What did I just buy?

[Yuradneprov]

Bought this from someone that bought it from a old lady in England. Rough shape but looks nice for some reason hmmm, some places near the tang you can see Togari hamon and in center of sword switches to gunome. Habaki is stuck guess No one really cared for the sword. I like it what do you guys think? Some pics I brightened up.

[16k]

Not an expert, and you can’t see much, not even the yasurime. Provided the blade is real, I’d venture late Shinto, possibly Genroku.

[PNSSHOGUN]

For the moment a steel Tsunagi......

[ChrisW]

Maybe worth a window?

[Ken-Hawaii]

With that evenly-rounded shinogi & lack of yokote, I'd give odds that it's not a real Japanese sword.

[Stephen]

Second that....very worthy.

[Dave R]

 I would say a genuine Japanese blade, but very worn and possibly a victim of amateur "cleaning". 

[Jacques]

Is it possible to see the whole nakago (included machi) without habaki ?

[Ray Singer]

Real, ubu mumei shinto blade in which the geometry has been compromised. Not something I would consider a worthwhile candidate for restoration.

[Yuradneprov]

It's definitely real, you can see the the hamon at certain angles when very bright. I also think it's Shinto period blade. But can't say that geometry has been altered it does look like that in the pictures but when looking at it in person it's even I think that's because if the rust patches on the sword makes it look that way

[Yuradneprov]

The habaki is stuck tried taking it off but won't budge. Any ideas?

[16k]

Yuma, I think that what Ray means is that the sori is weird, unnatural. It looks almost koshizori, but forced.

[Yuradneprov]

Yes I understand jp, its in bad shape at the moment but will try to fix it up one waynor another. I pretty much got it for nothing only reason I bought it. Im.going to try to get a better shot of it so you guys can see the hamon.

[Rivkin]

No earlier than shinto, but since the shape is substantially altered can be anything. Kambun "straightness" is likely an artifact of a bend, originally it was probably something with very uniform curvature.

There is certain freshness in nakago (lack of visible deep rust spots), besides the really bad condition, that might argue even for a poorly handled and patinated wartime item.

 

Kirill R.

[ChrisW]

I'd very gently use some soft wood and cloth to brace about the habaki and with a rubbet mallet, give it some gentle but firm taps. I would not try any sort of de-gummer as that could adversely affect the metal.

[Ray Singer]

A sword which has been sanded down to round off all of the lines of the blade, such as you see with the shinogi, yokote, ko-shinogi in the attached photo, has had its geometry comprised.

 

 

But can't say that geometry has been altered

 

PS: the sori being a disaster is a whole other issue.

[Yuradneprov]

I'm not disagreeing with you Raymond but I am saying that when held in hand in person doesn t seem to be altered. But I'm not a professional so can't say for sure you may be right. I tried to take the habaki off with a hammer carefully didn't budge chris.

[Geraint]

Dear Yuri.

 

What made you buy this?  Have you ever seen a habaki like that?  During yakire the blade curves first forward and then back to form the lovely sugata we all know.  Now imagine if a part of the blade had lost it's hamon due to over heating.  What would happen?  The sugata of this blade is unnatural, a very peculiar straightening from the mid point to the kissaki.  Even if you find a continuous hamon and spend the money on a polish you are still going to end up with a blade which has no grace.  Sugata first.

 

If you want to remove the habaki several kettles full of boiling water, each followed by cooling in cold water will help but I don't think you are going to be delighted by what you find.

 

All the best.

[16k]

Dear Yuri.

 

What made you buy this? Have you ever seen a habaki like that? During yakire the blade curves first forward and then back to form the lovely sugata we all know. Now imagine if a part of the blade had lost it's hamon due to over heating. What would happen? The sugata of this blade is unnatural, a very peculiar straightening from the mid point to the kissaki. Even if you find a continuous hamon and spend the money on a polish you are still going to end up with a blade which has no grace. Sugata first.

 

If you want to remove the habaki several kettles full of boiling water, each followed by cooling in cold water will help but I don't think you are going to be delighted by what you find.

 

All the best.

Yes, fire is actually the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the sugata.

[Yuradneprov]

It was practically free.i liked it I bought it.

[Yuradneprov]

The habaki came of used a piece of wood and mallet. I bought a very interesting blade from the mid to late 1300s waiting for it to come in the mail any day now. I will put it up as soon as I get it.

[Surfson]

Yura, looks like probably a Mino blade.  How long is it?  

[Stephen]

I still think a $200 window would be interesting. Waste of money? Yes but the story it would tell.

[Yuradneprov]

Length

[lambo35]

The last 12 cm of the blade looks like a previous owner used it to roast marsh-mellows.

 

Chuck.

[Yuradneprov]

Yes Chuck it does, all fine though will fix it up.

[Surfson]

I'm not so negative on it Yura.  It's a josun (standard length) katana at 28", and while I agree with Ray that somebody has probably sanded the monouchi a bit (the hamachi looks better), I think that the polisher won't have to take off too much meat to make the shinogi crisp again.  Probably less than what has to be removed to remove significant chips.  The problem with thoughts of restoration is that it is mumei shinto, and therefore unlikely to be cost effective to send to Japan for polish unless it comes back amazing or gets an important attribution.  I suspect that a Iaito artist might like it a lot.  

[Yuradneprov]

Honestly Robert I'm not so negative on it also when held in hand looks very uniform if it is off it's very very minuit. I really like it and think it's a well made piece and has a beautiful hamon that runs all the way thru also light and well balanced I think it would be a nice piece if fixed up. But I'm going to have someone that is more experienced with this matter look at it this coming Friday and see what he says and how he feels about it. Personally I think it looks that way in the pics because of the different patches of rust and what not, makes it looks off. But we shall see soon will update when decide on proper action to take.

[Yuradneprov]

The ha barely has any damages only couple micro chips the yokote is not visible and the kissaki needs to be reformed.

[Yuradneprov]

Just for scale purposes.