Mark Green

Hi Jay, Like the guys have said. Great scans! not hard to see the damage of age, and sitting in the shed? I do like the tsuba though. At one time, it must have been very nice. Seems like a good job was done on that inlay, to survive all these years of rust. I think Jason is getting a clue about slowing down a bit. We can all remember that passion! Hope to see you soon, for some study bro. Mark G

Great thread Ford

Jason, I have it. We can look at it this week It looks pretty good to me. Mark G

The barrel of an M1 Garand may make a very close match? Great looking sword Pete! Mark G

Great pics Todd! Very nice sword. Sure looks shoshu to me. Gota love that Nie! Thanks for sharing. Mark G

That was me Dr. Brian. My sword is 23 7/8 in long. All I can guess on that, is that it was last owned by a non-Samurai, who wanted to stay under the legal limit. I still like it at that lenght, but that 1/8 th in. would make it katana. We all know that's what it was. I would love to see some better pics of your blade. Mark G

Hi Gang, Yes, there seems to be a good bit of ura-nie running the length of the sword, just above the hamon, as expected. There seems to be so much ji-nie, and much chikei, throughout the jigane. The polish is quite scuffed up so it is difficult to get good nie pics. Here are a few I have enlarged of the nie, and chikei in the Boshi

Looks like a scam to me Rich. That nakago doesn't look like it goes with that sword. It looks like pics from 3 different pieces. I would want to see a lot more pics of the whole bare blade. Just doesn't look right to me?????? Mark g

Hi Joe, Your sword looks a lot like mine here viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7503 I was thinking Yamashiro as well. Someone emailed me last night and said I should look tto the Rai school. doubtful. I have seen a few Rai up close, and the hamon was a bit more active. It looks as though someone did a quick fingerstone job on your sword. imo. Using just the Hazuya. Likely to clean up some staining, and slight rust. Can you get some good shots of the hada, or is it just too cloudy? Nice looking old sword though. I wish mine had that extra 1/8 of an inch. You can get collectables riders on your swords from most Ins. Co. Like with jewlery. Just call your agent. A 2000lbs safe helps too Mark g

What are ya'lls thoughts about that?

Ok took a few more of the nakago. Someone did a very nice job on the finish work. File work on the end Is that a line between Jacket steel and core steel, that I am seeing along the mune side of the Nakago, or am I seeing things? Just looking at the top and bottom of the 'now' nakago. I would think the original machi was close to the area marked by the wood. I will try to see where that line of jacket steel/core steel ends, (if thats what I'm seeing) that may tell us a lot. I will try to get some good, full lenght shots tomorrow

Aaron, That is a Wakizashi, I would think. Or like Matt said, a very big tanto It looks very tired, and used from the pics. I can not tell if it has hamon or not? Get more, better pics. No sure if that will change much. Mark g

Keith, and gang, I will take some new full length shots. See if we can figure it out. You may be right. It could have been much longer. The entire Nakago looks newer then the steel does imo M

It's all about the steel

Hi Matt, No, those are scuff marks in the polish. The saya had become split, and had been taped tightly together. These scuffs happened all along the one side. I'm still seeing notare hamon imo. I feel the polisher got a bit creative with the hadori lines. Without the bright lights, it is very hard to see the true line.

Keith has some great points Jason. I feel the multi mekugi ana are more about the quality of the jigane of this sword. I feel it is very likely that it's last period owner was non Samurai. Hence the 23 7/8 in length. Only Samurai could carry a sword over 24 in. long. The last polish seems to have been very good quality. And the last mountings were very nice. It came direct from Japan. In 1945 it was presented to a US Army Col., by the head man of some town in central Japan. Now to me. Most swords that saw a lot of action, ended up on the scrap heap. Or may have been very polished down. We all know how hard it is to keep rust off these swords living in your nice dry house. Just think about what a month or two in the field would do to them. Used in battle or not!

Here we go Curran. Here is a good look at the bohi shift in the nakago. It narrows slightly to the end. Even in this scuffed up old polish the steel is so nice

OK then, Using my art lamp, and holding at some tough angles, I was able to get some ok true hamon pics.

