Does buffing exclude polishing ?

[Francis Wick]

Hallo and thanks 

 

firstly please allow me to express my condolences to the family and friends of Darcy Brockbank. He will be missed. 
 

may I ask if a member has experience with a blade having been buffed by someone ? Does it destroy and chance of polishing it ? It’s an otherwise good Koto blade. Any advice or experience with this will be appreciated 

 

thanks

 

chris 

[Nihontocollector752]

Anything other than traditional polishing is considered taboo

[mas4t0]

I wouldn't be too concerned; buffing shouldn't have done too much harm.

 

It obviously isn't a good thing to have done, but buffing with a cloth is very different to grinding the blade on a stone.

 

Given that it has clearly been buffed I wouldn't be surprised if the person had done other damage to the blade.

[Francis Wick]

Thank you , yes I bought it this way and a person with no knowledge of restoration had buffed it but seemingly with a soft wheel. Hopefully not enough heat was generated ti change the crystalline structure of the metal 🙄 

[Francis Wick]

2 hours ago, Nihontocollector752 said:

Anything other than traditional polishing is considered taboo

Like cleaning a coin ….

[mas4t0]

What's the discolouration just above the habaki?

 

The blade edge looks almost scalloped in areas and there's some unusual reflections along the face of the blade which give the impression of a wavy surface. I'm not sure if it's the camera, the lighting or the blade.

[Rich S]

13 minutes ago, mas4t0 said:

What's the discolouration just above the habaki?

 

Guessing, but perhaps the previous owner did not know the habaki could be removed. ??  Maybe a good thing or the tang would be buffed also.

[Mark S.]

Without the blade in hand and no pictures of nakago, it is difficult to judge.  This blade might survive as the hamon is still visible.  Most buff jobs make the whole blade shiny but no activity is discernible.  All I’ll say is “maybe”.

[Tensho]

Do you have more pictures of this? This blade looks weird to me... I have never seen a "buffed" blade turn out looking like this. Almost looks modern. 

[David Flynn]

Also, depending on the buffing, but it generates heat.  I would suspect that the Hamon on some buffed swords has been affected.

[PNSSHOGUN]

If the buffing is severe it will seriously impact the geometry of the blade, meaning more metal will need to be removed to restore it.

[SteveM]

It definitely looks....weird. Hopefully it can be saved. 

[Ooitame]

Some geometry seems off. The buffing does not look to have effected the hada too much. However, the hamon does now have an oil quenched look. I would reach out to a trained Togishi on thier opinion. Traditional polishing could be expensive. More pictures including the tang and discolerd areas on the blade may help in forming an opinion. And suggestions from members.

[Franco D]

Something tells me an excellent polisher will be required here. Especially one with excellent foundation polishing skills and experience. That is, if there isn't something beyond repair. Older swords tend to have niku, and if the niku was buffed down that will have to be addressed. I see what looks like some sort of scratches running parallel to the length of the sword. If so, the depth of the scratches may require additional metal to be removed. It appears that the tip of the sword was buffed shiny along with the area below the hamon down to the ha? Am I seeing that correctly? If so, ughhh! On the optimistic side, if this is a Nambokucho period sword it could be meaty enough so that the polisher has enough metal to work with to correct all the problems. Heat damage is a worry. If accepted by a polisher, hold your breath and hope for the best.

[Jean]

To answer the question
 

Buffing does not prevent a blade to be traditionally polished, the result will depend on the heat generated by the buffing and the healthiness of the blade. I had a buffed blade decades ago which was traditionally polished later on and turned out nicely.

[Francis Wick]

17 hours ago, mas4t0 said:

What's the discolouration just above the habaki?

 

The blade edge looks almost scalloped in areas and there's some unusual reflections along the face of the blade which give the impression of a wavy surface. I'm not sure if it's the camera, the lighting or the blade.

That’s an area that the previous owner did not buff. They omitted to remove the habaki first ( probably didn’t know it could be removed ), no it’s not scalloped it’s smooth 

[Francis Wick]

Thank you so much members. The insight and experience is much helpful. It is a Koto blade , osuriage in mid range tachi fittings so I think it best to give it to a good polisher to see if they think an attempted rescue is warranted

 

[Baba Yaga]

29 minutes ago, Francis Wick said:

Thank you so much members. The insight and experience is much helpful. It is a Koto blade , osuriage in mid range tachi fittings so I think it best to give it to a good polisher to see if they think an attempted rescue is warranted

 

koto ??? tachi fittings ???  How much did you pay for that blade, then add $3000+ for "restoration", 1 year out. I'd have someone that really knows what they are doing look at the blade fist. IN HAND.  

 

[ROKUJURO]

Francis,

buffing is said to not remove material, but in your case, some ridges have been rounded. To restore this, a TOGISHISHI will surely have to remove some steel from the blade. If the temperatures caused by the buffing have been below 170°C, there is a good chance that the blade has survived.

 

Traditional crafts need traditional tools..... I suggest that the person who did this to your blade should be branded the hard Rodeo way with this phrase.  This would help to remind....