What have I got ?

[Moley]

Hi Everybody,

Collected this sword years ago as part of a swap deal. I have no idea what it is. Any ideas ?

Thanks

Gwyn

 

[Moley]

[Moley]

[Moley]

[Moley]

[Brian]

Bad acid polish. UK done I expect.

[paulb]

Poor acid polishes are not unique to the UK Brian, I have seen equally poor work done in the USA and Europe. These were particularly common here in the 80s and 90s and hopefully we have moved on and  they are a thing of the past. 

[Brian]

Wasn't suggesting it was confined to there. But seeing Gwyn is from there, and knowing it was/is done a lot where there are few or no fully qualified polishers...it was an educated guess  
I hear there are some fairly decent polishes coming out of the UK, so it's not a comment on all the guys there.

[Rivkin]

Bad polish, and on top of that its one of a more popular styles which complicates things. No sugu boshi, so shinto is unlikely. Shinshinto would be someone extremely conservative like Aizu Kanesada and also I think unlikely.

Most likely its about tembun in Muromachi. Unfortunately almost everyone was trying their hand at something like this at the time.

The peaks lack any periodicity, no two are alike, they seem to have well defined nioi guchi,  which is not that typical for Mino, but more Bizen-like.

Yet the peaks are a bit too togari-like, in places are very wide, and nie heavy, pointing towards Mino.

So unfortunately with these images I would go something like Mino, Kaga, Bizen.

 

Kirill

[Moley]

Hi Guy's, Brian is right, I knew that it was an acid polish as it was bought early 80's and there was a lot of it about back then. (They used to call it a "Liverpool polish" and frown)

I just kept it all that time and was now wondering what it was that I had got. It didn't set me back that much at all and the koshirae was kinda nice. Will try to photo in the morning.

Thanks everybody.

 

[Brian]

Only type of polish that was done here in SA in the 90's and 2000's too. Instantly recognizable. That said, they usually clean up just fine if they were neutralized properly. Yours would look great when redone.

[Geraint]

Looking forward to the koshirae Gwyn. 🙂

 

All the best.

[Kurikata]

I have a naïve question: Once a blade has suffered the acid polish, is it possible for a professional recognized polisher to make it properly polished again with sharp (not rounded) shinogi for instance ?

 

Thanks

[Jean]

Yes

[Moley]

Thanks for your response and commiserations guys, but as l said, it was a long long time ago and the plus side was the koshirae. (Will post them later on Geraint.) To be honest, l don’t think that a) It’s worth a polish and b) It would take a polish ? Anyway, here are more photos as promised. I was just curious as to what it was before somebody ruined it. 

[Moley]

[Moley]

[Moley]

[Moley]

[Moley]

[Moley]

[ChrisW]

Sheesh! They dipped the nakago too? That's absolutely brutal if so.

[16k]

Yikes! 🙀

[Moley]

Yup...'Fraid so"... Time to MOVE ON. Gonna trash the blade and host the Koshirae in a Tsunangi.

[envocat]

Hope you don't mean that literally! Imagine the look on the binman's face. 

[Bugyotsuji]

Keep it as a discussion piece.

[PNSSHOGUN]

Keep the blade as the Tsunagi....

[paulb]

Gwyn,

Despite the blades past I think the blade is recoverable and worth keeping so please don't "trash it". While not a great work with the right polish I think it could be perfectly acceptable and something that can be learned from.

cheers

Paul

[Brian]

Nothing terrible here, nothing to bin. It is typical of the tens of thousands of acid polish swords. But nothing fatal, nothing that can't be fixed. It has a nice hamon, no major flaws. Plenty of these being enjoyed in collections. Let's not get carried away. I have swords like this myself. Uchiko over time helps a lot too. Mino maybe?
 

[paulb]

I think Mino is a reasonable call although also possibly one of the many rural schools that were trained in Mino techniques. At the end of the day it is an unsigned sword from, I am guessing,  mid 17th century and has some features worth studying.