Old Sword Maybe

[Prewar70]

Uchiko lungs tonight and sore fingers. Nagasa is 24.24 in. Sugata is more Shinto but it’s has been greatly shortened This sword feels old to me. The Hamon style, the jigane and dark steel from what I can see so far. Might be an ole toothpick but any insight would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Tom Darling]

Spare me the thought. I'll leave it to the membership. Peace.

 

 

Tom D.

[paulb]

I think it is old James but cant say much else. I am a little concerned about the glassy look of the steel and dry patinaton of the nakago whch may be a pointer to it being saiha . In it's current state of polish it isn't really possible to tell (at least by me).

To get much further I think it needs to be put in the hands of a competent polsiher to assess what is going on in the jigane with all the dark patches.

[Brian]

As an aside, we don't read much about the dangers of using uchiko. But I know that on the odd occasion when using it in my room, after breathing some of the dust my lungs hurt. Feels like bronchitis. I think one should be very careful when applying the stuff, as I suspect breathing it in could be seriously hazardous.

[Pete Klein]

Go to the pharmacy and purchase face masks to wear during applications.  

[Stephen]

Remember uchiko Jim ...anyone?

Whole post on it.

[Guido]

That's me in the center, showing my friends Amber (to the left [recently out on parole]), and Tiffany (to the right [she's 18, I swear!]) how to properly use uchiko.

[16k]

oh! the kinky stuff you must do with uchiko!

[francois2605]

This is the first time I can see a steel with this shiny aspect, as if the blade had somehow completely been burnished (with a migaki-bo). 

 

A bit unusual and therefore suspicious (to my novice eyes)

[Prewar70]

Now that we have Tom Darling's generous sharing of knowledge and Guido's under-aged uchiko parties out of the way, any other comments about what is visible would be appreciated!  And yes, very important to wear a mask and cover your eyes when doing this.  Thanks.

[Ken-Hawaii]

Uchiko is stone dust, which contains silicon, & can easily lead to silcosis.

[SAS]

James, in the current state of polish, it is hard to say more than it looks old and a bit tired; machiokuri  and suriage.

[Prewar70]

Thanks Sas. Indeed it is all of those things and very thin. I’m surprised it doesn’t have more ware and coarse Hada considering the number of times it must have been polished. Still, seeing what I can I the Hamon my gut instinct is saying Kamakura....

[tbonesullivan]

It really does look like maybe the whole blade was burnished. That's just really shiny compared to what I'm used to seeing.

[Hoshi]

I see kinsuji, ara-nie, and other typical Koto activity. Mokume/masame mix, with the hardened masame on the Ha creating activity. Blackish steel (could be a photo lighting/burnishing visual bias). 

 

These are signs of a tired old koto blade, big risk that the hamon runs off the edge. Overall, I my best guess is late kamakura/early Nambokucho, Northern province, could be UDA, or Sanekage. Inspiration is clearly Norishige with an attempt at Matsukawa. 

 

Could also be some old mumei hankei beater. But aside from that, it's unlikely to be Shinto. 

 

Stop screwing with it with Uchiko immediately and have it inspected carefully by someone in the know to check for fatal flaws. 

[Prewar70]

Thanks Chris that’s very helpful. I took a closer look at the blade and I think the Hamon runs off in two spots.

Good pic of activity in the Hamon

[SAS]

With a polish I think it would be an interesting sword, maybe worth shinsa.