2FixandRepair

Thanks Mate!

Brian, i get it. I know i didn't do this the right way. I wish i had done some more research. I'm sure I'll catch flack for it. But I'm not about to spend spend oodles on this to satisfy other peoples standards. I helped a friend with an onerous chore, he gave me a neglected sword, and rather than let it continue in that state, i did what i could with the skills and materials at hand. If there is one thing i learned in the Antique business is don't let a fear of perfection prevent you from preservation. Like I've said i don't care about the $$$$$. if there are any constructive tips or info you can give me I'd appreciate it.

Thanks so Much! The leather on the sheath (the saya cover. I'm still learning the lingo) was really brittle and in need of reconditioning. Unfortunately my wife decided to unsnap it and tore some of it, but i used some smelly old school Hide based hot glue to secure it. Then did about a dozen passes with saddle conditioner and mink oil and it's fairly supple now. The lower Snap on the saya lost it's cover i was going to black lacquer it, but decided to leave it alone. I polished all the copper and brass (i don't know if that's correct to do but it looks nice). As i said before i stripped the rust off the tang in my ignorance, then used 600grit, 1000grit and the 2500grit wet paper with a 10:1 water to oil soap to polish out some rust marks on the blade, there is still a bit of pitting (especially near the point where the sword was left standing in the corner of the basement near a lot of moisture) but you have to look for it. However the edge is perfect and a few gentle passes with a stone and i could almost shave with it! I'd love to have some chisels from this kinda steel! I need a new buffing wheel to give this a nice mirror polish, but that will have to wait till tomorrow. I took a bit of 600 grit to the hilt (Tsuba?) just to knock the loose rust off but left it kinda "blued". The peg (mekugi?) that attached the handle was broken and loose. I turned a new one out of Ash since I had that lying around. There was still a lot of wobble between the handle and tang though, and I read somewhere that they would put prayer papers in there to tighten the fit. i don't know if this is true or not, but i used some old framing canvas to act a a shim and tapered the peg and it's tight as a drum now. All in all I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out. I might have damaged some of the historical value of this, but i don't really care. It's a cool sword that was forgotten behind a dresser in an old man's basement doomed to rot. Now it has a chance to live on!

Hi all, I was given this sword by a friend for helping clean out his Grandfather's house and getting it ready for sale. (he lived to 101 we should all be so lucky) His family knew nothing of it's history only that he served in the U.S. Army Combat Engineers and they THINK he came back with it. The guy was a bit of a hoarder and loved Flea markets and pawn shops so it's entirely possible he bought it later on. My knowledge of Japan and it's culture is limited to old Akira Kurosawa films and Anime. So I'm fairly ignorant of what this is beyond some google searches on my phone. I used to restore furniture for a living and love old cars and motorcycles so i decided to clean it up and hang it in my living room. After reading though the forum i realize i probably made mistakes (Like taking the rust off the tang) but since I have no plans of selling it I'm not concerned about $$$ value. There is no hamon so i don't believe this was hand forged, but the steel is quite good. There are no other markings on the blade, the other side is blank and there is no arsenal stamp. I've been trying to noodle out the marking on my own but have come up with little. I figured I'd see if there was someone more knowledgeable here who can help or point me in the right direction.