opening a window on a nihonto using lemon juice????

[kusunokimasahige]

When at a Roman re-enactment event last weekend, a blacksmith i know told me that you could open a window on a nihonto without visible hamon by rubbing a part of it with lemon juice...

 

in his opinion this would bring out the hamon, if at al there, by a mild form of etching...

 

now...........

 

what do you think of such a remark? or action..... safe? or dreadfully unsafe?

 

i must add he knows more about Roman swords than about Nihonto....

 

KM

[USMC-LCPL]

Wow... that makes me just a tad nervous... especially considering that lemons are VERY acidic...

 

The only thing I think that would rub out is the value of your sword...

[Brian]

It has nothing to do with "opening a window" at all. All it does is acid etch the hamon a bit and can show if there is a temper line there or not.

Acid and Nihonto don't go well together. It can get into the hada and cause all sorts of grief.

Some people mention vinegar, lemon juice, ferric choloride and mild Nitric. All versions of the same thing..acid etching.

Searching the forum will pull up all the usual warnings against doing this. It can damage the blade and open up the grain.

I know it is very often done on very out of polish blades to see if there is indeed a hamon there, but it is something the NMB simply cannot encourage. On modern made forged knives it has a place..but not on genuine Nihonto.

 

Brian

[kusunokimasahige]

Thank you very much for these warnings!!!!!!!!!

 

KM