My recent experience with David McDonald for a Tsuka restoration

[Kolekt-To]

Hey guys,

 

It's been awhile since I've posted anything on the forum and I thought that providing an update about my recent experience with a David McDonald tsuka restoration could be of value.

Here's the facts:

 

1. I am very satisfied with the quality of the work that David performed in restoring the tsuka for the sword I refer to as "The Kanetaka" - nice job! 

2. David's prices are very reasonable - cost me a total of $375.00 USD, and that included a rebuild of the tsuka (included the new wrap and the addition of new sharkskin), plus the addition of a shitodome, and cost of shipping.

3. David should improve his communication with customers to better manage expectations, including providing consistent status updates.

 

We discussed the job (the tsuka re-wrap), and he agreed to do the work, in March 2022 (last year), if I remember correctly. I sent the sword to him in April 2022 and he acknowledged receiving the sword. David had completed a tsuka re-wrap for me in 2021, and I had confidence in the quality of his work, as documented in the forum by other NMB members. That job took about 3 months from time I sent the sword to him until it was returned to me with the re-wrapped tsuka. He had communicated with me over those three months and provided at least one status update, if I remember correctly. Things went smooth with that job and the communication was satisfactory. From my understanding, although I have no direct experience with this, it can take up to a year or more to have a sword returned if you ship it off for blade polishing, or if you send it to Japan to have it judged and papered. I have not heard of it taking a year for a tsuka re-wrap. David returned my repaired sword a year after receiving it from me - I received it a couple of weeks ago in April.

 

My issue is not with the time it took for the tsuka restoration, although some might say that a year to complete a tsuka restoration/repair is excessive, it is with the lack of consistent communication. I had assumed, perhaps wrongly, that the job would take 3-6 months - this was based on my previous experience with David. Also, I had expected to receive communication (email is David's preferred communication method, although I called and spoke with him briefly on at least two occasions over the past year) on a regular basis (at least once every 1-2 months) in the form of email updates to inform me as to the progress of the work. Suffice to say that communication was not consistent, and it was sometimes months before I would get a response. I think David was dealing with some things over the past year that contributed to his lack of communication. Still, I wish that communication had been more consistent. I really would have been fine with him keeping my sword for a year, or even longer, if he had just kept me updated regularly. The experience caused me anxiety because I was left wondering about what was happening with my sword - at times, I even wondered if I would see my sword again. 

 

Anyway, I'm very happy with the quality of David's work. I think there is room for improvement when it comes to communication with customers (and I know I am not the only one who has experienced the lack of consistent communication). When there is a lack of communication it can make the customer feel uncomfortable as they are left wondering. So, going forward, my wish is for David to do as good a job with his customer communication as he does with his repair and restoration work. Perhaps he is already on a new track to improve this aspect of the customer experience - that is my hope. I have attached a photo of the tsuka he restored - nice work David! I am very happy to have The Kanetaka back home and looking better than ever.

 

Best wishes to my fellow collectors,

 

Geoff

 

P.S. Please do not interpret my post as an attack on David as that is not my intention. My intention is to simply describe my recent experience and to help David's potential customers manage their expectations around communication. The quality of David's work is not in dispute.

 

 

[Bazza]

G'day Geoff,

 

A good summary, thanks very much for taking the time to put it together.  Is your Kanetaka the same as the smith in the Mino-to Taikan???  Could we please see a photo of both sides of the nakago??  I'm interested to see this as a friend of mine has a nice Kanetaka katana, from memory also in Shinguntou koshirae as yours is.  I'll have to ask him for a photo.

 

BaZZa.

[PNSSHOGUN]

Good writeup Geoff, my only criticism of the work would it is *very* obviously a re-wrap and the colour of the Ito is a bit too light. A darker brown would be more appropriate next time around.

[robinalexander]

Thanks Geoff, a 'brave' post that has been put together with some empathy and thoughtfulness.

The focus seems to be on communication but at the same time, the length of time it took for what really isn't a 12 month job.

No comment on the re-wrap, your happy and that's all that matters.

 

You said you thought David was dealing with 'some things' during that time and I think this may be the salient point.

 

Yes, communication appears to be well on the south side of average, but there is always, and I mean always, ...... two sides to a pancake.  I would not expect David to respond, in fact I really hope he doesn't, but is it possible he was dealing with serious personal issues in that 12 months? It could explain the whole thing.

 

I am sure most members here would have personal or family related experience with life altering events such as, loss of a loved one, death(s) in the family, divorce, bankruptcy,  terminal illness, mental illness and I could go on.  

 

Now I'm not saying any of the above apply to David but I can assure you that any one, let alone multiples of the above can put people in an entirely different world, sometimes for a long time.  In that world, a tsuka re-wrap is not, and can not, be a priorty.

 

But good to know your happy with the job .

 

 

 

 

 

[Brian]

Indeed, communication issues are something that can easily be worked on and improved. The main thing is that the work was done, and it looks like a very fine job indeed. Quality work from someone known to do a great job.
Most artisans will take the constructive comments on board and work on it. But his work is solid, and this is certainly a hobby where timeframes are known to be looong and speed is never expected.
You find this lack of comms and online presence among most of the Nihonto craftsmen. I guess we have to try and drag them kicking and screaming into the modern age of technology

[Baba Yaga]

The better the Artisan the worst business person they are. Like Polishing, $375 including labor is a hobby, not a business. My plumber cost $500 with a 4hr window to walk in the door.  

 

[Kolekt-To]

17 hours ago, PNSSHOGUN said:

Good writeup Geoff, my only criticism of the work would it is *very* obviously a re-wrap and the colour of the Ito is a bit too light. A darker brown would be more appropriate next time around.

Agreed John! For this one, I wanted to take some creative license with the tsuka-maki color and go with the lighter, less common, golden brown. So, the color choice was intentional and I like the way it turned out, in part because it provides an extra splash of color for a display. And, for the record, the saya is not original to the sword (and it's a press fit - there is no chuso), although the blade fits nicely. For another sword, at another time, I probably would have chosen the more common darker brown wrap. This was not a high-end gunto, and some of the koshirae may not even be original to the sword (the saya for sure is not), so I figured if I was going to choose a less conventional color for the wrap, this sword would be a good choice. 

 

Best,

 

Geoff