Emil

What kind of sword do you use what steel is it? I've seen people reference to iai and samurai for this in the past as well. They claim if you use your sword often enough and just wipe it every time after use, it will be fine. Which technically must come down to airing the saya and wiping of any built up moisture from the blade once a week?

I agree with you, it's probably a better idea to display an iaito. Just out of curiosity, some Japanese sword shops that I've been to, display their blades in open air all day long, every day. This one for example displays probably a hundred blades outside of both koshirae and shirasya, some of them with a pricetag up to 2.3M JPY. They have a rack of 10-20 Shinsakuto sold only in Koshirae, you don't even get a Shirasaya. And they are also displayed in open air. I was curious to how they manage to maintain all those swords while customers are free to walk around and breathe on them.

I recently gifted my father a Showato in traditional Shirasaya and Koshirae that I bought from Aoi Art along with a kiri bako for ideal storage. He wants to enjoy this sword by storing it in Koshirae on a wall hanger at up to a week at a time. As I've mentioned in another post it already has some tiny rust spots along the blade and I don't want to make it worse, but I do understand his desire to showcase it for a few days occasionally. Any advice on storing a katana sitting in its Koshirae on a wall openly? Should I tell him it's better to just display the Koshirae with the tsunagi? Or is one week at a time in Koshirae fine? I already told him not to put the wall hanger close to the fireplace or windows to save the lacquer from rapid changes in temperature and direct sunlight. Any advice would be highly appreciated

Hi Paul! Yes that's the book I was looking for, and any references to Swedish steel in it. I believe Bruce got me everything in there already. Thank you!

I'll try that, thanks 👍

I think I'm over oiling the blade, but since there are a few rust spots already I'm afraid to leave it too dry

Here are some close ups of the hada and hamon that I managed to take with a 30x and 60x magnifier along with some photos of the blade in direct sunlight @John C @Gilles

It looks like this every now and then when I open it

I managed to take some close ups with 30x and 60x magnification

Thanks for the advice @French nihonto and @Matsunoki How concerned should I be about the Shirasaya leaving wooden residue on the blade?

It has actually crossed my mind, if it would be possible to shave of a tiny part of the tang for the purpose of historical analysis, I wouldn't be opossed to it. The problem is I have no idea who or where to turn to for metal analysis. It's not a common service.

That sounds fantastic Jean, I hope you can do it! I'm really looking forward to see if you can get any results. If your railway steel is pre 1860, it's a very high chance that it's puddled steel. The bessemer technique was invented 1856 and gained popularity during the 1860s. As I understand it, the first railroads were laid with puddled steel in Japan. However, very early on they switched to the more advantageous bessemer steel. For the best Showa-to swords, only puddled steel would have been used as bessemer steel were too homogeneous to produce any hada. It's claimed that the best showato made from railway steel were commonly water quenched, which produced the finest tier of Showato, not easily distinguished from Gendaito, hence the nickname "Mill-steel gendaito" this even resulted in a problem of having wartime smiths selling these showato as traditional gendaito at higher prices, some smiths were actually jailed for it. And as I understand it, this later led to the introduction of showato stamps. I'm not entirely sure if my blade falls into that category of top tier showato or not. Since the blade lenght of my sword is 69 cm / 27.2 inches it's already a strong indicator that this was a special ordered Showa-to. And even for collectors it might not be the easiest sword to distinguish from a traditionally made one. However, the concensus in this thread seems to be that my sword is probably oil quenched. But I'm guessing that since the wartime production wasn't always an exact science it's very possible that a special ordered showato could be produced with the "finer" puddled railway steel and still be oil quenched. Prehaps the source claiming that railway steel blades were water quenched is not entirely accurate or it just wasn't always the case.

Thanks @Brian, I tried it but without any luck. I think the problem is that the toothpick is larger than rust pits and they felt very sturdy.

Here's where my prehaps biased speculation comes into the picture. Because the blade obviously has some kind of hada, however not necessarily what you'd expect from tamahagane it points to some of the steels that were known to produce a similar pattern, like puddled Swedish railway steel

Upon closer examination of a katana I recently gifted my father, I see small dots along the blade. 2 months ago, when it first arrived with at my brother’s, he sent me pictures of it. I saw the small grey dots but assumed it was just dust. So it doesn't appear to have worsened in the last two months. Mostly they the spots go unnoticed, but I can see that they have a yellowish tone if I look really close in some light conditions. I advised my dad to keep it well oiled at all times. However, every time it's pulled from the shirasaya there are small wooden flakes on the blade. It's probably been stored in this shirasaya for many years already, judging from the aged look of it. What is my best course of action to prevent further oxidation? What would you have done in regards to blade and shirasya? Now that this licensed Showato has left Japan and the torokusho has been returned, there are no guarantees that it will pass inspections and be let inside Japan ever again. Let alone the price of a polish, I'm quite concerned that if left as is, it might get worse?

