shan

Hello all, I guess this is a stupid question, but how does anyone know this was not the intention of the maker and perchance this treatment of the Voids was an intentional "statement" from the start.Just wondered that all. Regards Shan

Hi KM, Sorry but i don`t like it. Its full of poorly disguised Ware and the forging looks absolutly appauling. The Hi have been added later and the largest was done recently.It covers a multitude of lamiantion openings and there are many more on the Ji. The 2 highest Mekugi ana look like they were done recently as well and i don`t like the nakago one bit (but i cannot tell you why). Its an overpriced piece of junk metal and i would be reluctant at $500 . I have never heard of only the "great blades" having Hi and think the sellers statement is absolute rubbish.Fashion and nescessity dictated hi placement and a great deal are added later. If submitted to shinsa i think it would Fail on condition and workmanship (but i am not a shinsa expert) I would not buy it and don`t like the sales pitch as its misleading and Not true. NB a true well forged blade from any period could have no flaws at all. Flaws like ware and carbon pockets are forging faults. IMHO Regards Shan

Hi All, Sorry for the typo it was 70 points then (not 90) and 1790 (not 1770) for the wakizashi (bugger!!) Re the Kanetsune Tanto signature,if it was snowing outside and he was having a bath whilst having Hiccups,at the time and had slightly soapy hands and someone had just poured cold water into the tub,then who is to say that its not his mei :lol: Yes OK it was gimei (Bum) Its still nice and was attributed to a good school I think. I guess this is still way better than a : "shan, The good news is they all passed shinsa and got high 80+ points,there masterpieces,........the Bad news is some bugger nicked them all last night!!!!" Many thanks to all involved (Especially Paul)for this excellent shinsa and now .....who wants to sell what????? regards Shan

Hi All, well my results are now available and were 1.A suguba Wakazashi passed 90 points Takada, Saneyuki ,Kansu period (1770) (Held back by a small 2mm carbon pocket i bet). 2.The Yari passed Genroku (1688) Yamato, Monju Yoshitada 70 points. 3. My Kanetsune Tanto failed as gimei but attributed to Echizen seki school 1880 ,the Tanto only failed because of the false signature Paul told me and echizen Seki is a good call ......but the Kanetsune does surprize me a little and i still ask why gimei so late a blade? I also note that there were Echizen ju Kanetsune working and signing,but there you go, shinsa can open up more questions than give answers sometimes i guess. (answers can be posted) So all in all not a bad result i think although i have yet to find out exactly wat all this means. I will be ready for the next shinsa with carfully selected items not stuff dug out at the last minute. Regards Shan

I must admit i am a little confused by this thread. Are you saying that you bought an item on ebay based on your own very limited knowledge of Nihonto,Decided after winning & paying for it ,to "run it by" this message board and because you did not get the WOW responce you had hoped for ,then decided to reject the item " As I claimed for poor item description"???? Did you research the mei then?check it out before you bid? Usually you have to have the item before you complain but more importantly the mei is clearly there for you to see as is the Kizu and the poor horimono,most would have checked the mei out BEFORE buying the item to determine if it was genuine or not.I wouldn`t buy a blade for $500 based on someone saying "this mei i guarantee to be genuine or your money back"how would you enforce that? So my point is this......If the forum had said "Oh we are so jealous of you, thats a really nice blade ,Such forging and craftmanship ,look at that jihada and the activity,Wow!! it may be Gimei but its a truly quality piece you got that at a excellent price."............. Would there then be a problem?? I doubt it. People bidding on high value items and then renaging on the sale because you got "cold feet or changed their mind" shouldn`t be allowed on ebay,you waste time and you waste money and the person you outbid ,who did check the item out properly and decided the price was ok, may now have bought something else and no longer have an interest. What is your intention? to bid on sword after sword, then once you have won one ask the forum for a thumbs up or down? then If its thumbs down get a refund? I have blades with Hagire that i could not get a refund on because hagire is a collectors term and is not a recognised flaw by paypal or ebay,you think a mistake in translation will work? You took a gamble ,so live with it and next time ask first. I`m sorry and i know i wont make any friends here, but this is wrong IMHO regards Shan

