Larason2

Thank you Marcus and all who have contributed to this page for a fitting tribute. I first met Ford here on this forum looking for advice on the production of bronze age swords, and I felt like he took me under his wing, and I ended up learning a lot of Japanese metalworking processes from him, even learning how to do chasing, niage and iron patina, and casting shakudo, shibuichi, and yamagane. I've been following and learning a lot from his Patreon page, which is still a wealth of information. I'm very grateful for him, and I'm grateful for those of you like Marcus and Jean who keep his work alive and help the next generation of Ford devotees, among whom I am numbered. May he be forever remembered by those he taught so generously, and may we continue to be inspired by the works of art he made us while he was here among us. Thanks Ford for all you did, you and your community will be in my prayers.

I agree very sad news. I feel very priviledged to have learned so much from him, and that he was a very inspiring teacher and artisan. He will be greatly missed. Requiescat in pace!

Ah, well when you put it that way, I cannot disagree!

I disagree that amateurs shouldn't polish (obviously, since I am one), though I agree they shouldn't work on good or excellent swords (or even medium rate nihonto). There are many swords that no one else will polish, as well as reproductions, etc., and there are those like myself for whom the apprenticeship is impossible. In that case, my opinion is that a hand done traditional polish by an amateur is better than a poorly done belt sand and buff, or letting the piece continue to rust. In this case, misterbovigoren did his sincere best to have the piece properly polished, and though apparently it was acid finished, I respect his good intention to have a piece polished that no one else would touch.

Thanks Jean. Of course I've seen sashikomi polishes, I have several pieces I've polished with a sashikomi polish! I put a photo in this reply to try to prove myself right, but I think I actually proved myself wrong, so thanks for the correction. If you see below, on the left is a picture of an acid etch that comes on a reproduction sword, and on the right a proper sashikomi polish on the same sword, done by myself. Looking at the pictures posted above, the ha on that sword is actually more consistent with the acid etch shown on the left below. The hada and the colour on his sword is much better than most of the reproductions I have seen though, so I think that fooled me, but if you look in my pictures, on the acid etched side on the left there are hada lines that get thicker and thinner, and I think I see that on the previous sword too. So both of the elements were probably acid etched, as per my own evidence! So I still have much to learn - but I suppose this is how I do that!

I actually think Mr. Boomershine did a pretty good job. It's a bit rough, but it's a real sashikomi. Should have spent more time on the finest stones, and not pushed so hard on the chu nagura, then he would have gotten more hada. For the Hadori hamon finish, he should have followed the lines of the hamon more, as it is, he just polished a straight line with the hazuya and there it is. He did use nugui, however. He should have used a different jizuya and spent more time on it, didn't pick up the hada much at all. So it's kind of an amateur polish, but not a bad one by a long stretch.

Interesting. If you look closely, the images of the horses and riders appear cropped out. So probably cropped out of the picture of another work. I agree with Ford the back cover of a book.

Well, the slurry from hazuya stones is acidic... My opinion is that the frosting was hand applied with hazuya stones, but sorry Ron, it looks pretty uneven. A bit too much time spent on the white parts, not enough elsewhere. Hazuya stones are a good place to start when you're polishing, because if you overdo it it is pretty easy to get it off. Plus a lot of people like the "overpolished" look (hadori). Whoever polished it should look at Takaiwa's book for some better tips for technique. I also agree oil quenched. The "dark spots" in the hamon are there because oil doesn't boil as finely as water. So you get more irregular hamon lines because the places where the lines of the hada cross the hamon look dark and irregular in the lines between the lighter lines. They are dark because the oil actually cools them down faster, so the transition in the types of grain is more stark. Water leaves an insulating layer of steam, which actually slows down the change in metal temperature compared to oil, leaving a finer hamon and a more gradual change of colour in the hada at the line. It also makes the sword more likely to crack! (due to a higher risk of exaggerated temperature differences in the metal). Activity is the result of the carbon concentration in the metal, not the type of quench. The higher the carbon though, the greater the risk the sword will break, because over a certain percentage, it makes the metal brittle. Great smiths took risks on the metals jacketing the blade metal to get great activity in there. Modern Chinese smiths use relatively low carbon in these layers to help prevent blade failures. So you can get good activity in an oil quenched blade, it depends more on how it was forged. Some acid polishes feel lumpy when you polish them off, but some don't. It depends on what type of acid it is, the nature of the metal, and how thickly it's applied. If it was very carefully applied, it can feel very smooth. I also have a lot of experience here from polishing reproductions! Some Chinese finishers use stones that give a frosted effect now after the jihada has been acid etched, but that's only on high grade reproductions, and it's not the same as on a Nihonto, because their polish usually isn't an actual sashikomi.

