Kyle

Thank you both, I guess I shouldn't surprised at the number of fake guntos floating around but I kind of am. Time to change tactics until I can at least somewhat read the kanji because at the moment I don't know my ass from my elbow. Much appreciated.

Hello all, At the risk of making a public ass of myself again I wanted to ask you all if anything can be gleaned from this signature? Thank you. -Kyle

Thanks John, I appreciate the help.

There's not much of a hamon line to speak of. It doesn't glow like a traditional line but that's a given and if it's etched they didn't put much effort into it. It seems to show up as a shift in the steel grain. I don't know if my photos are good enough to see.

Much appreciated, I was expecting a machine made gunto when I bought this and I thought the lack of serial or arsenal marking was strange. I figured I would get burned if I went for one of these but it still hurts a little. Didn't set me back very much so I think I will proceed with a plan of practicing my woodworking by making some basic mounts for this and using it for yardwork. On the markings, the first reply mentioned the possibility of the marks having been made by a soldier. Not saying that happened here but is that a known phenomenon among WW2 issued swords? You see it on firearms from time to time but it's always been frowned upon.

Interesting, that's not something I would know how to evaluate. In my mind I'm looking at the patina of the steel and thinking that the markings were at the least not done recently. I collect and know firearms and bought this on a whim at the periphery of one of those auctions with crappy photos and minimal description. I'm increasingly convinced that was ill advised and I'm out of my depth in this market.

Being new to these swords what gives away the signature as being fake?

Hello all, I'm new to the forum. On a whim I picked up what appears to be a WW2 era sword but I'm not certain of that as just have the blade and no mounts. There's a signature and a crude looking stamp and I'm wondering what the stamp means. It would also be helpful to know if the signature means anything but less concerned about that as I'm assuming the stamp will tell if this is a mass produced blade or not. Any help would be much appreciated.