Care to be a little more specific Mark? to what are you refering? I had 3 entered in (By proxy) (many thanks for that Paul ) and i will bet.... knowing my luck as of late.... there are big fat 3 PINK slips waiting to be forwarded to me along with some scrap tamahagane. just wondered what the shocks were? regards Shan

Hi Remy, Don`t feel hesitant,this is exactly why i posted them,To get others feedback. You are not the first to mention the patina and perhaps it has been messed with,I don`t truly know.If it has, i feel it was a long long time ago but i don`t know for sure.Its quite possible that this Tsuba was never finished properly or was a rushed or hurried Job.A student piece perhaps? It looks OK to me, but keep the opinions coming and we may get to the bottom of this. regards Shan

Dear members, Could this be an akasaka tsuba from maybe the early to mid Edo period or did they never inlay the brass "stars" or anything like that? I bought it recently so wondered if it could be that school. The theme,Patina (two tone) and elongated seppa dei make me think this school. The second offering i know nothing about and cannot find in any references. Any opinions would be very well recieved and don`t be frightened to tell me its all rubbish. thanks shan Second offering is a tanto/wakizashi sized tsuba.What do you think the school and period is?

Be that as it may ,People are talking and that has to be good. Sometimes a discussion digresses for a while and then gets back on course again,thats the nature of discussion and shouldn`t be condemed.Another comment can sometimes bring it back on topic again. It will all , in one way or another , help (or hinder) the original Poster and there original questions. The 360 grit Wet and dry was a joke by the way. To the original poster. Never mess with a blade that could be in any way shape or form genuine.It illicites an underisable chemical reaction on a forum and can cause Burning, itchy eyes,blurred vision and a chaffing around the crotch area. You have been warned P.s I love the item anyway and i say get it checked out by a professional ,Try Kenji Mishina and send him some images.He has a website www007.upp.so-net.ne.jp/m-kenji/ I have always found him very helpful and knowledgable.If the images are good he will advise. Regards Shan

Hi, I can`t really see the mei, but the tsuba looks like cast iron in the images. I am not sure though,perhaps its just bad photo`s regards shan

My Lemons shall be used for Drinks and pancakes from henceforth Brian. As i said i didn`t think it worked well. Good old 360 Grit wet and dry,Now theres a trick NOT REALLY!!! :lol: regards shan P>s The yari will be going to the polisher inthe new year its a big one for sure.

Darcy Brockbank is based in canada i think. He has some soshu blades. regards shan

Whilst in danger of straying slightly off topic, The sword i refered to was indeed purchased from a Dealer as it is seen in the images i posted. 1 to save it from further neglect and 2. because a blade (even a poor one) is better than Tsunagi IMHO.It was £185 so not so bad and thats as far as polishing goes with it,It has the almost perfectly executed Gunome i have seen and would have been a fantastic blade,with the effort and skill used to create the hamon,i cannot see why the smith would have left is "so close" to the Ha,Its chipped a lot and easily by the looks of it and has a relativly thin motohaba 2.3cm (6mm Motokasane)so the assumption is, it has been dechiped before or its just a thin blade.My guess for reasons above is dechiped.On the plus side it had no openings at all that i can see. regards Shan

Hi all, Big bump down to earth maybe but.....I am probably wrong again but: Won`t the removal of some of the chips in the ha and the kissaki change the sugata of this Kinpun mei Blade? I mean, some of those are quite deep really 2mm+.and the kissaki in order to become "whole again" will change as well by a few mm to take in the tip missing. I think a reshaping may be possible because the hamon looks wide enough, but what will it do to the blade,make it several mm thinner than it is?Is its cost warrented? I have an old blade that has had chips and had them removed ,it now has chips again and the hamon is now so close that the new chips cannot be removed,But more importantly the blade now looks "thin and Reedy" anyway. I am not a togoshi so i am in no position to properly judge,But i have many blades that just wouldn`t go through a polish that were similar to the damages on this one or better.True they were not Kinpun Mei but one is a 3rd gen Tadatsuna/Munetsuna and one an early Koto blade in soshu style. Again i might be wrong but it looks like a lot of work and Money to me. Its also possible that the mei can be added at any given time and does not entirely indicate that it is an accurate. appraisal.It could Merely be that the appraiser or customer desired it to be so.Its a catch 22 situation. But again i am probably well "off base" here. regards Shan