Jizuya, as I said. It seems that the purpose of both jizuya and hazuya is to replace the slurry impregnated in the metal with a slightly different colour of slurry. Uchigumori slurry is brown/grey, Jizuya is grey, and hazuya is white. When a sashikomi polish is finished with Uchigumori, it does have a slight brown colour. If you use another stone to generate a very brown slurry on the uchigumori (say with a koma nagura), you can get a much more noticeable brown in the sashikomi (looks more rustic). When you use the jizuya on an area that was previously polished by uchigumori, it becomes more grey, and it therefore reflects light differently, which can make it look darker from some directions (lighter from others). It's a subtle effect though, maybe that's why Takaiwa doesn't bother. On your piece, it does seem to give an interesting contrast in some areas compared to others. There's no other explanation that I'm aware of for differences in colour or texture in the areas of the blade you indicated.

I think this is evidence of the use of jizuya stones. In his book, Takaiwa says he never uses them, because he doesn't think they make any difference. However, other polishers do. I don't have a lot of personal experience with jizuya stones, but I would guess the effect would be subtle. If the polish is half sashikomi and half hadori, that just means they polished it with hazuya more than sashikomi, but not as much as hadori. That doesn't necessarily mean that jizuya were used or not. A hazy effect could also just be associated with the hazuya application technique. Different schools have different techniques for their application, and the result comes out differently depending.

How about these ones? Birds turned you off? https://www.katanacenter.com/61 Menukis Ume plum and bird.html It might have to be one of those watch and wait things.

I agree with Grey's advice. I actually had a reproduction recently with a habaki that was siliconed in! Still, a hammer and a small wooden block got it off. I've also gotten some off that were seriously rusted in this way. I use some thick cloth to clamp the blade in a metal vice, blade edge up. Sometimes you have to be patient, hammer up and down the habaki edges, to try to get it to rock up and down a bit.

I think it's intended to be a sort of nagamaki...

I stand corrected! Still, the poor blade has been very thoroughly defaced if it is authentic, and the fittings are definitely not high quality ones. I still have much to learn!

It's a Chinese reproduction. Clues are the shape of the fuchi/kashira, texture of the cheap brass, poor quality ito wrap. No seppa, cheap brass tsuba, blade of wrong shape with no hamon, with burnished polish over the whole sword, plain copper habaki of the wrong shape, too short nakago, not filed. The saya poorly finished, with inexpensive brass fittings that don't really fit well, brass ring instead of a kurikata.

The sashikomi vs. hadori debate seems bizarre to me. This is possibly because I'm a novice nihonto appreciator, but also possibly because I'm an amateur Japanese style polisher, with over 100 hours of polishing Japanese kitchen knives, reproductions, and nihonto fragments already under my belt. Sashikomi means "insert," but I was taught in the context of polishing, that it means "mist." After the sequence of stones of the foundation polish, a very fine uchigumori stone is used. When used properly, this causes the slurry to be taken up by the surface of the metal, making it look opaque (probably what sashikomi is referring to). The surface therefore is perfectly smooth, but also opaque. This is actually the standard polish not just for swords, but any Japanese hard metal with a large flat face. To produce a hadori, you need to use hazuya stones. With sashikomi, all the details of the metal are visible, but usually the frosted appearance of the water quenching, which is a very superficial effect, is removed. If you apply the hazuya gently enough, you can still see the details of the metal through the sashikomi. If you overdo it, you can only see details from the side. So I guess overpolishing can be a preference, but it's not mine. Takaiwa in his book starts every blade with a traditional sashikomi polish, and I'd be surprised if any polisher didn't. Sometimes adding the mist at the end with the uchigumori is a fast process, but sometimes it's not, it depends on the characteristics of the metal. I'd be dissapointed if a Japanese polisher didn't sashikomi at the end of the base polish, because without it, the details of the metal won't be fully visible. Technically using nugui or hazuya isn't necessary to appreciate the details of a blade, but I also agree it's nice to at least have a gentle frosted effect to evoque a water quenching. But that's a matter of taste I guess! Of all the polishes, hadori takes the most work, because adding white with hazuya is time consuming, and you need to start with sashikomi anyway. So in the context of this discussion, it makes sense to at least get a basic sashikomi polish, which is what Takaiwa calls a foundation polish. All the extra money boils down to whether or not you want nugui or a frosted effect added to that, and how thick you want it! For a blade that's going to be used for iaido, I'd recommend not frosting it at all (because it rubs or scratches off). A hadori blade should be sashikomi polished at the start, at least according to Takaiwa's method, though I'd be surprised if any Japanese polisher didn't do this.

