dsol

Found a Gunto Koshirae on eBay https://www.ebay.com/itm/Excellent-WW2-Japanese-Shin-gunto-sword-mounts-with-wooden-filler-blade/132532429561?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649 In excellent condition and fit my blade perfectly. Will probably just dummy up the tsuka peg hole since it is for display only, don't want to drill a new hole. Thanks to all for the advice!

Yes, been checking eBay and found a few items, (then get sniped at the last second). I did not know the term, but Koshirae was what I was trying to find and now that I know a little more on what to search for, I can narrow it down some. Thanks to all that took the time to reply. I had hoped to get lucky and find something at the OVMS military "Show of Shows" here in Louisville but spent the day walking the place and had no luck other than really helpful very nice people that jumped at the chance to look it up and tell me what they could. This is just for a simple display, I am not a serious collector (yet... maybe some day). Kids in college preclude a bigger hobby budget for now. Thanks all!

Heh... don't worry about being polite with me. I work in a hangar...

Here are a few quick snapshots Darrin S.

I created an account last year but there was a glitch after I made a posting about this blade my son found in the bottom of a cabinet in a really cool and disorganized antique store in Louisville. Got some confirmation on the translation here then the posts disappeared and my account was gone. I had some photos posted here before, but they were photobucket links which no longer show up. I think I have a couple attached, will see how they show up after I finish the post... Anyway, I haven't had time to mess with it until lately. We took it to the big OVMS show in Louisville hoping to find out a little more about it and some parts to assemble it back to a officer style sword. I don't know much about the different types and variants or what parts would be best for "restoration". I do not plan on polishing the blade or anything like that, but I would like to find a tsuka, tsuba, and other small pieces to display it as a WWII officer's blade. From several people at the OVMS show, it is a hand forged blade, punched hole in the tang, sig is from a pretty decent smith that someone looked up in a big book. Probably made in the late 1930's. At the OVMS show, I would have bet money there would have been several people with boxes of misc parts, but had no luck at all finding a WWII tsuka. Advice and suggestions on what to look for are welcome, if anyone has a box of old misc parts that could be used to put this blade back to a WWII configuration for display, please feel free to contact me. Darrin S