Blade opinions and input

[hkfan]

First I would like to thank you for your help so far with the mei and tsuba. Now here is the blade. As I am not interested in selling it I really just want to know if it is a quality piece and approximate age. I got it as a gift so my feelings won't be hurt as I'm not out any money. It looks nice to me but I really don't know anything about these. Looking forward to your expert advice. for reference:

 

Mei:

 

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3266

 

Danny L.

 

pics of blade:

 

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii13 ... ord019.jpg

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii13 ... ord020.jpg

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii13 ... ord021.jpg

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii13 ... ord022.jpg

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii13 ... ord023.jpg

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii13 ... ord024.jpg

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii13 ... ord025.jpg

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii13 ... ord026.jpg

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii13 ... ord027.jpg

[Gabriel L]

Hi Danny,

 

What a wonderful gift from your father! I wonder where and how he picked it up, because it's either luck or knowledge that got him a genuine antique; we see a sad number of fakes posted by new forumites.

 

First things first, without presuming anything about your own level of knowledge, the following is a must read: Dr. Stein's "Japanese Sword Care" and repost of the "NBTHK Sword Care Guide" articles. Good advice; the blade hasn't survived centuries by accident after all.

 

Your sword looks good to me, no obvious flaws or serious rusting going on, just some very minor chipping... I wonder about the vertical mark in "sword021.jpg" but am not seriously worried about it. As seen in "sword023.jpg" from the scratches and softened shinogi, it looks like someone may have given it an amateur shine, but thankfully it doesn't look like the damage is bad (note: in general an amateur polish = destruction of the sword, leave restoration to the professional experts!). They don't seem to have touched the nakago which is very good.

 

I like the shape and what I see of the hamon. It seems like a good quality antique katana. It is a bit out of polish and scuffed/stained, but IMHO it can still be enjoyed without the very costly step of professional restoration (roughly ~$2500).

 

Congratulations again! Maybe some other people will have more interesting things to say, but I just wanted to assure you that it's a good authentic blade.