Reason for need a spacer?

[vajo]

something looks not correct.

[Geraint]

Dear Chris.

 

Start with the habaki.

 

All the best.

[John C]

Did type 95s ever come with an iron tsuba?

John C.

[vajo]

The hole sword looks assambled from parts. I'm not sure that this is a legit blade. The habaki is hammered into the blade. Looks like a sausage.

[Bruce Pennington]

  On 3/28/2023 at 11:21 AM, John C said:

Did type 95s ever come with an iron tsuba?

John C.

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Lots of them:

Non-commissioned officers Gunto 1935 (Type 95 Guntō)/title> (ohmura-study.net)

[Bruce Pennington]

This gunto is interesting for me as I had (It's now gone in a trade) a Nagoya 95 with a fat brass seppa, poor fitting tsuka, crooked fuchi, early serial number 10xxx.  I felt like it was a feild repair.

[mdiddy]

  On 3/28/2023 at 2:53 PM, Bruce Pennington said:

a Nagoya 95 with a fat brass seppa, poor fitting tsuka, crooked fuchi, early serial number 10xxx.  I felt like it was a feild repair.

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Sounds more like a post-war job. Poor fitting tsuka is usually a give-away.

[mdiddy]

  On 3/28/2023 at 11:38 AM, vajo said:

The hole sword looks assambled from parts. I'm not sure that this is a legit blade.

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Can you post a picture of the kissaki showing the terminus of the bo-hi? Also maybe a few shots of the blade?

 

The fakes have never solved for getting the bo-hi right.

[vajo]

It was somewhere in that facebook groups. I have no clue how to find posts there back.  

Facebook is a mystery for me.

[vajo]

found it back

 

 

 

[vajo]

For Sale; Type 95 NCO Shin Gunto, Matching Serial Numbers.

£750 Plus Postage . Please contact me with any questions

"SOLD"

 

The sword is tagged now as sold in Dollar around $950

[mdiddy]

@vajo Thanks for sharing the extra pics.

 

The blade looks ok to my eye. The kissaki looks within reason, the ko-shinogi is formed ok, and the bo-hi terminates correctly. The yokote can be seen a little.

[mdiddy]

@vajo The seppas and habaki are still maybe a concern. I looked back at a couple that I currently have and several I have had in the recent past (see attached pics). I can't find an example with a thicker seppa on top of the tsuba matched with thinner seppa between the tsuba and fuchi. From my data, looks like if a thick seppa was used above the tsuba, it was also used below the tsuba. Also that shiny gold seppa is a little out of sorts. 

[mdiddy]

@vajo The ana in the koiguchi is also a little odd with the rough edges. I compared it to a few of the ones I've had.

[mdiddy]

@vajo My conclusion is that maybe it was a blade and a saya that was matched up with a tsuba, tsuka, etc. A habaki was added and that required a little work around the koi guchi and to get the screw to match in the tsuka a little adjustment had to be made with seppas. I could be wrong and I've seen stranger.

[vajo]

Thanks for your pictures Matt. I have no idea why that sword was fitted with a modern Seppa. I see the original sakura seppa on the tsuka side. So i wonder why there should be an open space to fill it. 

[mdiddy]

  On 3/28/2023 at 8:54 PM, vajo said:

I have no idea why that sword was fitted with a modern Seppa.

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It's possible it is due to the width of the tsuba. If that sword was blade, saya, thick seppa, and tsuba, but missing the tsuka and lower seppas, then they had to compensate by adding mismatched seppa to get everything to line up with the replaced tsuka.

[robinalexander]

Interesting thread Chris @vajo I can't add to what others have said and I think Matt is pretty close to the mark.

 

For interest I will however add a picture of one of mine which has a leather seppa....quite thick but has really compressed on one side thus allowing the fuchi to move/sit slightly off level.  I note that many fuchi are not level on early 95's.

 

In regard to your query ('Reason for Extra Spacer'), I also don't know why a first pattern (copper) would have needed an extra thick leather seppa.   The only thing I do have a theory about, is in regard to the noticeable compression to the mune side of the leather seppa.  I believe that could be due the pressure applied [to the mune side of seppa] that would logically occur through the normal use (maybe extensive use) of the sword itself.

 

[Bruce Pennington]

And I'll make one more pitch for field repair.  I respect Matt's research into the 'ideal', but we all know that WWII Real World produced quite a bit of variation from "standard."  As to my Nagoya, the fuchi was one of the extremely rare 4 stamp fuchi, so you can't convince me that Bubba had his hands on one.  That baby was original.  So, why was it crooked? How about damage.  The report we all know about from the field repair team said the massive majority of their repair work was on damaged tsuka.  While my tsuka was intact, the fit and spacing was all screwed up.  The fat seppa very well could have been a post-war Bubba fix - but a fix to an already messed up rig.  That someone during the war might have concocted a similar fix, to either my or the OP one, is not hard to fathom.

[mdiddy]

  On 3/29/2023 at 1:52 AM, Bruce Pennington said:

And I'll make one more pitch for field repair.

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When did you buy it, where did you buy it, and from whom did you buy it?

 

  On 3/29/2023 at 1:52 AM, Bruce Pennington said:

While my tsuka was intact, the fit and spacing was all screwed up.

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What did the screw and nut on both sides of the tsuka look like? How about both sides of the screw for the sarute? Was the tsuka loose, even just a bit?

[vajo]

Maybe the original iron Seppa was lost and someone replaced it with 2 Seppa. One from another Type95 and one from a modern chinese Replica? But the habaki looks very damaged too. Maybe the sword is assambled from different parts.

[robinalexander]

A distinct possibility Chris.

 

By the way, nice picture work. 

[vajo]

On the original one is a thicker iron seppa. I never noticed that differences between the medium stage models with iron tsuba.