Help ID another sword from Grandpa.

[Dominic P]

Hello,

 

Grandpa told us his friend brought back from WW2, that the handle was taken apart by someone who wanted the Menuki. 
I remember the Tsuka Ito was brown over white bone, and the Kashira was flat (didn’t have a ring like I see on the Type 98’s on eBay). 
 

I can’t find any obvious markings on it. 
 

I’m hoping to get a handle re made using old, time appropriate materials. 

 

[Dominic P]

The previous post photos were horrible. Let me try again. 

[Dominic P]

[Dominic P]

[Dominic P]

[Bruce Pennington]

Dominic,

 

You have an older family blade re-fitted for the war.  There are some guys that frequent the Military forum that may be able to give you an estimate of the age, but there are a lot of others available on the http://Nihonto Forum.

 

Someone on either forum can help with finding a good replacement tsuka (handle).

[David Flynn]

Looks like O Suriage Kambun Shinto.    C.1670

[Dominic P]

Thank you both very much. 

[Dominic P]

Can anyone tell me where I could get a handle for this thing? Google isn’t very helpful. 

[Bruce Pennington]

You'll need to run this by the civil sword guys, most likely.  @Dave R might have something or know someone who does.

[Dave R]

 Do you still have the wooden core of the hilt? Sadly robbing good parts from a so-so blade was quite common back in the day.

 There are two paths you can follow here, haunt ebay for a decent Tsuka and risk it not fitting... which I have done a few times with very hit and miss results. Only once have I had a good fit via this method.

 Having bought from ebay, disassemble the tsuka and recut it to fit your blade, though you will have to rebind it which is not easy but is doable. In WW2 this was the job of schoolgirls, so it's not rocket science. I have had more success with this method, and done it about four or five times.

 

[Grey Doffin]

Hi Dominic,

David McDonald in Montana can make a handle for you. He can use your parts if you still have them or supply what is missing and he can wrap it also. He does very nice work. You should be able to find his contact in the links at the top of the NMB.

A random tsuka bought off ebay is almost certain not to fit properly.

Grey