you know I hope that you do get sucked in again! Thanks for the thoughtful posts.

Thank you Morita san.I do not have the blade. Pictures were sent to me for iformation. Here is one of the whole blade. It is difficult from what I have to determine the tradition.

It seemed to me that the Masatsugu kanji were older than the rest of the kanji.

I have done some work on this tanto. It appears to be signed by Masatusgu and dated. The other side also has a signature of Masahiro. Help filling in the blanks would be appreciated. Many Thanks!

I remember a Victorian table that had a ring of tsuba as a decoration. Each tsuba had two holes for little nails that held the tsuba in place. It was a sad sight.

Although I have never seen one i have been told that there are iron habaki. If I come across one I would certainly want to keep it with the blade. Has anyone here seen an iron habaki?

The last sword I had polished had a new habaki with the old habaki used to hold the koshirae with the tsunagi. I asked that the new habaki be made to look like the old habaki. That was done with no problem.

In the past I have had the old habaki reused as it fit reasonably well at other times the habaki was replaced. In every case I ask for the return of the old habaki which I keep with the blade.

Sooo no one answer. It depends of the fit of the habaki. I try to conserve where possible.