Possible Kanesada/Terukane wakizashi

[Derek79]

Alright, so my adventure into nihonto began (can one say re-began?) here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=13312

 

First of all I'm hoping that this is in the correct place. I have the wakizashi in hand now. Pictures will be coming later as I just spent 14 hours in a car with my 7 and 3 year old today (this was after 34 hours over 3 days with them about a week and a half ago). So I do apologize for typo's and running of the keyboard.

 

Since I've already gotten so much help from this community and have been spending as much time as I can learning about nihonto, I'd like to put a long term "journal" so to speak of my process in this thread. 1. To share. and 2. for any input, as really, I don't feel like I know a thing about this.

 

My first step tonight is to polish off a bottle of jack daniels and take the polishing attachment on the dremel to the blade. I kid haha. sorry probably in poor taste :lol: Really the plan is in the next couple days to get some plain, zero anything added, tissues, dehydrated alcohol and mineral oil and give the blade a nice light cleaning/oiling as outlined elsewhere on these boards. I will then post some more pictures in better lighting, and if that light cleaning takes the green what-ever-crud is on the blade off to show the state of the metal/blade better.

 

A couple of questions/requests

1. feel free to go "wait moron don't do that" I'll be checking on here daily before doing anything with the piece.

2. any additional advice beyond what was already put in the other thread

3. correct any of my terminology/spellings/assumptions (please, I always learn better when corrected )

4. share in the process...it doesn't seem to be a "hobby" that one can truly enjoy alone, and without the help here, this wakizashi would probably have sat in my father's basement until he passed and I got it and then started researching it again.

 

Finally, I know pictures of the nakago with the habaki removed were requested...I couldn't get the habaki off and as of right now absolutely refuse to use anything other than the two fingers I can while supporting the piece with my other hand. is there a trick to it? I want to say the habaki is silver.

[runagmc]

Derek, you could try wrapping a cloth around the habaki, then grip your hand over the cloth, then tap the nakago-jiri down against a piece of wood... Be very carefull, and if you don't feel confident doing it, don't do it.

[cabowen]

Before you do this, soak the habaki area in break-free or some other penetrating oil for a day or two.

[Veli]

I just started reading "The Art of the Japanese Sword" by Yoshihara and Kapp. I liked the inertia-based method they proposed for stuck habaki removal:

 

 

This should work well for a heavy solid silver habaki.

 

Veli

[Derek79]

I will give these a try. Would soaking the area in a break free oil be the best way? I don't want to end up oiling up the nakago...or does that not matter, you just don't "clean" it up?

[NihontoEurope]

Hello,

 

Give it a squirt with an aerosol type of lubricant before you soak it totally. If you don get it off today you might get it off tomorrow. Try easy first and then scale up "violence".

 

http://weldtite.co.uk/products/detail/t ... lon-150ml'

 

/Martin

[Veli]

It would be safest not to soak the patinated part of the nakago in oils containing unknown chemicals that prevent/passivate rust.

 

Veli

[Derek79]

Alright so I tried both methods. It's still stuck on there. And upon closer inspection the habaki looks to be silver plated or foiled brass...there is some of the green brass corrosion on the nakago side of the habaki. It may just get left on for the pro's to remove when I get to the polishing stage eventually.

 

I spent a good hour cleaning the sword. WOW. Only I forgot my camera charger and it's dead so I can't get pictures up right now. It is a whole world of difference with just a gentle cleaning and a light wipe of oil on the blade. There are still some spots where that green crud (I'm assuming old machine oil or gun oil or something) is still caked on. I just refuse to go at it with anything more than a light touch. maybe I'm just approaching it a bit too cautiously, but I'd rather not ruin this.

[Veli]

Great! We are looking forward to seeing the new pictures of the blade!

 

There is another method you could try for removing the habaki, but it is somewhat time-consuming:

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6651&p=52429&hilit=stuck+habaki#p52429

 

It sounds, however, that the habaki is really badly stuck, so letting the polisher take it off is not a bad idea...

