jct3602 Posted July 10, 2015 Report Posted July 10, 2015 Have been working on an old suriage wakizashi (partial tachi mei) which i got as a complete mass of rust years ago to practice clean-up. After 400-700 hours of work (maybe more, lol) over the last 10 years, it has shaped up very well. (attatching one of the original pictures from the internet purchase from Japan) One of the more puzzling aspects it has presented me is that it has a very shallow maru mune which appears to be fully tempered, with tempered extrusions falling off the mune into the shinogi ji continuosly along both sides of the blade. Is this just a form of muneyaki combined with tobiyaki in the shinogi ji, hitatsura, or something else? Is it common to have a fully tempered mune? For years i thought i was just imagining the tempering, but the mune is giving me the same problems in rust and pit reduction that the tempered areas of the ha have (and the ji has not). The tempered areas in the shinogi ji coming off the mune have a habuchi border if that matters. Any ideas or information would be appreciated. john twineham Quote
Ken-Hawaii Posted July 10, 2015 Report Posted July 10, 2015 My eyes cross when I try to view your blade, John. How about a bit higher resolution? Blade looks koshizori, but I can't say anything about the mune. And as this forum is dedicated to the PRESERVATION of Nihonto, the fact that you're doing the cleanup work yourself isn't exactly what this blade represents. Ken Quote
jct3602 Posted July 10, 2015 Author Report Posted July 10, 2015 Ken, my cleanup has been with uchiko and elbow grease; that is why it has taken so long. All along the way i have asked many knowledgeable individuals to monitor what i have been doing. When i felt the blade was beginning to etch a little i stopped entirely for about 4 years, and did not restart until i had an alternative to the uchiko. What i am using now is a 6000 grit Japanese artificial stone (which i believe is a finer grit than uchiko, and certainly more consistent) and making a slurry with it, once again using fingertip pressure only. This was a piece that went unwanted on EBAY, except by me. Bought it to practice clean-up and until well along in the process, very few other individuals recognized any quality in it. If i were wealthy i could take every piece of junk i see and send it to a polisher, but i am not and would not. Will try to get better resolution, but the compressions that my picture went through started at 6.0mb and ended at 86kb. This site does not appear to allow better than 200kb in any case. Blade is certainly koshizori; maximum sori is 1.5cm at 34cm from the tip (total length of blade is 56.8cm). Figuring in the nakago, maximum sori is 2.8 cm at 43cm from the tip. Suriage was about 5.5cm, given the position of what remains of the mei. Motohaba 2.60cm and sakihaba 1.75cm; kissaki 2.80cm. Very slender from many polishes; thickest point just below the beginning of the suriage filing. Thought it had no yokote when i got it, and only later could barely feel a slight rise. Very old black rust and some gray. In any event, was asking about fully tempered mune; would appreciate any wisdom on that topic. john twineham Quote
SAS Posted July 10, 2015 Report Posted July 10, 2015 A fully tempered mune ( this is not really correct terminology) would be a way to control the amount of sori induced in the quench, and temperature to a lesser degree will as well. This is a recognized traditional technique, though i am unable to specify a school or period to your sword. The sugata certainly speaks to the time frame, though. Quote
DigsFossils-n-Knives Posted July 10, 2015 Report Posted July 10, 2015 Here is the only example that I know of a katana with a hardened mune http://www.ricecracker.com/inventory/649_katana_daido/649_katana_daido.htm Quote
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