Can a bad polish cause hagire? Cautionary tale...

[shan]

I say to Shan, jump on this one sword bro. This is a big name sword that you can pick up for likely a tenth of it's pre hagire value.

 

Hi Mark,

I fear the hype surrounding this sword will likely push its value to beyond what i would consider a reasonable amount for an essentially Unsaleable blade.

For every $1000 i pay for it, it would depreciate by $950 Per $1000 within 30 seconds of me winning it.

I like it a little (prefer mounted blades,even poorly) and have placed a small sum on it, but i will draw the line at that sum because of the Hagire and the overpolishing.I feel that someone else will take this home

regards

Shan

[Guest nickn]

i am going to bid as i have a nobuyoshi osuriage katana that was papered at the same shinsa

it would be nice to have both one perfect polish the other perfect nakago

[hybridfiat]

This is becoming frustrating, I still cannot get any pics to download.

[Jacques]

Hi,

 

I don't know who is the polisher, but i thintk this blade was not so healthy before polishing.

 

[rbenson]

Re: http://cgi.ebay.com/Japanese-Sword-HAGI ... 240%3A1318

 

Japanese swords and restoration is my only income so I am always busy and don't have time to read anything or respond to things that are on the message boards, but this time I was informed by several people that are aware of the circumstances surrounding the hagire sword and that I should respond to the question about hagire.

 

First: I polished the sword at the request of the owner who had bought the blade sight unseen.

After the hagire was found the owner asked me to return it to the seller. This I did and the seller refused acceptance of the package which was stamped " Refused by the Addresse". The seller sent a letter to the buyer saying it was ruined by the polisher. He stated that a polisher can remove too much metal which will cause a hagire. He also told the buyer it was part of the learning curve for nihonto collectors. He never even saw the blade but claimed it had niku removed which could cause a hagire. Really a novice claim or some one making up stories because he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar?

 

I can assure everone on the forum that a hagire can not be caused by polishing. It can be caused by a blow to the cutting edge, forcing that portion of the blade upward while striking downward. Such is the case of this sword which is shown in the ebay photos of chips at the yokote. What is not shown in the before polish photos is that in the monouchi this sword had numerous chips which had been diminished by cutting the ha saki flat and then beveling it in to make it not noticeable. Please look at the before pictures and you can see the many stone marks from nagura and even kongoto stones marks in the kissaki. This is what was sold as in original polish.

I will be happy to answer any other questions about the problems with this sword that was not disclosed either on or off the message board. I can be contacted directly by email bushidoswd@aol.com or through my website : http://www.togishi.com.

[Jean]

Bob,

 

Everybody in the Nihonto community knows you and nobody on the Board would be fool enough to question your expertise/knowledge.

 

Question asked was : Does polishing can create Hagire? and the answer was, only in the straightening process under special circumstances.

[Stephen]

also brings to light that Shinsa mills at shows can miss such cracks, did on that sword and as well on mine. Id stand behind Bob 100%.

[Brian]

Mr Benson,

It is an honour to have you here, even if briefly.

If you seach the forum for your name, you will of course see many (and only) good recommendations of your work. I don't think much needs to be answered here about this sword short of "Robert Benson was the polisher here" and that answers any questions about where any blame could lie. Everyone here would instantly know that the fault lies elsewhere and was not caused by polishing. Unfortunate that it is not understood that hagire can simply be invisible until polishing is undertaken.

Thanks for the clarification and explanation. Hope you will pop by for a lurk now and then when time allows (which we all understand is seldom )

 

Regards,

Brian

[Bungo]

" Shinsa mills at shows can miss such cracks "

 

unless my advancing age leads me to mis-read the seal on the NTHK paper, I believe THE old Yoshikawa sensei passed the sword.

I wouldn't call NTHK a " shinsa mill " under his watch .

 

 

milt

[Guido]

Gentlemen, unless the dealer in question wants to add anything to this thread (please PM me), I consider it closed. Non-related topics should be discussed in seperate threads.