Type 95 NCO

[Lareon]

One of the Type 95 from my collection. for those that would like to see it

 

 

[Kiipu]

Is the scabbard painted black or is it some other color?  Is the scabbard serial number matching to the blade serial number?

[robinalexander]

Nice example Tony and you take good pictures!

Rob

[Lareon]

  On 10/14/2021 at 8:39 PM, Kiipu said:

Is the scabbard painted black or is it some other color?  Is the scabbard serial number matching to the blade serial number?

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Apologies Thomas, I didn't see this

 

The colour is a very very dark brown almost to the point of black.

the serial number does match yes, it's very obscured though, i've taken a quick picture for you as best I can.

 

 

 

[Kiipu]

Thanks for the additional information.  Your sword dates to circa 1939 and was assembled by Iijima, a well known Japanese sword company.

[Lareon]

Thanks for information - do you have a resource for the age / company / serial number rough dates?

 

Cheers
 

[Kiipu]

Just the yearly production records for fiscal years 1931 to 1940.  The fiscal year began on April 01 so I would guess your sword was made in about mid 1939.

Short Development History of Type 95 Gunto, Post #205

[Lareon]

Perfect, I was looking for something like this recently, thats a great help

[Kiipu]

@Lareon If still at hand, I have some technical questions about your Type 95.   Looking at the pictures of the ferrule, the part that has the arsenal symbol and company logo on it, it seems it is made of a silver colored alloy.  In addition, there seems to be a copper color that has worn off.

1.  What is the ferrule made of?  Is it magnetic?

2.  The copper color seen on the ferrule, is it paint or copper plated?

 

Attention: @Stegel

[Bruce Pennington]

While we wait for Tony's reply...

 

I no longer have the lighter colored one in-hand, but I have 3 Iijima 95s and they all have fuchi with the finish coming off.  You can see on the right one, there are 3 layers - brass surface, brown coat, and copper shiny coating.  It is so thin/fine I cannot say what kind of finish it is.  All the fuchi are non-magnetic.

 

[John C]

  On 5/1/2023 at 1:33 AM, Bruce Pennington said:

all have fuchi with the finish coming off.

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Bruce: This quote is from a site on plating brass with copper. Might explain the peeling you are seeing:

"The activation in Sulfamic acid suggested in another response is acceptable, but it must be rinsed well so it does not carry over to the plating bath. Please note that Plating peels off when the base has not been cleaned or activated sufficiently well."

 

John C.

[The Blacksmith]

  On 10/20/2021 at 4:45 PM, Kiipu said:

Just the yearly production records for fiscal years 1931 to 1940.  The fiscal year began on April 01 so I would guess your sword was made in about mid 1939.

Short Development History of Type 95 Gunto, Post #205

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That is a fantastic thread with so much information that I have certainly never thought of let alone seen. Thank you so much for posting the link!

 

Russ

[Lareon]

  On 5/1/2023 at 12:09 AM, Kiipu said:

@Lareon If still at hand, I have some technical questions about your Type 95.   Looking at the pictures of the ferrule, the part that has the arsenal symbol and company logo on it, it seems it is made of a silver colored alloy.  In addition, there seems to be a copper color that has worn off.

1.  What is the ferrule made of?  Is it magnetic?

2.  The copper color seen on the ferrule, is it paint or copper plated?

 

Attention: @Stegel

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Taking a look at it now,

1. The bulk of the ferrule isn't magnetic, there's some slight magnetism near the latch but i think it's from where it joins. As for material, I'm unsure, I guess aluminium with plated copper
2. I'm pretty sure it's plated .

Mine only seems to have the two layers  (the difference in colour on the bottom image is the reflection.
 

[Kiipu]

The late Donald B. of Melbourne, Australia, mentioned a "copper plated alloy" ferrule.  He noted the following serials; 34593東, 37048東, 57964東, and 136621東.  Unfortunately, none of these have surfaced yet via photographs.  I think Tony's Type 95 could very well be an an example of this variant.