The $1200 polish is probably the foundation polish, I would think! Jean: I seem to recall reading about this on the sword forum buyers guide at least once, but can't find it at the moment. But I did read this article by Doug Blaine that supports my assertion, I think: https://ejmas.com/ti...nart_blain_0203.html I think you are right it is Uchigumori, I got into the bad habit of substituting the O because it is commonly misspelled online. But the two places I have bought them from (Namikawa Heibei and A Frames Tokyo) both spell it with a U as you suggest. Thanks for the correction!

1200$ makes sense for a foundation polish, and $2500 for an art polish from a Japanese togishi. Finishing polishes are very time consuming to apply. In Japan, most iado practitioners have a foundation polish on their sword only. Given this, I recommend you go for that.

Looks like it's no longer available. Sold or delisted? Interesting item though, definitely haven't seen one like it previously.

Not sure where you heard this information. A standard Japanese polish for a sword depends on what it is for, but at least in Japan, pretty much every sword would get at least a sashikomi polish, which is also called a "foundation polish." It is a polish using the full sequence of polishing stones, and completed with a finishing stone like the uchigomori that leaves an opaque "mist" on an otherwise mirror finish. Sometimes swords like those meant for iai are polished in this, that's maybe what you call "iai and a bit of art polishing." To do the full art polish, you generally would also use nugui (iron oxide powder in oil with other additives), and finger stones, of which the most characteristic are the hazuya. This step is usually referred to as finish polishing. I would say for most nihonto, a full art polish in Japan with all the steps above is standard. For iai though, the standard seems to be a foundation polish only. Given this, I'm not sure what you would be referring to as the "standard" polish. Maybe that's just burnishing the whole blade, as you find on a Chinese reproduction. I don't think this is a standard anywhere in Japan, though it is the standard in China, and on any reproductions sold outside of Japan. I agree with John C that if you're going to spend the money on a full art polish, I probably wouldn't use it for Iai. Sooner or later you're going to scratch it. If you would like it to have a good quality polish and are just using it for the movements of iai, you can get a foundation polish. That will hide scratches somewhat, but look more aesthetic, and not be so expensive to correct. If you're doing any cutting, and you have a reproduction, I wouldn't get either of these, leave it in the burnished/etched state it came in, as it's probably going to get really scratched up over time.

Well it was a blessing for us! (And probably also Ford!). I personally like this one a lot. I'd say it's exactly my taste, and I'm also a fan of the carp!

This isn't a nihonto, it is a Chinese reproduction. A good quality one, but a Chinese reproduction none the less. The clue is the poor quality yasurime on the nakago, practically no nie, no real hamon, and the fact that the blade looks identical to a large number of other komonjo blades that are known to be Chinese reproductions, produced for the Japanese grey market. If you look closely, they just put a sashikomi polish between the edge and the temper line to hide the fact it's oil quenched. If you like it, I would enjoy it as a finely made reproduction, but it's not a nihonto.

If post war is vintage, then it's vintage. Definitely Chinese. If you like it though, that's good!

It's actually not a lot of work to make this compared to a Nihonto. A Japanese smith only produces one or two swords per year of full time work. The rough damascus type here wouldn't require a lot of work, since they would have been able to start with plate steel and only fold it a handful of times. Given that the added on bits almost all fell off, they probably just laid them on, heated up the blade, then hammered them on. None of them are properly forge welded. All of that being said, the Chinese smiths are actually pretty good smiths, even now. Their work is not as appreciated as traditional Japanese work, because there is a different magnitude of work and skill necessary to make a nihonto.

The fifth year of Showa was actually 1931. The forging on this blade is very basic, and the pattern is acid etched. The characters on the blade look applied on, maybe with solder? and some of the strokes have fallen off. There doesn't seem to be any evidence the blade is differentially hardened, no hamon or even a difference in the metal (Japanese swords are traditionally laminated). The nakago (tang) is not filed, as it would be traditionally, and the edges on it are not straight, and it is not straight. The characters on the nakago are crudely carved, and don't follow proper stroke order and direction. There are large forging defects in the nakago as well. I can't see much of the habaki, but it looks like it is of uneven thickness, poor quality metal, and poorly worked. So overall, likely a Chinese reproduction.