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John C

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Everything posted by John C

  1. Vincent: I agree with the above, that it is a greatly shortened blade. As Brian noted, look for turnback at the kissaki. The reason it is an issue, is because unless the blade is re-hardened, the tip is now being shaped into soft steel. This makes it an ineffective weapon. Just FYI. John C.
  2. Easy: Got to forums - NMB general Japanese discussion - Translation assistance. Then start a new topic with your request. John C.
  3. We have some miracle workers on NMB!! John C.
  4. Definitely leaning toward a name now with the third kanji. It's not a lot of info about the sword, but it would be cool to find out. You can post that last pic over on the translation forum and see if anyone can figure it out. John C.
  5. Vincent: Just my opinion, but it seems to be a reproduction. Notice the shape of the nakago is off; the shape of the kissaki is off; and the ha machi and mune machi do not line up. In any case, someone has taken a grinder to it to clean off the rust. Could be Japanese, though it has been treated roughly. John C.
  6. Ah. Please forgive my ignorance. I don't own Dawson or F&G but should have asked about that first. No need to duplicate what's already out there. John C.
  7. I wouldn't clean the markings off. You may also damage the end of the tsuka in the process if it swells or chips. The first set of marks looks like the number 3; can't tell what the other one is. It could also be a name (the number 3 is San, which could be the start of a name). John C.
  8. Looks a bit like someone took some metal polish to it. John C.
  9. @Bruce Pennington I saw these marks on a Meiji period artillery sword. Would you want to expand the Stamp doc to include items like this and marks on bayonets or just focus on Gunto? John C.
  10. Joel: It looks as if the tsuka has assembly numbers (or an assembler name) on the end of the tsuka. That suggests to me that it is ww2 era? John C.
  11. I suppose another question may be does the softer hada of the wak you are looking at have enough room for the horimono you are looking at? I guess that could be adjusted by the carver. In addition, you may run into issues just under the surface carving into a blade with unknown characteristics. Just thinking out loud... John C.
  12. Looks right. You'll notice the tsuka is marked with what looks like a + rather than a - for the one. I have seen this before; probably so they did not confuse the 1 3 with a 4. I have also seen them use the + or x in place of a 0. John C.
  13. Bruno: Not sure if it is the case here, however I know some other smiths would include their age at the time they made the blade. Does that fit in with the date? John C.
  14. Google translate has the top right circled area as "registration number." John C.
  15. Trystan: This is one of the things that made me curious. Typically, it seems, the numbers were not added together - just written down. For 58, I would not expect a bunch of x's added together; instead I would expect just the / for 5 and the /III for 8. Was it common for the numbers to have been added? John C.
  16. Thank you. I'll take a look. Johnn C.
  17. I don't think it is too strange to have the Toyokawa inspection stamp on a Tenshozan factory blade. The army PX contract went through Mr. Yao at Tenshozan, since they were the only factory allowed to continue to "manufacture" blades, however the blades could have still been inspected and assembled at Toyokawa arsenal. We just need more information on how the swords were actually produced. John C.
  18. The cutting of the nakago could just be for the sake of expediency. They may have been under pressure to fulfill the contract so they could not only save time by not finishing the nakago, but also reduce the need to fit the tsuka. That has been my impression as well. Makes sense to use the ones left over then streamline the process to fulfill the contract. John C.
  19. @kissakai Grev: Do you know if any of your tsuba have a small wakizashi sized nakago-ana (21mm x 7mm mune end)? Thanks, John C.
  20. John: How many ww2 Generals' swords were produced (i.e., how many generals were there)? Although I suspect most survived in one form or another, I can't imagine the availability is too great. Just curious, John C.
  21. A follow-up question: Do we know whether or not these swords were left over stock or were manufactured post war? One document mentions "Since these swords were made after the end of the war, however, they are not war trophies." And another document uses the word "manufactured." It is unclear, however, if these documents are referring to the actual manufacturing of the blades themselves or just the assembly of existing blades into swords. Do we have anything definitive on that? John C.
  22. Joel: Just my opinion, however I would get rid of the red paint. I cannot think of any reason a ww2 soldier would have done that (along with the cord wrap) so my guess would be post-war alteration. Island job? Could be, but again not with bright red paint. Getting rid of the paint will allow you to see details and take it back to a more original state. John C.
  23. I think the obvious caveat is that the tassel is so easily removed and replaced. How many of these are original after 78 years? It would be interesting to see some old photos where the tassel color could be identified as part of the survey. John C.
  24. @Bruce Pennington Bruce: I was reading a thread about the four main shops that supplied to the Suikosha navy officer uniform outfitters (Suya, Kobe, Nakano, and Matsuura). Interested in the suppliers, I was looking for the Matsuura mark. So in reading the stamps doc, I noticed a stamp for "Matsu", however no specific stamp for the Matsuura shop. Could they be one and the same? John C.
  25. I noticed the other color and waffled a bit. I eventually settled on shiny dirt but you are probably right (I mean you are correct). John C.
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