silent_ninja1 Posted February 14, 2015 Report Posted February 14, 2015 I recently aquired a couple bare blades from an antique shop. The katana is signed, and and this group helped translate it (although there is some uncertainty between first, or second generation or gimei) http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/15983-newly-acquired-signed-katana/ https://plus.google.com/photos/109497601524099837046/albums/6100983868474477249 And the wakisashi https://plus.google.com/photos/109497601524099837046/albums/6115498089770685137?authkey=CMH5-_e6zIjLzAE So, are these blades worth restoring past just cheaply making them complete? The wakisashi seems to be in better shape than the katana. Someone tried to sharpen the katana with something pretty harsh, so its all scuffed up. If its going to do anything more than hide in its saya on the wall, itll need polishing for sure. Its also not very straight.The wakisashi seems to have some rust on the surface, but beyond that looks pretty good to me. The antqiue shop said they believed it was a katana that was shortened. These are the first authentic blades I have picked up, so im a bit clueless on most of the terms and such, but through reading here im getting better! I was hoping to find tsuba designs that would have reasonably been expected to be seen on these blades new. Thanks in advance for any advice / guidance! Quote
cabowen Posted February 14, 2015 Report Posted February 14, 2015 It is hard to say for certain from the photos but the katana looks to have been in a fire.... Quote
Brian Posted February 14, 2015 Report Posted February 14, 2015 David, Take some time to go through the FAQ above in the links bar, especially the parts about "should I restore" etc. There is a wealth of info there that is applicable. Brian Quote
silent_ninja1 Posted February 14, 2015 Author Report Posted February 14, 2015 David, Take some time to go through the FAQ above in the links bar, especially the parts about "should I restore" etc. There is a wealth of info there that is applicable. Brian The information is great, I just dont trust my own judgement! Just hoping for some second opinions, maybe offers to sell me spare parts that can be used to piece these back together, or recommendations on who to have made new handles (tsuka i think). Quote
Art Torano Posted February 14, 2015 Report Posted February 14, 2015 Hi David, Welcome to the Board! Polish and restoration, as you will see when you research all this if far from cheap. The only way to financially justifying this is if the blades are from a well known smith and will have some value.....But cheap? I would not use that in a sentence regarding Nihonto restoration. Better to learn what "it" is and then save and buy a Nihonto in good polish from a reputable dealer. Regards Art Quote
silent_ninja1 Posted February 14, 2015 Author Report Posted February 14, 2015 Hi David, Welcome to the Board! Polish and restoration, as you will see when you research all this if far from cheap. The only way to financially justifying this is if the blades are from a well known smith and will have some value.....But cheap? I would not use that in a sentence regarding Nihonto restoration. Better to learn what "it" is and then save and buy a Nihonto in good polish from a reputable dealer. Regards Art Cheap in a subjective sense for sure. From what im seeing brosing the bst section here, a "cheap" authentic tsuba is around $150-200. By objective means, sure thats not cheap. Subjectively, there are some on here for a few grand. If I just want them complete, I could grab an ebay tsuka ( http://www.ebay.com/itm/331471513906?ssPageName=STRK:MEDWX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1435.l2649) and modify slightly to sortve fit, and repro $40 ebay tsuba and leave it in the new plastic saya it came in from the antique dealer. As it stands, im pretty sure that neither of these blades warrant a polish, or any high priced components. It does seem that the style of saya / tsuka shown here - http://www.e-sword.jp/sale/2015/1510_1043syousai.htmis the cheapest restoration option, since it dosnt require wrapping the tsuka or a tsuba at all. Im not sure if the saya could be stained and modified to fit a tsuba and wrapped tsuka later or not, since I personally prefer that look. (I found this guy on here that im tempted to get for one of the blades it if I knew it would fit http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=znq8ep&s=8#.VN4FvC5jZSC ) Quote
Kai-Gunto Posted February 14, 2015 Report Posted February 14, 2015 How much did You pay for those blades , if I May ask? 1 Quote
silent_ninja1 Posted February 14, 2015 Author Report Posted February 14, 2015 I paid $750 for the pair. I figured even a modern high carbon ground piece would run me that. Quote
Guido Posted February 15, 2015 Report Posted February 15, 2015 I think many (if not most, or even all,) of us will have a bad case of déjà-vu reading your posts. Some decades ago, I bought a few nihontō on the cheap side, and dreamed about having them restored, preferably as a daishō. I asked for advice, got it, of course ignored it, and spent way too much on the result, a pair of low-end blades in mediocre koshirae. When I got more serious about collecting Japanese swords, I had the hardest time selling them in order to upgrade my collection – in the end I sold them below cost (waaaayyy below cost) to buy a couple of decent books. If you sell them through eBay, you'll probably make a profit. Invest that money in something from a reputable dealer. This is not meant condescending at all. My dream nowadays is that newbies might finally listen to the recommendations of us old-timers … 1 Quote
Brian Posted February 15, 2015 Report Posted February 15, 2015 ....And not just listen, but avoid the mistakes we made ourselves Brian Quote
silent_ninja1 Posted February 15, 2015 Author Report Posted February 15, 2015 I think many (if not most, or even all,) of us will have a bad case of déjà-vu reading your posts. Some decades ago, I bought a few nihontō on the cheap side, and dreamed about having them restored, preferably as a daishō. I asked for advice, got it, of course ignored it, and spent way too much on the result, a pair of low-end blades in mediocre koshirae. When I got more serious about collecting Japanese swords, I had the hardest time selling them in order to upgrade my collection – in the end I sold them below cost (waaaayyy below cost) to buy a couple of decent books. If you sell them through eBay, you'll probably make a profit. Invest that money in something from a reputable dealer. This is not meant condescending at all. My dream nowadays is that newbies might finally listen to the recommendations of us old-timers … ....And not just listen, but avoid the mistakes we made ourselves Brian And this is precisely why I didnt want to trust my own judgement and go off on my own! I knew that I was probably looking to be right at value buying from an antique dealer leaving me little to no room for profit selling them. Im assuming the consensus is that the katana is too far gone to put much restoration effort into, how about the wakisashi? Thats in much better shape. It also has a saya that seems to match the habaki, but its pretty beat up and split near the top. The one that came with the katana is a generic plastic one that dosnt fit the blade at all. I did get a pm with info on a show in Chicago coming up in April. I may take them with me there to let someone more knowledable see them hands-on. Ive been meaning to find a reason to get to chicago anyway, so close yet ive gone right past it over and over, never stopping! Quote
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