 

Veli

[Derek79]

Alright, lets see if I can't get some of these pictures loaded. Unfortunately I'm having a hard time getting the hamon to show in pictures. It is much more pronounced now that I've cleaned it, but I've been trying different lighting and having a hard time with reflections off of the blade itself. :?

 

edit: There are scratches on the surface of the blade that look to be attempts to remove blemishes. These were not visible until I cleaned the blade. They WERE NOT ME haha.

[Derek79]

And a few more that turned out ok. It seems that all the photos of the blade that show the hamon the best are of the same side. I don't know if it was my lighting or what, but the other side either reflected light too much or turned out of focus.

[runagmc]

Derek, have you tried taking pics of the hamon under an incandescent light bulb?

[Derek79]

Direct or difuse lighting from an incandescent? I kept getting glare and reflection trying that way, the best results I got were outside on a sunny day in the shade.

[runagmc]

direct... some glare is ok, as long as some of the sword's details can still be seen. Here's a pic I took with an iphone under a desk lamp, as an example...

 

 

BTW, this pic is of a sword with heat damage from umegane... notice the loss of brightness in the nioi-guchi

[nagamaki - Franco]

BTW, this pic is of a sword with heat damage from umegane

 

:?:

[Veli]

Some earlier discussion about various types of illumination used in blade photography:

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=10640&p=100444&hilit=improve#p100444

 

Veli

[runagmc]

Franco, The condition of the sword obviously has nothing to do with this post... I just figured I'd go ahead and point it out, so someone else wouldn't have to...

[nagamaki - Franco]

just figured I'd go ahead and point it out, so someone else wouldn't have to...The condition of the sword obviously has nothing to do with this post...

 

Hi, understood. What I don't understand is umegane and heat used in the same sentence as I have never heard of heat, let alone enough to cause the hamon to weaken, used to apply umegane?

[runagmc]

Heat was obviously used in this case. There is an umegane on the opposite side of the blade in the exact spot, just above the hamon...

 

An amateur job...

 

Edit to say - matter of fact, it almost appeared like it was spot-welded...

[nagamaki - Franco]

Heat was obviously used in this case. There is an umegane on the opposite side of the blade in the exact spot, just above the hamon...

 

I would suggest that these are two separate issues, then.

 

spot welded

 

yes, that's another story.

[runagmc]

Definitely not. There were three such umegane on the sword, all obviously applied with heat somehow. The hamon was lost to some extent in all three places. One was applied to a chip in the ha . Sad, since it would have been a half decent blade otherwise.

[Derek79]

Thanks Veli. For some reason I've been having a hard time with the search function on the forums. Most likely user error.

[Derek79]

Haven't fallen off the wagon. Been on here a lot lately just don't have any meaningful amateurish comments to add in other threads.

Had a falling out with some of the family who wanted to file suit for possession of the sword solely because of the mei and saw a single piece by Terukane signed as Echigo no kami Kanesada appraised at 5million yen online...ugh...couple month long argument backed up with quite a bit of the advice from you guys here. No love lost in the long run anyway...

 

Found out a bit more of my Grandfather's history. Apparently he was also part of the initial occupation force in Japan after the Pacific war. This would probably explain the non-military saya that the piece is in. Right now it stays in my humidity controlled fire-rated gun safe and I do a cleaning with dehydrated alcohol and a light run of mineral oil once a month on the blade. Has cleaned up very nicely, I'm just now worried about some of the blemishes. A couple of them may possibly be hagire but look to only be surface level to my extremely untrained eye (just comparing to other surface level metal blemishes I've come across in other hobbies including cars and firearms, probably doesn't compare but I've been able to identify fatal metallurgical flaws in the bores of several extremely high priced firearms that rendered them basically scrap metal unless one has sentimental value for them.)

 

Will be calling Jimmy Hayashi tomorrow about getting on his list, and just see if he has a couple minutes for some questions.