Embarking On My First Restoration Project...

[Chango]

No, I'm not doing it myself, just paying for it!

 

Last year I bought this mess and showed it to y'all:

 

 

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/16225-1645-1945-or-both-katana-with-higo-style-saya-thats-been-to-hell-and-back/?do=findComment&comment=169275

 

 

First off, THANK YOU for convincing me to not work on the sword myself back then! I bought the thing with the intention of making it into a weekend hobby project but I never realized back then how woefully inadequate I was for the task (and I'm pretty handy... my "main hobby" is building superdetailed model ships). Still, it's been a year of nihonto fascination along with devouring every book on the subject I can get my hands on and I am only to the point where I just realize how little I actually know about Nihonto.

 

I recently sent the sword off to Robert Benson of Bushido Antique Swords to check into restoring it and just heard back... Bob said the mei appears authentic (Tadayuki 1 of the Awataguchi Tadatsuna school, Kanbun era, as you folks helped me discover last year) and restoration of the blade/koshirae is doable despite the sword's currently rough condition. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna go ahead with restoration, though it's a bit scary, exciting and definitely expensive! I am now wholly of the opinion that even the apparent worst and worthless real Nihonto should not be worked on by a non-expert... after all, even if a blade can't be restored and is  "worthless" now according to today's opinion, who's to say what it could be worth in 100 years or even longer... or that true worth is really all about the money anyway?

 

Anyway, is there anyone who's gone through a professional restoration of a sword that's seen better days? Any advice or pitfalls to look out for?

 

Am I possibly throwing good money after bad? I know Tadatsuna first and second generation blades have sold for silly money in the past but I don't know about Tadayuki and haven't found much online (although Tadayuki was Tadatsuna 1's brother and arguably in third place for the school).

 

While I don't plan on selling my very first nihonto, I don't want to make another newbie mistake and spend too much on restoration; I also have to justify the cost of restoration to the wife!

 

Thanks for your opinions and advice!

[Alex A]

 

 

I also have to justify the cost of restoration to the wife!

 

 

 

Good luck with that, perhaps bending the truth a little wont hurt as much

[Stephen]

in the immortal words: "Just do it"! 

 

You will be happy in the long run, now come the Nay Sayers. 

[ggil]

Exciting!  I for one will be looking to see the results of the polish.  I have heard some state that Bob Benson didn't complete a full apprenticeship in Japan, so they would hesitate to send him really high grade (juyo type) work (just repeating what I read).  Please keep us informed as this sword is brought back to life.  maybe you can ask Mr. Benson to weigh it before and after so we can get an idea of how much metal is removed.  The pits looked pretty bad, but I wonder what that means for % metal removed.  Good luck! 

 

To be honest, Mr. Benson talked me out of buying a real 'Lemon' of a sword off ebay, about 4 years ago.  He told me I was about to spend $1000 on a $500 chance.  I was planning on having the thing polished and submitted to shinsa too, so he actually may have saved me a few thousand.  Then he sent me a signed copy of John Yumoto's book, and an oshigata of a beautiful mino blade which I built a frame for and its hanging by my desk (all for free).  I think I needn't say more about my sincere feeling of admiration for him (though that never stopped me).  He is tops in my little book.

[drbvac]

Good for you - and as I always say = we don't own them - we simply pay to rent them during our lifetime and then pass them on.

 

The main thing is to preserve them and/or restore them being a very high calling indeed.

 

From my experience - show the wife the postage cost and tell her thats what it cost

[Kam A]

That Koshirae would be exceptional if restored properly. The samekawa is highly prized expensive and difficult to obtain. I will asume that you will be getting a new habaki and shirasaya made for the freshly polished blade as u would not want to risk housing it in the original (and hopefully restored koshirae). I think this is agreat project. . .I hope you get much pleasure from the process and the results

 

 

Kam

[Shugyosha]

Hi Kam,

 

I think that you are doing a good thing but the dangers are the ones you know about: that the polishing process reveals some ugly flaw in the blade not evident before or potentially even writes it off by revealing (or creating) a hagire. I've only done this once and probably won't do so again - not that it was a bad result but I'd just rather that someone else took the risk. Here's a before and after and the credit for a great polish is due to Kunitaro san and Etoo Koichi Sensei.

 

  

[Shugyosha]

[Brian]

I say go for it. If he says it is a restoration candidate, then it is. One good sword in polish is worth 20 out of polish clunkers. Keep us updated,but if I had the funds...I would go for it.

[Alex A]

From my experience - show the wife the postage cost and tell her thats what it cost

 

My rule of thumb for nihonto related special ops is to simply remove a zero

 

Enjoy the restoration!

[Shugyosha]

...and always remember that it's far easier to beg forgiveness than to get permission...

[Chango]

It was tempting to um... "misrepresent" the cost of restoring the sword to my wife but I DO have to sleep next to her every night and she would definitely notice the missing $$$$! You should have seen her face when I showed her this thread! I've been trying to teach her a bit on the subject and made it clear that it's OUR sword and an investment in a valuable art object... so it's looking good on the spouse front. 

 

Anyway, your comments have made me feel more confident about going for it and I'm fairly confident we'll at least break even on this one financially...which is OK as I'm not interested in Nihonto for the money and don't plan on selling this one.

 

I do plan on getting a shirasaya made, as well as a tsunagi for the koshirae and probably a new habaki too.

 

I'll definitely let y'all know how it goes, though I imagine it will be a long time before I see my sword again. Meanwhile, it's back to the books.... I've got a lot to learn still.  Thanks again!

[Chango]

Well, this idea is off the table for now; after talking to Mr Benson some more I decided to hold off for now and invest in some more nihonto education and perhaps a better "learning sword" instead of investing serious $$$$ and almost 2 years into bringing this Tadayuki back right now...