Red rust on nakago

[jezah81]

I just want some information on finding red rust on swords. Is it a "bad" thing for a sword to have red rust on the nakago on a new or old sword? Is any red rust acceptable? The reason why I am asking this is because one of my friends in Japan keeps advising me against buying swords which have red rust on them.

 

Kind Regards,

 

Jeremy Hagop

[Stephen]

debate, red rust is bad rust needs to be stoped. a light oiling will do. alot of swords dug up here in the USA have it do to vet not knowing how to store swords, save a sword save the world, stop red rust.

[bdgrange]

Red rust is a problem. It is active rust. May indicate having entered the

surface and can then leave a pit. Applying oil will stop the growth

but will not remedy the damage already caused. Rust cleaners contain

acids and or abrasives and can leave pits where applied. They also cause the hamon to disappear with machine made blades. A polisher should look at it, I think.

Where a hole exists and salt water has been there it keeps comming back

or weeps.

 

My mistake you are right about nakago remedy and I was thinking

of the blade. Just oil it and leave alone.

 

regards

bdgrange

[Stephen]

You were just wanting to know about the nakago red rust were you not...on the blade is a different story

[stekemest]

Light rust can be removed with NEVR DULL. It has to be used carefully though.

[Min Lee]

I've had good results with Noxon.

 

Though I'm not sure how it relates to "cleaning" nakago... always been told it's a no no...

 

Oh, my first post...

 

<--- new guy. hello!

 

I'm humbled by the knowledge here.

[jezah81]

Thanks for the replies fellas. I was talking about red rust on the nakago more so than on the blade. Is it a real problem on the nakago, and can it be remedied?

 

Kind Regards,

 

Jeremy Hagop

[Stephen]

, red rust is bad rust needs to be stoped. a light oiling will do. .

[Grey Doffin]

Just so everyone understands, never use Nevrdull or Noxon or any other type of polish or cleaner on the nakago of the sword. If there is active red rust on the nakago you can use a small amount of sword oil to stop its progress. Any other work to be done on the nakago should be left to a competent polisher. (Good idea for the rest of the blade also.)

Grey

[zuiho]

Hello,

I am new to the forum but not new to Japanese swords. I think

previous replies veer off the track since the issue is that of red

rust on the nakago of a prospective purchase and why that should

be a "red" flag, so to speak.

Red rust can signal various possible issues in a blade you might see

for sale, none of them good :

1. The blade has been shortened recently and given a slap-dash

patination on the nakago.

2. It is a recent blade pretending to be shinto or koto with the

aforementioned quick aging on the nakago. I have seen this

on what was an obvious showa blade labeled as shinto.

Showa blades generally have little or spotty rusting on the nakago.

3. A re-patination of the nakago can be done when someone

ignorant of nihonto has cleaned original rust from an old blade.

However, this can be done with the result looking like a nakago

from the proper time period. A red rusted job shows that the

blade was not worth the effort of a proper restoration. Also,not

worth spending money to acquire it.

 

Bill G.