Examining A "super Rare" Ww2 Sword - I State Cautiously!

[Bruce Pennington]

From a previous thread HERE, looks like David McDonald and Ray Black are popular.  Older thread has a link to David's site. 

 

Fred Lohman has passed away, but I have heard his son is continuing the business, and they have re-wraps listed on their site HERE.

[DTM72]

Ed,

 

From what I can see, they are both signed by Kanesada, but it is not the same sword. The placement of the 2 kanji for Kanesada is slightly different. Your date is more typical in the way of how it was written (Think normal printed letters). the date on the sword at the beginning of this post is more stylized (Think cursive).

For your habaki, spray some WD-40 into it, ad let it soak for a few minutes. Use a block of wood against the edge of the habaki and gently tap downwards. Once it starts to move, give it another shot of WD-40 and keep it well lubricated. You may find some old dried-up oil, gunk, cosmolene inside the habaki and on the sword where the habaki was. If the gunk doesn't completely come off with the WD-40, use some alcohol to loosen it up, but use only a good quality microfiber towel. And, of course, apply some tsubaki oil, or good quality chiji oil to protect everything after the habaki and fit are are cleaned.

 

Good luck!

[Eds]

Bruce

 

Thank you for pointing me in the direction for Katana maintenance.  I've already emailed them.

 

 

Dan

Thank you for the advice on removing the Habaki.  I only collect Type 98 swords (for the present) and try to stay away from project swords.  However this one always intrigued me.

 

I will give it the old college try and report back with results

 

VR

Ed

[Eds]