Hi Curran, Yes, the Notare, is just my best guess, with the old hadori being very bright, making it near impossible to see what is there. I willl try to get some good pics of the hamon. While the jigane does look a bit mokume in some spots, I would still say Itame overall. I'm with you about the orig. nakago cant. I'll see if I can get some good geometry pics of that area. thanks for looking.

Some more pics:

Hi Gang, I finally got around to taking some nice close up pics of the wonderful hada on my newest sword. This is the sword. It is a likely Koto cutdown. I will post measurement all around, on this thread, for all you guys that like to play at picture guessing This is the sword Nagasa: Now 237/8 in. All I can guess at this is that the last time it was cut, it may have been for a non samurai. Keeping under the legal limit? Original? looks like 26.5 from the looks of the nakago changes, or much longer. But if the first ana is the orig., that would be my best guess. Another cut at 25 in. nagasa Sori: now, 2.1cm / more like 2.5 orig. Slightly sakizori Motohaba 3.2cm at 6mm/w Sakihaba 2cm at 4.5mm/w Nice Fumbari! The shinogi is about 1mm higher then the mune with low iorimune Kiri, or slightly katte-sagari file marks chu-kissaki ko-itame Boshi: You can see the pics. One side looks notarekomi? the other side You tell me? Hamon: I would say o notareba. Can't make out any features in the hamon in this old polish. well cut, deep single bohi both sides Overall, my guess would be Yamashiro some pics of the nice hada very pretty steel!!! More to come.

Wow, that is pretty spiff. I would think that the Mokume pattern was carved into the iron. Very nice. Looks like a bunch of work! Very cool! I have no idea about the school, sorry, but I sure like it. Thanks for sharing, Mark G

Hi Gang, Thanks Jason It was good to see Jason and his new swords. I remember that Kind of 'fire' oh too well. Both swords seem to be in very good condition. The shorter wak is not cut down. Not sure what the deal is with the bit of a wave on the shinogi? The file marks, and patina look to match well. I would say shinto. Very healthy, and with the exception of a bit of rust stains, and a few surface pits, it is in fine shape. Good looking Hada, Boshi, and hamon. Should polish up fine, if that is how you want to take it forward. The longer wak is a bit harder to place. The nakago looks a bit 'AGED' to me, I would think it is too long for koto, it is 20+in. and the hamachi has been move up just a bit. It has been polish many times, but still looks healthy enough. The boshi looked ok, and the hada looked very nice. It was hard to see the hamon, but it looked like a bit of cool stuff going on in there. Very nice gunome. Looked very Bungo to me. In all, I think Jason did very well for his first blades. The price was great, and the swords are whole, and alive, and both would polish up very nice. Worth polishing? well, that is in the mind of the keeper. They would look much better no doubt. Would you ever get your money back on that? Not likely, but all that is up to you. These swords were dieing a slow death until Jason came allong. Now, they will likely live on. we have slowed down the damage, and they have someone that loves and cares for them now, reguardless of any further restoration. I look forward to seeing them again for further study. Thanks Jason for bringing them over for a look. I'm sure I will see you soon. Mark G

Hi Guys, thanks for the help. As for the pics, thanks for that too. I'm getting better at it. I take a lot of close up shots of my tsuba work. I guess like anything, practice is the key. I took these with my Sony Cyber-shot. 8.1 mp, on the closeup shot setting on auto. With no flash. I never use a flash for anything. I took these under a halogen light of about 50w. That is why the color is off on some. I usualy shoot under my art lamp, with a 75w bulb, or natural filtered sunlight I feel is best for tsuba. I just get the cam very close, and let the auto focus do it's thing. Holding it steady is the key. A tripod works well for this, but for me, it is a pain in the butt to set up, so I usual just wing it. The new cams are just so great. I use mine a lot Just ask the guys over on the Iron brush. Mark G

Hi Gang, I took some new pics of the nice fittings I picked up this winter. Just wondering if anyone had any idea of the school. They were found with a nice Hamano tsuba, that wasn't a very good match. I believe they are Shakudo, inlayed with silver, gold, copper, maybe shibuichi, and perhaps more. The detail is very nice to my eyes. Great depth in the carving work. Here are the new pics, any thoughts would be welcome.