Gendai Amahide Gunto blade unusual

[Ron M]

Good morning folks, came across this, purchased it as a regular Type 98 mounted Gunto, and immediately felt it was unusual and special. I collect military swords and this is an Amahide blade, the papers are old as seen, but I don’t think it was a “bought paper” for a Showato. (There is no change in thickness on the nakago where they scoured out a stamp.) Bearing that in mind, I have also included here, with pics of this blade and paper, a pic of what a Gendaito by Amahide has for Jigane and Hamon. This looks similar in my opinion. Thank you for looking!

[Stephen]

Nice unit Amahide made all ranges of nihonto. 

This looks like oil quench with acid polish. 

Nakago to dark to see where it may have been stamped. 

[Ron M]

Thanks Stephen. I understand your view. i will post the nakago pics in a few hours to show it has ZERO signs of having a stamp ever. I have his sons blade also with a stamp removed and it’s obvious.
I have scoured looking at his Gendai and they all have the dark peaks on the hamon leading my thinking. Also, I’m interested to see ANY oil quench with this type of activity clearly present as I have seen none like this. I have seen several acid polishes and they all “feel” lumpy under the cotton swab but this DOES NOT and is smooth as glass. 
 I’m not trying to convince anyone else, only myself. This blade is a beauty and fits perfectly with my Gendai star blades. Be back soon! Thank you again

[Stephen]

I read that wrong I thought you said it had been removed.

 

[Brian]

Looks well forged, from tamahagane and maybe other steel mixed in. But I agree that it is likely oil quenched. One of those hybrid blades imho, but a lovely one and far from your usual Showato.

[vajo]

The coloring of the steel looks strange on the pictures for a gendai blade and showa-to. I think someone was fiddling around with acid or some kind of polish to improve what ever. I see those black spots and a dark shadow over the tempering line which clearly indicates showa-tp. But last i saw a late shin shinto blade in the same condition. So I'm not sure what i see. 

[Ron M]

This sword has NO acid applied. I can testify to this. Traditional style polish with stones done during a Batto class instructional I taught. This is the SAME sword from my prior post. I appreciate you guys for replying also. Be home soon to show nakago better

[Larason2]

Well, the slurry from hazuya stones is acidic... My opinion is that the frosting was hand applied with hazuya stones, but sorry Ron, it looks pretty uneven. A bit too much time spent on the white parts, not enough elsewhere. Hazuya stones are a good place to start when you're polishing, because if you overdo it it is pretty easy to get it off. Plus a lot of people like the "overpolished" look (hadori). Whoever polished it should look at Takaiwa's book for some better tips for technique. 

 

I also agree oil quenched. The "dark spots" in the hamon are there because oil doesn't boil as finely as water. So you get more irregular hamon lines because the places where the lines of the hada cross the hamon look dark and irregular in the lines between the lighter lines. They are dark because the oil actually cools them down faster, so the transition in the types of grain is more stark. Water leaves an insulating layer of steam, which actually slows down the change in metal temperature compared to oil, leaving a finer hamon and a more gradual change of colour in the hada at the line. It also makes the sword more likely to crack! (due to a higher risk of exaggerated temperature differences in the metal). 

 

Activity is the result of the carbon concentration in the metal, not the type of quench. The higher the carbon though, the greater the risk the sword will break, because over a certain percentage, it makes the metal brittle. Great smiths took risks on the metals jacketing the blade metal to get great activity in there. Modern Chinese smiths use relatively low carbon in these layers to help prevent blade failures. So you can get good activity in an oil quenched blade, it depends more on how it was forged.

 

Some acid polishes feel lumpy when you polish them off, but some don't. It depends on what type of acid it is, the nature of the metal, and how thickly it's applied. If it was very carefully applied, it can feel very smooth. I also have a lot of experience here from polishing reproductions! Some Chinese finishers use stones that give a frosted effect now after the jihada has been acid etched, but that's only on high grade reproductions, and it's not the same as on a Nihonto, because their polish usually isn't an actual sashikomi.

[mecox]

Ron et al.,  here's some Amahide for comparison:

 

[Ron M]

Pics of nakago, no indentation present to indicate a stamp was ever applied. Also, my opinion is he was right handed, by looking at the file marks on the right half of each side. Lol