Now that I do have the sword in hand, I tried to look at these. I believe I can see the martensite crystals but in some lighting conditions (see my photos) it also looks like a shadow. I'm not confident enough to draw any conclusions

After a very long wait, I'm finally able to take my own photos of the sword. I tried to vary the light conditions to capture the hamon's different appearances. I hope these are better to determine if the blade is oil or water quenched? @ROKUJURO are any of these photos good enough? For a Showato, I believe it has a pretty well grained hada and in the sellers own "appraisal" document it's labelled as Nie deki.

Wow, thanks guys! This is great information Interesting to read that they dissolved the steel and mixed it with the Japanese steel, that's a rather odd thing to do.

Barry is right about this unfortunately. Cedar contains natural oils and resins that may contribute to oxidation over time. These oils could cause slight reactions with high carbon steel blades, particularly if the wood isn’t cured properly. Moreover, it's softer than ideal. While easy to carve, it will dent easily. Look for Japanese magnolia wood (honoki). This wood is soft enough to carve but still durable and free of oils that might promote oxidation. It is also resin free, which helps protect the blade from moisture and rust. Ideally the wood has been seasoned for a few years (traditionally 5-10 years) for dimensional stability and dryness.

@Bruce Pennington Thank you for sharing! This is probably as close to a fact as we can get on this matter

@Aegon I understand where you're coming from because I used to have the same idea when I was new to world of Japanese swords. The thrill of testing a sword’s sharpness and putting it to use can be very tempting when you don't fully understand this art. However, the more I studied and learnt, I realized that using old swords isn’t okay, unless you're living in Japan and have no other choice. These swords, crafted by skilled hands in a different time, were passed down through generations, surviving wars, conflicts, and history itself because of the careful and responsible owners that cared for them. When we use an old or antique sword, we unintentionally serve our own desires at the expense of the sword’s lifespan. Each time a blade is sharpened or struck against a target, we diminish its original integrity. In a way, the sword ends up serving our ego, rather than us being humble stewards of its history. By taking care of these swords, rather than using them, we honor the people who crafted and preserved them before us. Their care is the reason we can enjoy these pieces today. I’ve come to appreciate that my role is not be the final destination of the the swords I aquire, but to preserve them so that future generations can experience their beauty and craftsmanship just as we do now. It's not just about ownership, but stewardship and there's something deeply rewarding in that perspective Frankly speaking, with the abundance of affordable reproduction swords available for iaido and tameshigiri it would be plain careless to use anything historical for that purpose. And I wouldn't be proud to tell anyone of it, as it would only highlight my ignorance On another note, I wish you the best of luck with that tsuka and saya project of yours 👍

That's enlightening, thanks for clarifying @Bruce Pennington Then I will leave my belief about a sword shape stamping machine in the past

I appreciate your passion for history and your connection to the Type 19 sword, but I wanted to offer some perspective. It can be interesting to draw parallels between personal experiences and historical events, but some of your ideas, like Japan’s actions in WWII being a response to "oath torment" and "Stockholm syndrome," aren't supported by mainstream history. Treaties like the Convention of Kanagawa were unequal, but Japan’s actions were influenced by many complex factors beyond simple coercion. Be careful about projecting psychological concepts (like Stockholm syndrome) onto historical actors and situations where they may not fit. Nations and cultures act in complex ways that can’t be easily likened to individual experiences of trauma. History should be viewed with a broad lens that accounts for the complexities of the time. As for your sword, I’d advise against altering it, especially on the basis of unverified historical hypothesises, that you are likely to find not holding true in the future. Historical artifacts, like swords, carry important cultural significance, and modifying them erases part of that history. Maybe get a sword box 刀桐箱 which can be decorated with hakogaki 箱書き to express your beliefs

@Bruce Pennington what about the lowest tier from the commonly quoted production methods list? I assumed that one was the only one that could be called "machine made" as it appears at least by this description that it wasn't hammered into shape? "9. Machine made. Serial number in the blade. No forging; stamped out and quenched in oil without differential hardening, assuming that they are hardened at all. No hada and no hamon. Some may in fact be plated, and in the worst cases the hamon may be acid etched onto the steel. The classic example is the NCO swords. On a par with Chinese fakes, and the most commonly faked sword.'

I see, maybe it's just a misconception on my end then. I've mainly seen Showato that looks like these pictures below in Japan. I didn't expect the one I linked to have a signature because I thought that was a practice exclusive for higher end Showato