Opinions on condition of wakizashi - originaly posted 1 June

[Stephen V]

Hello again

 

Firstly thank you again to all the members of this forum who gave me much valuable advise and suggestions regarding the blade in question which, with your assistance, has been attributed to Bishu Osafune Norimitsu - August 1465.

 

I have now become somewhat of an enthusiast and have been doing some research into mounts and polishings and am at a crossroads as to whether I take the restoration path or simply stabilise and preserve the blade in its current early 1900's mountings.

 

I did not post any details of the mountings before so have now attached several pics showing it in what I understand to be an early to mid 1930's shin gunto mount in what would seem to be in a good condition.

 

The saya is also relatively undamaged with just two minor dents.

 

As you can see, the tsuba and associated mountings are a matching set and given the number 17. Seems be a rather low number, might this provide any significance as to the date this sword was remounted?

 

With the blade itself, I have previously provided some pics but only one side. I must admit in my heart of hearts that I am willing this blade to be suitable for restoration and have so far only shown the side that is in better condition. I believe the bare blade (outside of the saya) was left to lay in damp earth for some years before it came into my posesssion and there are some pronounced stains in this new pic.

 

I am hoping that they are only rust stains an not shintetsu as some of the marks are over the hamon. Apart from these flaws (and a small chip taken off the kissaki) there are definitely no blisters or cracks on the blade nor any major chips apart from a couple that only are about 2mm deep.

 

I know it is very difficult to provide much advice without having the blade in hand, but would the forum members still consider this a blade at least worth having a preliminary professional clean? If so, can any other Australian members give me some clues as to how and where I might go about this?

 

Thanks again and looking forward to some more shared wisdom.

 

Stephen V

[Brian]

Stephen,

 

Still doesn't look too bad at all, and the stains look like normal rust patches that would need a polish to remove. Not sure how much pitting is under there, but a polisher should be able to do wonders on it.

Try and see if there are NMB members near you who can look at it in hand and give you an opinion.

 

Btw..the numbers on the tsuba etc are just for matching up all the parts during assembly. They are not a serial number and have no significance. The blade would have to go into shirasaya after a polish, and a wooden tsunagi made if you want to display the current mounts. A costly exercise in all, but the only way to go forward unless you want to keep it as such and just keep it oiled and give it the uchiko treatment occasionally to prevent further damage.

I have seen a lot worse swords, come out looking very good after a proper restoration.

 

Brian

[Stephen]

before you go the route of polish, to have it sent to shinsa, a good togi will tell you if its worth a polish, a shinsa team should be able to tell you if it was geimei or not.

[Stephen V]

Hello again

 

I am still thinking about my options in regard to the future of this blade.

 

Would you counsel for or against my initially trying an ongoing gentle clean using an uchiko to eventually hopefully remove some portion of the rust spots?

 

I do not want to do anything that might potentially create more damage to the blade than it has already suffered through neglect but I would like to try and tidy it up a bit without initially going to the expense and hassles of sending it overseas for a full going over.

 

I have had an emailed opinion from a group in Japan (AoiArt.com) and based on the photographic evidence they tend to lean pretty strongly towards the blade not being geimei so I do want to be careful with it.

 

Probably a hard call to make and I know I am putting you on a spot in regard to this kind of question. I supppose really if you say it is, on the balance, not a good idea I will just content myself for the moment to keeping it at least lightly oiled but no more.

 

Once again, your invaluable advice will be much appreciated.

 

Cheers

[AndreasU]

I don't know if someone had seen it but if you look on the Bohi right to the tip, you can see that the areas where the shinogi is visible, the lines are moving and getting separated. For me it looks that a polsher in the past have flattened the first part oft the sword to remove damage. You should see a different blade shape if you look from the top on the mune?

Andreas

[Ken-Hawaii]

Stephen, in general, uchiko should be used to remove caked-on oil that was applied to the blade, not for removing rust. Also, uchiko comes in several "grades," but I haven't found any way to tell whether my grade of uchiko is good, or not. So I'm careful to buy only from vendors whom I know & trust.

 

Take a look at this article, http://ejmas.com/tin/tinart_fowler_0402.htm, to get some more input. Good luck!

[Stephen V]

Andreas

 

Very keen eyes

 

I've had a good look at the area near the kissaki on both sides of the blade and yes, it does at first look as if the shinogi has been flattened.

 

But after a long examination of both sides I can say that the same effect is visible on both of them.

 

Looking down from the top of the mune as you suggested shows absolutely no narrowing of the blade. Also there is no sign of lack of sharpness to the carving, width or depth of bo-hi.

 

What I did notice however and I do not know if this is common to blades of this era and to blades by Norimitsu in particular is that the top of the bo-hi all along the blade runs at the same depth (distance) from top edge of the blade until you hit the area that is currently in question. At that point the bo-hi looks as though it takes a flatter path towards to the kissaki than the actual curve of the mune.

 

Basically this flattening (straightening?) of the bo-hi gives the mune an artificially (visually) greater up-sweep for the last 10 cm or so. There is no visible shallowing of the bo-hi either at this point.

 

Additionally a shinogi is actually only visible from the point the flattening of the bo-hi also occurs. Up to this point there is no separate shinogi on the blade as the bottom ridge of the bo-hi is representing the shinogi.

 

Sorry, I'm new to this. An I making any sense?

 

 

If you like I can try and take a picture of both sides of the kissaki with side-light to try and highlight what I'm trying to describe.

 

Cheers.

[AndreasU]

I am also quite new to these stuff and have not seen this before. But thats because I am virgin, maybe :lol:

 

It was just obvious that this area looks different. But if it is as you said it's fine.

 

Andreas

[Mark Green]

Maybe it is is my old eyes, but in your top pic. it doesn't look like this fine sword comes to a good point. Has the tip been broken off? Or maybe reshaped.

It is hard to tell in the pic. but the Boshi looks very thin as well.

Is this just my eyes?

Mark Green