First Blade

[VnMJack]

I was lucky enough to purchase my first blade. If you guys can give me any info on it I would be grateful. I was told only that it is Pre WWII Edo Era and the blade is 19''

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VnMJack

[Geraint]

Dear Danny.

Please sign your posts with your name as per the rules.  If it's 19" then it is probably a pre WWII wakizashi.

 

I'd love to tell you more but wading through the endless popupson Photobucket is a pain, if you upload the images directly here then it would be much easier.

 

If you go the the bottom right of your post and click on, More reply options then an option to attach files will be at the bottom left of your post.

 

All the best.

[vajo]

I see no blade.

[Jean]

Neither do I.....

 

« Please, update your account to enable 3rd party hosting »

[Jamie]

 

Hi,

Your blade does look to be what you think it is, however until inspected in hand saying more will be difficult. The blade itself seems to have a lot of horizontal scratches suggesting it was cleaned by someone who had no idea what they were doing. This will be expensive to fix. Hopefully you didn't pay much for the blade.

[Brian]

DO NOT use Photobucket.
They broke the internet. They are not welcome here.

[VnMJack]

Thanks for the reply guys. I didnt know photobucket was the demon of the net. Ill upload here and sign my posts. Jamie, what did you mean, its not what I think it is.It could have been cleaned, I dont know. How would I fix that?

[Stephen]

It looks to be what you think it is. Shinto wakizashi, i havent seen nakago pix.

[J Reid]

I think he said it IS what you think it is. An Edo period pre ww2 wakizashi. ..Out of polish. Need better pics of Nakago (tang) to push forward any further.

[Jamie]

I meant it probably is pre WWII but it looks like it needs polished because it may have been cleaned. ( the. Blade))

[Geraint]

Dear Jamie.

 

Your summary is spot on.  This is a wakizashi, probably from the Edo period but to narrow that down would be hard without better pictures.  It is out of polish so most of the details of the hamon and hada will be impossible to spot.  I am assuming that it is not signed on the tang?

 

Now, time to go carefully.  Whatever you do do not attempt to clean this yourself.  Step one might be to buy some good quality uchiko and spend some time working with that but then comes decision time.  To make this look like it really should you need to give it to a properly trained polisher who can bring out the best in the blade, then you need a shirasaya made for it.  All this is going to cost quite a bit and added to the cost of the blade is not ever likely to make financial sense as you won't recoup those costs if you decide to sell it.

 

There are several threads here about what you "should" collect, all of them will tell you that unsigned wakizashi from the Edo period are to be avoided as there are so many of them around.  That's quite true but you might feel that as this is your first sword you really want to see what it looks like in polish, I know I would.  

 

If the bug has bitten you then start slow, have a good look around the sites in the Links section of the NMB, start to get a feel for what this hobby is all about, buy a few books to help with the terminology but above all, have fun!

 

All the best.

[VnMJack]

Thank you Geraint. Great advise. I would of course live to see it polished and looking how it is supposed to. I'll get some pics of the tang and upload them, there is no signature I can see. I did purchase a sword cleaning kit avid I will at the very least use the oil. What else can I do to make it look better. How do i find a polisher?? Thanks again, all you guys!

[VnMJack]

Here are the tang pics. Thanks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VnMJack

[Surfson]

VnMJack.  My (unsolicited) advice is to do the best you can with uchiko, and maybe some neverdull or acetone if it has adherent oils on it, and then study it.  See if you can learn about the possible school that it might come from based on the hamon, hada, shape etc.  Once you are done studying it, and have bought a few books in the process, you will be that much more educated.  At that time, I would suggest that you sell it and look for your next acquisition (or, if you have the dough, acquire your next one first and then sell it....).  I personally would not invest the cost of a polish in this, unless it had particular sentimental value.  Just my two bits.  Cheers, Bob

[VnMJack]

Thanks Surfson!

[VnMJack]

Does anyone know where to find a qualified polisher/sharpener in Texas?

[Ken-Hawaii]

Please sign all of your posts with your first name, per Brian's rules - easy to set up as your signature.

 

Not familiar with any togishi in Texas. And are you sure that you want to pay about $100 per inch on this blade? Better to spend that money on books to study.

[PhoenixDude]

hey a fellow Texan!

[Gordon Sanders]

hey a fellow Texan!

i am a Texan too, just in Hong Kong now

[Surfson]

I will try again Danny.   OK, maybe you decided you love it or have sentimental attachment and you go against my advice and decide to have it polished.  If you get a "polisher/sharpener in Texas" you will certainly waste your money on two accounts then, as there are only one or two, maybe three in the entire US that are formally trained to give a first rate polish, and none are in Texas.  Cheers, bob

[Jacques D.]

Nakago seems to be tanagobara-gata, if so, this sword mays be from Muromachi jidai and Shitahara school.

[Dr Fox]

Geraint.

 

Hi again, could you check me out on a point you mentioned!

"have a shira saya made for it".

It has a shira saya already, why not refit the saya, if indeed it would need it?.

This could be seen, by a man who knows after it is separated.

If possible this would ease costs.

[Geraint]

Hi Denis.

 

Good to hear from you.  You are correct, it does have a shirasaya.  My point was that while we all know that the cost of the restoration is way beyond what you might recoup in the market if this was my first sword I would probably go ahead anyway.  The present shirasaya has nothing that commends it to my eye, rather the reverse and while in theory it might make economic sense to open it, clean it and reassemble you would still be left with something that would upset me to look at.

 

I suppose my attitude to collecting is at the root of this idea, I have always thought that this is a hobby whose value to me is in the experience.  It is possible that when the time comes and all my swords go back into the wild then I might make some profit but as I have owned some of them since the early 70s most of that would get eaten up by inflation.  For me that doesn't matter. I have had so much pleasure from studying, enjoying and in some cases restoring them that I feel I have had more than value for money.  A recent post about never selling a sword at a  loss made me think.  It turns out that the poster was able to do this himself by relying on two or three other people who did make a financial loss.  If someone is in this for the money then good for them, a sword like this would change hands a few times and probably pass into the hands of someone who would do something regrettable to it.  For my money, (quite literally), the romance and enjoyment trumps the expenditure.  We all know that the cost of a shinsakuto like this would be far in excess of what any of us would dream of paying for this sword, the care and craftsmanship that went into making this wakizashi is incredible even if the market doesn't recognise that.

 

OK, end of rant and of course the whole thing is up to Danny but I don't think I could live with that shirasaya.

 

All the best.