DoTanuki yokai

I thought this was an plausible explanation by Ford at ~13 minutes that makes a multiple punch tool unlikely and I ruled them out. I also wonder how useful it would really be.

I’m the one who started this but after looking at the pictures it seems to be the result of the of the walls of the punch surrounding the actual dome. So I think they are punched round but the surrounding punches pressed on there sides. I encircled some of the more prominent ones I see. Here I made an enlarged picture of Nanako I made to see where the chisel can be improved. my flaw was striking to hard creating this honeycomb like walls while striking lighter was enough to create the domes without the walls. The picture was take with 60x or 120x magnification I’m not sure anymore. I’m just trying to learn and it could be because of the lighting of the pictures that yours appear so squarish but then there are this punch marks at the sepapdai.

I have decided to do the patina again after I made the video because there are some ugly spots… But it looks cool in the video so here it is and I don’t think it will change much.

Rob I would guess it is vegetable but it’s hard to see under the Ito. Jesta I wonder your Nanako on the turtle Tsuba is not round but little squares, is this a common thing or points to a specific school ?

I saw this on Instagram and don’t have additional information but I can imagine that this thing is heavy.

Im not cool with the generalization of what water and steel temperatures are used for yakiire. Otherwise I think it is a good summary of the available information.

There can be clear signs like mizukage that starts at the hamachi on a suriage blade but from my own experience you can’t see saiha on an ubu blade. Maybe if the blade is poorly shaped when retempered the sori could become ugly but what would be the reason otherwise ? Some years ago they had this on the usagiya homepage I have also done Saiha on one Tanto that I forged from Tamahagane five times and I couldn’t make out any signs of it.

I don’t think the extraordinary Sori is related to saiha theory is true at all.

I can remember seeing a Gassan blade with crescent moon Koshirae and a sori that looked like a perfect half circle. Must be somewhere here on NMB if i remember correctly .

here another one Wasn't Masamune but still a nice sword in my opinion.

The first thing that I think of is that just some iron from the hammer or anvil that got lose was hammered into the material accidentally. But I would think the pieces would be too small to really hold the magnet. Edit: it is possible to fuse steel with copper just search for Cu Mai but I think it is a modern thing

I would think that is a question for a professional polisher because they change the treatment with Nugui depending on their kantei. I don’t know if the steel is really darker. Edit: Some people working at the big Tatara are Hitachi employees

Even today there is no metallurgical analysis involved. Lower qualilty would be what has not enough carbon content for the hard edge. You can see the carbon content by breaking hardened pieces and look how they broke. Edit: just to add that this 2 piece construction in earlier times is a Yamato tradition related thing.

Assuming we are on the right track with Yamato this shows how these blades are constructed http://www.ksky.ne.j...99/construction.html So I would simply think that the “patch” you see is simply some larger pattern on the surface that have more prominent “outline” from the forging that can be because of different carbon contents or weld quality. (You can still see a smaller pattern inside) Now you could look at it from a steeper angle to the light to see if the effect of hardening varies there but it is not a flaw or bad imo. Generally I would expect lower steel quality on the “back steel”.

ko Mihara

I don’t know if it was already here, seen on many blades from Fujiyasu Masahira.

Thanks Brian I appreciate your words ! In Germany we say “Man soll den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben.” and google told me the English equivalent is “Don't count your chickens before they are hatched.” We will see where it goes I always highly valued Fords Opinion and I hope my efforts would meet his expectations and I can make the best of what he shared so generously!

I call it finished, here the video that shows it much better Now some engraving after I haven’t even signed the last piece Katakiribori a Yokoya motif. Some flaws and many things that could be done better but I won’t get better not doing it. Love the horses eye, after looking at Somin pieces it was cool to see that he does not used a punch like many later artist did but chisel around the pupil so I also tried it. I’m happy with the result but this was actually the easier side of the Tsuba.

I just picked them from a short google search I don’t think that they lose the point of being religious because the symbols are added later. Of cause if it is indeed only done for deception it wouldn’t be really a religious thing. Still it would show that religious decoration on Tsuba was a common thing even more for „Japanese“ religions.

So I would assume your Tsuba with the Buddha rays is also religious and it is actually a very common theme.

Are these religious ?

Close to Hirata Hikozo Actually this would be perfect but I’m not convinced in investing so much because I’m mainly interested in seeing the workmanship of the Odawara Fukurin and the circular „file marks“. I would want to sell it afterwards without much lost money if possible and can compromise a lot of condition if some parts are still good. So I want to own them to study it in depth and then get to the next piece somehow. Thanks for your efforts and the 2nd piece is also interesting but I’m not sure yet. Edit: without the odawara Fukurin I won’t be happy, it is definetly a nice looking piece with a beautiful shape and surface but from the pictures the rim appears much thicker then an Odawara Fukurin. Im also not in a hurry and like to see what comes up. There also was a nice yokoya Somin Kozuka at Touken komachi for around 15k€ that is now already sold but I would prefer a Tsuba honestly. Saved the pictures on my computer because interestingly there is a much cheaper Kozuka with the same motif from another artist that clearly shows where the price difference comes from imo. EDIT 2: Its boring without the pictures but i wonder why they have the pictures of the Somin in a much lower resolution.

Don’t mess with the template and avoid inlays that are higher then the ground on the seppadai and you are fine I think. If some of your work is later cut out or hidden by the seppa doesn’t matter I think. Just my 2 cents. Edit: look at what the Nishigaki school did

I only bought one Tsuba but I’m looking for my 2nd one for some months now. I’m looking for something close to Hirata Hikozo in copper with odawara Fukurin or a nice Yokoya piece.