Hi All. I recently had a poor polish Yari that i wanted to see the hamon on. I was told by many that a shortcut "window" to the hamon was through Lemon juice. I brushed some lemeon juice onto the blade and waited for a while. The hamon did come up a little better but when i turned the blade over the underside (which is V shaped) had some lemon droplets on it that formed those round Marks.They are quite hard to remove as well. I think it is either lemon,Vinegar or an Acid or alkaline of some sort. Probably rubbish, but just sharing anyway. P.s the lemon trick was not that effective so don`t bother with it. regards shan

I may well be in touch stephen,I have sent the seller an email. regards Shan

I am reliably informed that shinsa is Full without exceptions. I would gather that if you do not hide the goods or try to sneak an item in in the guise of another item then there is not a problem.Open and honest works.The ban is on Junk swords not antiques and they can tell the difference. If it states on the package (recommended transport would be a sword tube) "Japanese Antique art sword 15th century"or something and a dated testimonial ,i doubt issues will arise.(unless you look like a terrorist of course) I have stuff coming in from abroad and have had no issues so far ( and i know i would as i am quite unlucky). Another way is to post the item to a known friend.and pick it up when you get here. However If you don`t have a slot at shinsa then its a mute point as its pay in advance. Regards shan

Hi Carlo, I thought Brian was talking about the Yokote?But maybe i was wrong. You are Carlo, Quite right that the polisher should advise on whether a blade can support one polish style or the other,But if the answer is Yes to hadori and sashikomi,then isn`t that then the decision of the owner as to which he would prefer? I would hate to have a blade that had a hamon that supported sashikomi but be forced into a hadori. Hadori is the new kid on the block,the other was good enough until it appeared. :D Sometimes Hadori will work with a hamon and enhance certain features and sometimes it will hide aspects of the activity and disguise the intention and skill of the smith. But i digress,this is anothers Post and i will bet the Hadori versus sashikomi debate has been and gone a long time ago.My vote is for the smiths intentions. regards Shan

thats a Nice blade Carlo, That`s encouraged me to go for a sashikomi polish to show up the smiths intentions as opposed to the polishers as mine has a choji Gunome hamon which will look great,If the hamon structure will support a sashikomi polish. My question now is to yokote or not to yokote as i have seen both and i am not sure what i prefer. regards shan

Thanks guys, good useful feedback there. I am unsure as well, there is a newness to it but not too new. I am leaning towards shinshinto(which is where i think it emanated from) Gimei of course also lerks in the deepest recesses of my mind (and can stay there) Lets give it its slot at shinsa then and let it lead us wherever it will. I will keep you posted. It is good that it is NTHK then Jean. many thanks shan

I think the bird on the left is a Japanese woodcock. regards shan

Thanks Guido,for the info I have learnt something more. I had heard something of this or read it somewhere. Still its a rare shaped item. regards shan

What your leaving.... I`m with Bungo and everyone else on this one . Pick you rattle up off the floor Ford ,stop throwing your toys out of the pram and get back into the game. I havn`t finished with you yet either ,i have so much more to offer. regards and respect Shan.

The one on the left looks more like an Snipe or avocet with its thick head and downturned beak or a similar waterbird. But perhaps thats just the viewing perspective. regards Shan

If you wish to see the hamon on a kozuka a bit better,the trick i was taught was to use some 360 -400 grit wet and dry with a mass of choji oil and rub the paper towards the tip in one direction. If you do it with some "feeling" you can get the hamon to appear without taking off too much of the steel.In some circles the collecting Of the Kogatana is a big thing and after a togoshi has polished one they can look stunning,as Milt sugested the Mei side was the filed side and would not have been polished. Some or all of These started life as polished blades. watch your fingers as these can be wickedly sharp. regards Shan