Kiaken polished

[johnash1958]

Hi I showed pictures of a blade that was given to me last year a small tanto which now I know as a kaiken of the late edo period. It’s now polished to show the grain and folds in the steel I would be interested in any comments thank you john 

[Brian]

Someone is going to ask you who did the polish. I would urge you, if it is some non-traditionally trained guy, rather just say it wasn't a professional polish.
It is an unconventional polish. To some, might even look Chinese. But I've seen Japanese tanto looking like that. Maybe added some foreign steel. Hada seems to have been focussed on more than the hamon?
Anyways, nice little Kwaiken. Hope you had a shirasaya made
 

[Stephen]

Acid wash...too bad non traditional polish.

[Geraint]

Dear John.

 

There is a thread on here regarding a Shinshinto smith named Seishinshi Masayuki who seems to have specialised in forging small tanto with the type of hada that yours is displaying, almost certainly produced by mixing steels in the fairly coarse hada.  

 

If you are not already a member of the Token Society or Northern Token Society can I suggest that you go along to one of their meetings where others will see tell you what they think.

 

All the best.

[Mark C]

Hi John,

 

If you are anywhere near the Motorcycle museum this Sunday, The Birmingham arms fair is on, A fair few people from both Token societies visit the show.

 

Regards

 

Mark

[johnash1958]

It’s one that was given to me I posted before Xmas the smith who made it was Eyo ju Miyoshi Nagamachi late edo period.

it was in a bit of a state and not being able to afford a professional polish I actually did it myself and I’m very pleased with it .

[Brian]

Another forum suicide. 

[johnash1958]

 

Another forum suicide. 

 

And you wonder why with comments like that you so called experts should be a bit more helpfull 

[Ken-Hawaii]

 

 

He doesn't even have a clue WHY you said that, Brian.

[SAS]

Hey John, with all of six posts, you want to criticize the board owner...amateur polish is severely criticized here for good reason, as many blades have been ruined. Y our job has left the jitetsu in a garish state, and the hamon dark when it should be bright. The effect is to make it look non traditional or even like a Chinese fake. There is a good reason why apprenticeships take so long. Posting your self polish job here is not in keeping with the board goal of preservation of traditional blades.

[Dave R]

It’s one that was given to me I posted before Xmas the smith who made it was Eyo ju Miyoshi Nagamachi late edo period.

it was in a bit of a state and not being able to afford a professional polish I actually did it myself and I’m very pleased with it .

 

 Nooo! Never ever admit to self polishing! Delete post and hide til everyone forgets.

[johnash1958]

 Nooo! Never ever admit to self polishing! Delete post and hide til everyone forgets.

 

Sooner delete me 

[Mark S.]

...I would be interested in ANY comments...

 

Guess not...

[Ken-Hawaii]

 

Sooner delete me

 

That can be easily arranged. John, if you want to remain an NMB member, you are obligated to follow the rules. Those preclude any & all self-polishing, which can only be done by a trained togishi (sword polisher), which you are not.

 

If you don't like the rules, then depart NMB - otherwise, Brian will do that for you. None of us are at all interested in hearing about your exploits.

[vajo]

There are some names in the scene they never had been in Japan learning to polish a sword on a basic level. Many swords around the world in collections have a "bad" polish. And we all saw bad polished swords from Japan, here in the board too.

So we should not support self learned polishing, but it exists and we can't accept it.

 

This Tanto looks terrible in all aspects. Maybe it was a nice sword but now it looks like a "chinese" fake knife.

 

If you do it by yourself you maybe could be happy about the work. But if you had payed one Dollar for the polishing job it is sad...

 

I'm out

[Ed]

I actually did it myself and I’m very pleased with it .

 

And who would have guessed!

 

[lonely panet]

Your to kind Ed,

 

I message him to explain what he had done and why he shouldnt do it.

 

I think it fell on deaf ears

[Brian]

Sad thing is that short blades like that wouldn't be too expensive to have properly polished, and the result would be stunning.
Metal was removed, so after it gets a real polish it will have had 2 recent polishes in the time a sword should have aged a few hundred years.
Preserving Nihonto is the FUNDAMENTAL GOAL of this entire forum, and resisting amateur polishing is rule #1 for obvious reasons. Expecting any other result when posting like this is just plain foolish.
What was expected?

[Alex A]

Hello John, pm me and i will give you the name of two polishers in the UK that can polish it properly, if interested that is.

 

As Brian said, tanto, so a lot cheaper.

[Greg F]

John take a deep breath and think about this. Youve done a home polish job that to you looks good but to others looks like a classic car painted with house paint and you expect us to pat you on the back. You asked for opinions and when you got the truth you spat the dummy. I say man up and take some good advice here if not for yourself do it out of respect for the smith that put so much work into the blade. If you take time to learn more about Nihonto you will understand and respect whats been said here.

 

Greg

[SteveM]

J: Someone tell me if there is a landmine there.

 

B: There is a landmine there.

 

J: *steps on landmine* 

 

BOOM!

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J: You so-called experts are so unhelpful.