[Kiipu]

  On 5/1/2023 at 1:33 AM, Bruce Pennington said:

I no longer have the lighter colored one in-hand,

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This ferrule has the color of Almite, which is also seen on some of the early aluminium handles.  It could also just be staining caused by the plating or painting.

Type 95 Brass-colored Tsuka - A Discovery!

[Shamsy]

  On 5/1/2023 at 4:29 PM, Kiipu said:

The late Donald B. of Melbourne, Australia, mentioned a "copper plated alloy" ferrule.

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Doesn't Dawson pretty much say the same thing? I have plated fuchi, but do toy mean something more specific?

[Kiipu]

  On 5/2/2023 at 8:17 AM, Shamsy said:

Doesn't Dawson pretty much say the same thing?

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Dawson used the information provided by Donald B. for his book.  And since Donald mentioned the "copper plated alloy" ferrules, Dawson mentioned it on page 184.  Also, I think a picture of one can be seen on page 186, plate 15-5.  However, no mention is made of this fact.  Not much more is said about ferrules in the book other than the iron ones.

 

  On 5/2/2023 at 8:17 AM, Shamsy said:

I have plated fuchi, but do toy mean something more specific?

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I think there is more to the story in regards to these ferrules.  They started out with brass, commonly referred to as copper due to the color, and finished with black painted steel, sometimes called iron.  (Note the confusing use of several different terms to describe the same item.)  In between, there were several different materials used, sometimes concurrently.  The early Nagoya ferrules used a brass-tinted copper ferrule while Iijima seemed to be using the copper-plated alloy.  This would seem to indicate that there were more than one manufacturer, possibly similar to what is seen with scabbards and handles which have distinct differences based upon the supervising arsenal.

 

In regards to the silvered colored base material, I think there are at least two versions, the early one is a copper-plated aluminium/almite? while the other one is a nickel/chrome plated copper.  For an example of the later version, see @Stegel's infographic at the link below.

Type 95 Gunto - Transitional Tsuba

 

Hopefully, this will help clarify why I am asking questions about ferrules.  I just think there is more to the story.  And belatedly, my apologies to @Lareon for hijacking his thread and turning it into the "mysteries of the Type 95 ferrule."

[Lareon]

No need to apologise, I love seeing the updates in our collective knowledge. 

[Bruce Pennington]

I don't think we have a Go-To dedicated Type 95 thread for ongoing discussions on legit 95s, so @Lareon I hope you don't mind if we use your thread for this?

 

@Stegel @Shamsy @BANGBANGSAN @robinalexander @Kiipu and anyone else who follows these!

 

I've come across a Nagoya side-latch, number 201833, Seki inspector on the blade that has a Seki inspector stamp on the fuchi!  I don't recall ever seeing one in that location.  Has anyone else?

It was posted by ac1976 on this Guns.ru thread.

 

[BANGBANGSAN]

  On 5/25/2023 at 3:33 PM, Bruce Pennington said:

Seki inspector on the blade that has a Seki inspector stamp on the fuchi!  I don't recall ever seeing one in that location.  Has anyone else?

 

 

 

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Bruce

Here is a Side Latch #202030. It has some marks on the fuchi, but they are not close enough to tell what they were.

[Bruce Pennington]

  On 5/25/2023 at 11:04 PM, BANGBANGSAN said:

 

Here is a Side Latch #202030. It has some marks on the fuchi, but they are not close enough to tell what they were.

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Yes, my Seki/Nagoya side-latch is the same.  Center inspector mark is not readable.  Since it's so rare to get readable stamps on these steel fuchi, it's possible they were using the Seki stamp in the center a lot, but we just aren't able to observe them.  I suppose it makes sense, as the Nagoya Arsenal started using the small Seki in 1943-45 on officer blades, they probably started doing the same on Type 95s.  I wonder if anyone has ever seen a wooden handled 95 with stamps?  I checked mine, and it doesn't appear that they even tried stamping the fuchi.  

 

Here's my side-latch.  You can see the Seki Token Co, and Nagoya Arsenal, but un-readable center stamp: