Help/advice With A Potential Purchase

[Surfson]

Or an umabari

[nickm]

Yep. I'm not sure as again I haven't actually seen it since may. Just been pestering his son since then. I will say the one time I was able to be in the same Room with it it was very impressive and left an impression that kept me persisting for these many months.. I can't recall that there was an empty slot on the other side and I feel like that something I would have taken notice of but again it's been a while

[nickm]

Well for better or worse its mine now.. I think/hope for the better???? lots of pics to come.. Cant get the tsuka off for now it seems. the ito seems to be baleen. it has wood carved underneath with thin strips overlayed. Both are broken in several places but still looks awesome. amongst the pictures will be 1 of a broken strip to see if you guys think its baleen.

 

Unfortunately the previous owner used some sort of epoxy to keep a part of the wood under the strips on some years ago that may have gotten into the mekugi.. Any advice on how to deal with that so I can get to the nakago would be appreciated..

 

Of course very excited to hear what you guys think of what pictures I am able to put up with out getting underneath for now

[nickm]

more pics..

[nickm]

more pics

[Brian]

Wow.....that is looking better and better. You have some really good fittings there. Things looking better than before. Tsuba looks to have promise, kogai looks really good, saya looks excellent. Really excellent. In some markets, that koshirae would be worth the entire asking price. MOP and lacquerwork are superb.
You are going to need to preserve that koshirae with a tsunagi. Too good to mess with it besides a gentle clean. That looks like balleen. And have never seen it plaited like that. This was a fancy Meiji mounting.
The other good thing is the hamon looks complete and intact. I think you did well. Just those fittings alone are a score. May need to have them looked at by Ford Hallam and maybe put some money into a professional clean.
Mekugi is disposable. But you still need to take it easy. Use a needle and try and get some glue off. Use a large punch to try and gently tap the mekugi out, and remember it is tapered so will only go one way.

Curious if the hamon pattern matches each side to the other?

[Geraint]

Well Nick, I would be a very happy man right about now if that were mine.  Take it slow, there is no rush, though not leaving it on the hob would be top tip!  

 

Enjoy and Happy New Year!

 

All the best.

[nickm]

I would say the Hamon is similar from side to side. Gets a little different on the tip and is definitely not the same anywhere but has the ridges or crests in the wave at roughly the same space throughout until the last 3" or so The blade itself measures 10"

[vajo]

Looks very nice!!

[nickm]

The problem with the makugi. I spoke to the gentlemans son about it back in May and told him in theory how to remove it and through the process it seems he has beaten it all to hell.. Definitely from the side it should have been coming out it is beaten down into it pretty dramatically. Can't really tell where it ends and the handle begins around the edge. Picture will be attached but not really sure how to tackle it. I did manage to get the glue off of the other side which was adhered to the mekugi making me figure it hasn't been taken apart in a good number of years

[vajo]

The glue was to fix the broken barten. This is not a problem. Take a sharp carpent knife and cut of the glue around the mekugi. Very slowly. When you hammer the mekugi out the same will break. So you must cut the glue out.

[nickm]

mekugi pics..

[vajo]

Looks free now. If you hammer very soft.

 

[Brian]

Take it slow, maybe even a small drillbit rotated by hand over time to get the mekugi out. Worst case would be it was glued in completely. But as long as you are only removing wood from the peg, and not touching metal, you only have to replace the peg. Slowly is the operative word. You have enough to look at and enjoy for now.
I was curious if this was a blade in the Muramasa style, with the deep valleys. Maybe a shinshinto inspiration. We will see eventually.

[vajo]

The point in my thinking is that i would try to remove the peg. You cant look under the habaki what is there to inspect the blade when it is fixed in the tsuka. But, this is your decission. If you dont want to do this, then leave it as it is. Its your sword and we all could give you only personal opinions.

[Mark]

it looks like there is a line on the blade by the habaki showing the habaki has been moved a bit. maybe someone tried to remove the handle without taking out the peg. That might be jamming the peg, try a gentle tap on the end of the tsuka with the palm of your hand with the blade pointing up, try to reseat the blade in the tsuka then remove the peg

[nickm]

well i managed to remove the mekugi and can seethrough but still good and stuck.. I have officially beaten my wrist until it hurts (not as fun as that sounds) but no luck. Will keep persisting at get there eventually I will get there surely..

[nickm]

I can see through it well enough to know that the mekugiana is larger than the hole in the tsuka..

[EdWolf]

Worst case the Tsuka is glued to the nakago.

[nickm]

I am currently kind of afraid that is the case. I could see in there well enough to know that there is no peg left touching metal and it refuses to budge

[EdWolf]

If the mekugi-ana is larger than the hole in the Tsuka you never get a secure fit. Maybe that's why they used the glue.

[nickm]

Looks like the mekugi was on the exact bottom of the hole, wondering if they drilled a new hole for it and caught the bottom of another one that was larger

[nickm]

Success. Super happy to find signatures. Also is it possible that the tsuba is solid silver?

[nickm]

mei..

[nickm]

habaki is very seriously stuck and I cannot get it off yet but otherwise success. It really does look to me like everything is solid silver.

[vajo]

Well done looks very good.

[nickm]

more mei pics plus tsuba and fucci

[Jussi Ekholm]

I think I am seeing XX jū Fujiwara Nobutomo (cannot see the first two characters well). There was Nobutomo lineage in Kaga province, where it seems at least 4th to 10th generations included Fujiwara into their signatures.

[Gakusee]

I might be wrong but the mei looks like the Kaga Kanazawa Fujiwara Nobutomo.... further study needed to figure out which generation

[ROKUJURO]

Nick,

the metal does not make the value of the items; quality is what counts.

The MEI could be KASHU KANAZAWA FUJIWARA NOBUTOMO, but it is difficult to read.