A sword restored, from wall hanger to study piece.

[Jon]

A couple of years ago I posted a blade I had inherited, this kicked off my journey and interest in Nihonto. After a long wait I’ve now had the blade polished and fitted with a new shirasaya.

 

So I thought I would post the before and after shoots.

 

it’s worth noting that the polisher felt some of the chips were to deep to fully Polish out without impacting on the blade…but this never a commercial decision, was all about restoring a family heirloom as well as giving me a koto study piece for the price of the polish. 

 

Also any thoughts or views on the blade would be appreciated as well.

[Jon]

More pictures of the out of polish damage 

[Jon]

And close in

[Jon]

Now for the fully polished blade with Shirasaya.

 

As I mentioned earlier any thoughts on the blade, it’s character etc would be very much appreciated.

[Jon]

More

[Jon]

More

[Jon]

[2devnul]

Hello,

 

Great job on bringing that blade back to life. I'm a complete newbie so please treat my comments lightly. 

Color of the steel suggests Koto period, but IMHO (probably wrong) shape is more Shinto alike. Nice notare/gunome hamon, hada quite tight too. I understand it is mumei as you haven't posted any mei pictures. Two wholes in nakago suggest it was 'moved around' to different koshirae. Any mei on Tsuba? 

 

But the best part are the chips on cutting edge. If only swords could talk, I wonder what happen there. 

 

Congratulations for owning a great sword!

[Baba Yaga]

Good to see the blade didn't receive the overabundance of hadori polish. The hamon outline is well done IMOP. Also good judgement about not going deep. Well done! 

[ROKUJURO]

Jonathan,

may I ask who did the polish?

[Scogg]

Congratulations Jon! I imagine the unboxing was very exciting. I have enjoyed following and learning from your posts 

I hope this is not presumptuous, but I have learned a ton from the "downloads" section on this forum. Especially on photography, and capturing activity on camera. I have even been able to capture activity on camera, that I had very hard time seeing in-person. Its been extremely helpful for my learning and documentation 

Your sword looks great! Selfishly, I want to see more 

Below is a link to the downloads section and the article I am referring to, by the late great and legendary Darcy Brockbank 
 

[Stephen]

Did David H polish this?

[Jon]

The polisher was Les from Scotland, unfortunately he is no longer taking commissions at present.

[PNSSHOGUN]

37 minutes ago, Jon said:

The polisher was Les from Scotland, unfortunately he is no longer taking commissions at present.

That's probably for the best.

[paulb]

Before this topic turns in to another self righteous witch hunt of amateur polishers can I point out that this gentleman has attended numerous training seminars in Japan and had his work accepted and recieved commendations in NBTHK polishing competitions. It is impossible to judge the quality of his work from the images (no disrespect Jon, capturing detail is difficult ) he has done excellent work for many. His work is nothing at all like the US. Gentleman mentioned previously 

[Baba Yaga]

I believe some collectors need to look back on the older style Japanese polish of detailing and outline workmanship.  

[JAMJ]

In following on the last note, a common reference states that a sword in proper polish should have a hamon of a milky white appearance. Is that referring to only the habuchi or the surface all the way down to the ha?  Would that be true for any sword or should that be adjusted for the period in which it was created?  

And to that, would any fully trained togishi be able to polish to the style of the period?

[Jon]

"no disrespect Jon, capturing detail is difficult..."
 

none take, thank you and having this blade in front of me is a real pleasure.  Unfortunately using an iPhone with no photography skills does not do it or the Polish justice. 

[vajo]

Les Stewart is a good one. He was doing some nice work for my collection. After the Brexit all was to complicated with GB and Nihonto in Europe. What is very sad. 

Try to make better pictures Jon. 

[Stephen]

I meant no disrespect to your polisher.

Enjoy your new study piece.

[Jon]

Can I just say I’m very disappointed, the sword has a really beautiful polish, it’s very sad to see some unkind judgements on the Polish being made because of my photos and photographs skills being poor. Sometimes it is better to not say something when all you have is a poor picture to comment on if that impacts on another. feedback that you need to take better pictures would have been fine and is helpful, assumptions on the quality of the work and making comments on it from my poor pictures is I’m sorry to say a poor show. 

[DoTanuki yokai]

Looks like something Yamato related but I can’t say more without seeing the Nioiguchi and Jinie. 
I think The guide from Darcy is a little complicated and will in the end not give what I (we) are looking for. I like this one more http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/hamon.html

 

 

 

also look at this http://www.ksky.ne.j...ie99/appreciate.html 

 

Edit: also a  picture that shows the bare blade from directly above it so we can see how it curves is useful.

[John C]

It's difficult to tell zoomed in, but could that possibly be a bullet strike? Did the polisher say anything about it?

John C.

[DRDave]

Apologies for being off-topic, but speaking of Darcy...  I know it's trivial, but I would like to see him awarded a ranking of Grand Master.

[Ken-Hawaii]

Darcy was already a Grand Master to many of us, Dave.

 

Unlikely to be from a bullet, John. Knowing how a sword is actually used will give you a more-likely answer. Good job on  the restoration. Lots to study.