Japanese Army Court Sword

[montrealfan1986]

Hello,

 

I did some reading (dangerous) and found out that this saber with a dragonfly was an army court sword.  Similar ones look like the diplomat sword or ambassador sword.  This one might be a little older than the 1940s. Its certainly seen better days, but still cool to me. Thought I’d share.  

 

Best,

 

Matthew

[The Blacksmith]

Nice 

 

An interesting conundrum here, and one that I'd certainly be interested to hear members thoughts on please......

 

If, all the wire is present, would you re wrap it, or, if all the wire is not present, would collectors here replace it, or simply leave the sword as it is? Every collector has their own ideas as to what is acceptable, or desirable, so I'd be interested to find other collectors views please.

 

Apologies to @montrealfan1986 for asking this here, but think it would be interesting to know. By the way, have you acquired this sword?

[lonely panet]

what would your re-wrap it with?? 

[ChrisW]

There are professionals who CAN rewire a sword handle properly. But the big problem is sourcing appropriate replacement wire; which usually means original wire, which is almost certainly impossible to find. You'd have to know someone in Japan who has new-old stock of it.

[montrealfan1986]

Usually with antiques, I leave them the way I find them.  I bought this sword at a gun show in Columbia, South Carolina - which has sparked a new interest and enthusiasm for Japanese militaria and history. 

[Stephen]

I had a dirk rewired by a fellow who did a great job.  Hopefully I can find it in past post. No time at the moment. 

Maybe one of our grave digger can.

[The Blacksmith]

6 hours ago, lonely panet said:

what would your re-wrap it with?? 

Well as a professional metal worker, I do have access to all sorts of materials, or know where I can usually source them, so I guess I am lucky in that respect. In this particular case, it looks as though the wire is simply loose and not broken, so personally, I would try and re wire it using the original wire, which is certainly not as easy as using new wire, but can with care, often be done.

It is interesting to hear different people's thoughts on this subject. Restoration vs conservation is a bit of an emotive subject.

Personally, I am firmly in the 'we are only temporary custodians' camp, and thus we have a duty to look after these items and then pass them on in the same, or better, condition than we received them.

[Stephen]

I used to be skilled way back searcher.

I'm not using the right words to brick it back or maybe not far enough back.

 

I'll search my email to see if I can find the correspondence with the fellow 

[Stephen]

That worked but no results on board search to show his work.

 

His name Tom  Nardi

Spoiler

t.nardi@comcast.net

 Copied off email  not sure why it's black no problem for you if not using dark theme. 

When I said rewireing I didn't mean new wire like @The Blacksmith Russ I think wire on wiii be enough

[The Blacksmith]

This was a very simple sword to repair and re wire, a Danish NCO's 1910 pattern.

The wires look as though they are loose and uneven, but this is an optical illusion, they are tight and straight. Really difficult grips are rapier and small sword grips with multiple wires, possibly of different metals, and with wire 'turks head' knots on the end, and these can take days to wire!

 

 

And after...

 

The biggest problem is keeping the tension even and tight. This is easiest done in a lathe (Not swirched on!!!!). Medieval swords can also be a pain, as some of these grips can be eight or ten inches long!

 

 

[DTM72]

@montrealfan1986 I have lots of reference material for this type of sword....at this moment, not at my fingertips. We can meet-up at the show this coming Saturday and I can show you everything I have on this type of sword.

 

Dan

[montrealfan1986]

@DTM72 that sounds great. My brother and I will be down in the morning.  I was reading an article that said this might be from the Meiji era, 1870s-1900s. That's really neat.