My two new swords

[Chrometank]

Hello my friends,  well we have had 3 weeks of torrential rain and flooding all down the east coast of Australia so these two swords have taken a long time coming. 

I would appreciate any comments on these swords,  the top one in the photos is missing a few things I think.  The small bamboo pin has disappeared and I think I am missing a few spaces etc.  The combat cover on the top one also appears to be missing the leather ring right at the top.

 

Can I replace these with others or should I just leave as is ? 

All the best Paul 

[Chrometank]

[Chrometank]

[Chrometank]

[Chrometank]

It's really hard trying to photograph the blade without reflections and bright spots ! 

[Chrometank]

Active rust ?

[Grey Doffin]

Hi Paul,

No active rust that requires attention; leave the tangs (nakago) alone. The bottom sword, the one with 2 holes, iis probably older and samurai, not WWII military. It is OK to replace the washers (seppa) if some are missing and the tsuba wiggles a lot. It is mandatory and important that you replace the missing bamboo pin (mekugi) and that you do it now. Without the pin the blade can fall out of the handle and do serious damage either to itself or to you (or maybe to both). Get a decent quality chop stick and whittle it to fit.

Grey

[Bruce Pennington]

Paul,

Got a couple of cool swords there!  You might want to post the shorter, older one on the Nihonto forum.  They can give you a good idea as to the age of the blade.  Probably should post them both, though the larger one, to me, seems more like a WWII era blade, but I'm not a good source for that sort of judgement.  It could be pre-WWII.

 

Interesting to see the leather collar on the saya (scabbard), called the koiguchi.  In my experience, these are usually metal end caps.  Quite often, like the other one, they go missing.  It will be difficult, but not impossible, to find a replacement that fits.  Good challenge, though, if you have the time.  I like the look of that leather one!

 

Private blades were often taken to war and fitted with these leather covered saya.  The fittings on the larger one are Type 98 officer fittings.  If you haven't read Ohmura's site on these, it is worth checking out: http://ohmura-study.net/900.html

 

 

[Chrometank]

4 hours ago, Grey Doffin said:

Hi Paul,

No active rust that requires attention; leave the tangs (nakago) alone. The bottom sword, the one with 2 holes, iis probably older and samurai, not WWII military. It is OK to replace the washers (seppa) if some are missing and the tsuba wiggles a lot. It is mandatory and important that you replace the missing bamboo pin (mekugi) and that you do it now. Without the pin the blade can fall out of the handle and do serious damage either to itself or to you (or maybe to both). Get a decent quality chop stick and whittle it to fit.

Grey

Thank you, great information,  I will do that now, cheers 

[Chrometank]

3 hours ago, Bruce Pennington said:

Paul,

Got a couple of cool swords there!  You might want to post the shorter, older one on the Nihonto forum.  They can give you a good idea as to the age of the blade.  Probably should post them both, though the larger one, to me, seems more like a WWII era blade, but I'm not a good source for that sort of judgement.  It could be pre-WWII.

 

Interesting to see the leather collar on the saya (scabbard), called the koiguchi.  In my experience, these are usually metal end caps.  Quite often, like the other one, they go missing.  It will be difficult, but not impossible, to find a replacement that fits.  Good challenge, though, if you have the time.  I like the look of that leather one!

 

Private blades were often taken to war and fitted with these leather covered saya.  The fittings on the larger one are Type 98 officer fittings.  If you haven't read Ohmura's site on these, it is worth checking out: http://ohmura-study.net/900.html

 

 

Thank you again Bruce for taking the time to tell me about these, much appreciated. Cheers