Waki on ebay

[hybridfiat]

120193468088 Im watching and tempted. But It looks a little too new Any thoughts guys. I picked up a wakizashi the other day and need some advice as to whether it is worth a polish. Its in a good state of preservation. Signed by Nagamichi and has no obvious flaws. The hamon is really hard to see and photo. Im going to have a go with the scanner. Anyway theres no hurry its the Christmas silly season and the visa is going to be streyched to the limit.

Merry Christmas

[hybridfiat]

Ok, so no thoughts. Im not sure what to think. Have I done wrong?

[John A Stuart]

Hi, Can you post pics of the whole sword. John

[Brian]

Steve,

 

I assume this was 2 questions? One about http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0193468088 that you were watching and interested in...and the other about the sword in the pic that you already have?

Hard to say if anything is worthy of restoration based just on the signature.

As you will see on any forum, easy to guess at gimei, but no-one will easily commit to a shoshin for obvious reasons.

I have learned that when looking at signatures, it is much easier to find differences than find similarities with papered ones

 

Brian

[Jean]

Hi Steve,

 

Concerning the blade on Auction (which ended) a few comments :

 

I do not like the Tsuka, the Same has been more than repaired. It looks like plastic. Big nodes should be seen but are lacking.

 

Nakago is too stout (too thick - no tapering)

Look at the way the temper line finished in the nakago.

 

the boshi (tempered part of the kissaki) is a problem in itself. From pictures, it seems there is no continuity between the temperline of the main body of the blade and the boshi which is far too close to the edge.

[Brian]

Jean,

 

You get that look to the samè when people buy a nice big piece from Namikawa etc, and try and get as many jobs out of it that they can..without using the desired cut with the larger nodes. Getting the samè to look a bit aged is also the trick I think.

It had some very nice fittings from what I can see...menuki/fuchi etc, but I wasn't in love with the blade. Fairish price I guess from the quick look I had.

 

Brian

[John A Stuart]

As to the ebay sword. It seems to have pics that tantalise but don't show enough of the blade. The tsuka looks brand new repaired, but the kashira is not right for a non-wrapped type. John

[hybridfiat]

Thanks fellas, I will post some pics and will make them as detailed as possible. We have had 5 days of problems with the phone line and I only have short windows of oppotunity to post I missed the end of the auction and prob wont be able to afford anything for a few months now as I over spent on the waki (my fault). Id like to learn more about these beautiful blades so Ill visit when I can and ask questions. Thanks for your patience.

Tomorrow its' back to the mine so Ill be unable to do much for 8 days.

[Jean]

John,

 

You are right,

 

I did not mention it in my post but I had spotted the Kashira. Bad mounting.

 

Brian,

 

The description was mentionning Same has been repaired (something like this). The Same is brand new. the Tsuka mounting (though flashy) is all wrong. F/K are not the right ones, I should say "bad restoration" :

 

Here is a good brand new one :

 

http://www.ricecracker.com/ - Wakisashi - SW-7

 

Now fittins : I shall just say, no close-up pictures of the F/K or of the menuki.

 

I am becoming a suspicious frog :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Mike]

Hi, I agree with Jean about the boshi of the sword in auction. The bo-hi looks too long as if the kisaki was shortened thus make the boshi looks not connected to the hamon. Just my thoughts according to very misleading photos. Mike

[Jacques]

Hi,

 

the boshi (tempered part of the kissaki) is a problem in itself. From pictures, it seems there is no continuity between the temperline of the main body of the blade and the boshi which is far too close to the edge.

 

 

The kissaki seems to have been reshaped

[Jean]

Hi Jacques,

 

This was exactly what I was implying. The problem is that we do not have a closeup picture of the junction of the hamon and the boshi. Nevertheless, there is one picture (picture 7) where can see the hamon entering the kissaki straight forward almost till its edge.

 

Now, the real tell tale is the hi and where it stops, Here is the Kissaki of my Enju Kamakura katana to compare with

[hybridfiat]

See if you can see some similarities with this sword the vendor sold a while back

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0161301760

[Stephen]

Mr Hollywood is a well known cobbler, i bought once shame on him, there will not be shame on me with this seller.

[hybridfiat]

Sorting the good from the bad with this sword stuff is like fraud investigation. I might put this in my CV. Qualified detective: once bought a genuine sword off the net.

[Jean]

Steve,

 

Interesting sword :

 

"TSUKA IS EDO ERA ORIGINAL FOR THE BLADE, SAME WAS RESTORED. FUCHI, KASHIRA IS SHAKUDO EDO ERA HIGH GRADE WITH FU-DOGS"

 

He must have wholesale prices on this kind of Tsuka (included Same, F/K, shishi).

 

BTW, I have a project : mounting my Naoe Shizu katana.

 

Once done, within 3/4 months, I shall post some pictures

[hybridfiat]

I look forward to seeing it.

Id like to do the same with my waki. Get a tsuba and assorted fittings from the period and have it redressed/fitted. First I have to know if it is worth a Japanese polish. Ill be heading over there again next year to ski (Hakuba), so that may be the time to do it.

[Martin]

Hi Jean,

 

I also thought about a mounting project for a long Tanto.

Do you have a good address to get a Saya made? I heard Zenon van Damme has a quite good reputation.

 

P.S. We can also PM on this in order not to bother this thread.

 

cheers,

Martin

[Jacques]

Hi,

 

I heard Zenon van Damme has a quite good reputation.

 

Yes it is one of the bests in Europ, i've seen his work, it's marvellous. he has yet two of my blades for polishing.:D

 

Bemol you don't want your work made the next week. :D :lol:

[pcfarrar]

http://www.katchushi.com/index.asp

[uwe]

Hi Martin and Jacques,

please wait with an inquiry to Zenon, till he finished my Tanto`s.

Uwe

PS: Right, one of the Best