Crying Shame

[kissakai]

Sometimes we do things we would rather forget but on seeing the post about storing copper tsuba I decided to share this as a warning

It happened in 2014 so was quite naïve at this time

This was not a valuable sword so I asked John Bolton to polish it which he did and it was a nice job

My granddaughter was stopping with us for a couple of weeks so I put it under the sideboard and forgot about it for about a month

When I remembered to put it back in its rightful place I was mortified to see the results as I hadn't realised it was up against a damp wall

So if you have any swords read and reread the caring for Nihonto posts and a quick search will show lots of advice

A year to two ago there was an excellent in depth post about which oils to use

At this time I had around a dozen swords which were cared for much better after this episode

 

Now I suggest you look away

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Stephen]

Newly polished blades are in the most danger of rusting. Thanks for sharing so others can learn.

[Alex A]

Thanks for sharing, nightmare that Grev.

 

As well as damp, I was concerned about temperature fluctuations, especially in winter.

 

Can cause problems with saya too, warping, leading to scuffed blades.

[vajo]

Thanks for sharing Grev.

[ROKUJURO]

That is really sad!

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

s**t happens.

 

A friend of mine had 3 swords in fresh polish and just after having received them this man needed serious brain surgery. Of course swords slipped down to the family's worries list. When fully recovered the swords had serious red rust , but still had a healthy owner...   

[AnAmNeSiS]

Grey -

 

It takes a lot to own up to ones mistakes, especially on a board like this.  I have a ton of respect for you by sharing this story in helping others not make the same mistake. 

 

Best Wishes

 

Dave

[seanyx11]

Absolutely Dave.  I second that for sure.  I'm constantly reading threads and doing research to avoid just such a catastrophe, so if it weren't for guys like Grev posting such mistakes, we may make those same mistakes ourselves.  Kudos to you Grev, for posting this.  Everyone makes mistakes and luckily with forums such as this, some of us can hopefully avoid the same mistakes. 

[Chango]

Ouch... makes me appreciate living in a desert a little more.

[Greg F]

Thanks for sharing that Grev. I had a good quality china made katana (made by Simon Lee) for training that had hada and hamon worth over $1000 and had it standing in a corner of a room and after days of rain the roof leaked and it happened to be the exact same corner of the room and once i finally realized what was going on the sword bag it was in was saturated. When i removed the sword the water had trickled down the saya a little ( luckily the saya was a pretty good fit) and had caused a little rust on the mune close to the kissaki and there was another patch under the habaki. I was very lucky i got to it before further damage. It was this that helped me learn that swords should be kept lying flat mune down even if not Nihonto. One of the bonuses of being introduced to Nihonto through martial arts is that it gives you the chance to (hopefully)learn about care and storage before making regretable mistakes with the real deal. Just another reason Nmb is really an amazing resource for Nihonto lovers.

 

Greg