Mon Premier Sabre Japonais

[Gerald]

Hello,
I show you some pics of my first daisho blades , no sorry , just my two first nihonto blades .
Need a lot of work .
for the katana blade , nagasa : 69,5 cm
I've found it mounted with an heianjo tsuba , and an old tsuka .

nakago was damaged by previous owner with a sort of drill tip or punch mark near nakago ana
It's seems to be a shin-shintō katana .
I 've just clean the blade with water and removed  small rust patch on the tip .
 

[Greg F]

Hello Gerald, welcome to the board. I wouldnt use any more water on the blades as water will make them rust. I would use pure alcohol on the polished portion of them and then a thin coat of oil.

 

Greg

[Gerald]

Thanks , water was to purify the sword and to clean it ... at first I did not want to use modern chemical products ... , maybe I should used sake .. lol .
I 've read on polisher book that blade could be cleaned with alcool , ok , and someone tell me I could use acetone ... .
Is it true that good polishers use acetone to clean blades ?

 

[eternal_newbie]

Save the sake for yourself - 99.95% or higher ispropyl alcohol (or isopropanol) and a microfibre cloth will work just fine. Whatever you don't get with the cloth will evaporate before any rust can set in, and then you can apply the thin coat of oil.

[ROKUJURO]

Gerald,

la TSUBA est très joli!

But what about the DAISHO? Or did you mean DAITO? In any case, remove the HABAKI and try to get rid of the rust underneath! Use a piece of pure (!) copper to scratch it off! And please make better photos without your shadow on them! 

It seems another TSUKA was attempted to be mounted, and a former owner tried to drill a new MEKUGI-ANA. But I cannot see this precisely, the photo is too small. 

For cleaning, alcohol is sufficient. Alcool à brûler ou dénaturé works fine, but should only be used outdoors. Acetone is quite harmful for your health and not necessary unless you have to remove a lot of paint, hard grease or wax.

[Gerald]

Merci , désolé pour les photos  , problème de redimensionnement corrigé ci dessus . D'autres photos sont prévu .

I was thinking daisho meant "big-little" sorry for my wrong vocabulary of the Japanese sword .

Pas évident d'enlever l'habaki ,  j'opterai plus pour une cale en bois tendre que pour une en cuivre .
De l'eau bouillante pourrait peut être aider ( pas sur la soie bien sur ) ?
Pour la tsuka , quand j'ai eu la sabre en main la 1ère fois , j'étais convaincu que la tsuka était d'origine pour ce nakago ... , même si aparemment un seppa manquait a l'appel , vu les marques dans le nakago ana  l'individu qui a tenté de repercer est peut est parti de travers ,  il espérait peut être repercer à coté pour supprimer le jeu entre la tsuba et le reste .

[nagamaki - Franco]

Hello Gerald,

 

Now that these blades have been exposed to water, keep them coated with at least a thin coat of oil. Periodically change the oil, even once per week for the first month. Red rust is active and must be kept a close eye on.

 

Daisho refers to long and short. True daisho are matching koshirae, made together matching swords, or both.

[Gerald]

Hello
I 've removed the habaki of the katana lastly .
On a very little portion behind the habaki it was possible to see a rest of nagashi lines , togi mei , that's hard to determine how many , maybe  9  on one side ...  . Marks disappeared when cleaning slowly with alcool and soft cloth , and then coat of vaseline oil with a glass cleaning cloth .
Could you tell me please if  this files marks on munemachi is a mei ( 5 marks on ura side , 4 on omote side ) or is it to secure the habaki ?
Thanks

[Jean]

I don't think so Gerald. I think that this topic has already been discussed here a few years ago.

[ROKUJURO]

Gerald,

is there a crack on the URA concealed by the HABAKI ? Or is that a line of corrosion? Difficult to decide after the photos, 

The marks on the MUNE are the number of killed opponents!  

Concerning care and maintenance: we have many informations here on NMB. Don't oil the SAYA inside!

Concerning DAISHO: A matching KOSHIRAE pair of KATANA and WAKIZASHI is called DAISHO, the ideal DAISHO has also blades from the same smith. 

[Guido]

Well, to be precise, *any* combination of katana and wakizashi (or tantō) is a daishō, it doesn't matter if the koshirae and/or blades match. However, in order to get papers for a daishō, it has to be a matching set of koshirae (for tōsōgu papers), and swords made by the same smith at the same time (for tōken papers).

[Gerald]

Thank you Rokujiro And Guido
Ok for the oil , I haven't got any saya for the moment .
My 2 blades haven't been bought at the same place . Guido I agree , thank you I will consider if I plan to match a dai koshirae whith a sho or not .
Yes there is a kizu behind the habaki , a sort of ware .