Sprinkles on a Tsuba

[FlorianB]

Hello all,

 

examining one of my Tsuba I recognized tiny bright spots if light falls on them aslope. Those are scattered irregularly all over the surface.
Sorry for the mediocre quality of my shot, but I hope You get the idea. Another picture of the same area in a steeper angel for comparison shows that these spots are no abrasions.

 

 

Seeing such sprinkles on a blade I would call them „nie“, but on Tsuba, too? I haven’t seen this before.
And does it tell something about the material or working process?

 

Best,
Florian

[C0D]

They look like small tekkotsu to me

[FlorianB]

I understand that tekkotsu appears in the rim area and consists of granular or linear embossed elements.

In this case here we have flat dots all over the plate, which are gleaming in angular light, but are black in normal view.

 

Florian

[Alex A]

I imagine that its just very small areas of the surface that have failed to patina or eroded patina.

 

For reasons such as wear and handling, rust flaking off and what not.

[OceanoNox]

It is likely texture, made before the patination process. The tekkotsu may be possible, but as I recall, even when tsuba are made with recycled materials, they are typically done with the least amount of forging possible, so these here are too small.

 

Nowadays, some craftsmen do patination in two steps: rust once fully, then remove the rust with some acid, and redo it once more. This will increase the roughness of the surface, and may cause some pitting.

[FlorianB]

Thank You for the input.

 

It's an older piece, so patination should be old, too.

 

At least it needs further investigation.

 

Florian

[Spartancrest]

I am being very very silly but this is what I think of when I read "Sprinkles on a Tsuba"  [Feel free to delete this post  ]

[ROKUJURO]

a YUMMY TSUBA!

[ROKUJURO]

On 7/27/2024 at 9:28 AM, FlorianB said:

I understand that tekkotsu appears in the rim area and consists of granular or linear embossed elements....

Usually, TEKKOTSU are not embossed but protruding from the surface. So this could well be granular TEKKOTSU having been polished just by handling the TSUBA. There are still more possibilities for a coarse surface structure. Perhaps photos of the complete TSUBA would help as well as more magnifyed ones.

[FlorianB]

Hi Jean,

here are some shots of the complete piece, however I haven’t managed to get better close-ups because of the lack of professional photo equipment. But I try again.

The above close-ups show the curves at the bottom.

 

 

 

Best,
Florian

[ROKUJURO]

Florian,

I wanted to exclude the possibility that it might have been cast and thus have this specific coarse surface, but it is definitely a very nice classic OWARI TSUBA, I think. So I come back to the TEKKOTSU explanation.

[FlorianB]

Owari would be my guess, too.

However, that’s what the paper says:

 

But folks, PLEASE! Take it as it is.
Not that vexed discussion about papers again!

DON'T!

 

Florian

[Geraint]

Dear Florian.

 

This may not be what you are seeing but have a look at the last line of the description of this tsuba, http://www.nihonto.us/KO KATCHUSHI RM.htm

 

Whatever you are seeing that's a lovely tsuba.

 

All the best.

[FlorianB]

Thank You, Geraint. Good hint, this could be the solution.

 

Easy to see, hard to photograph. Couldn’t get the sparkling correctly. But next try.
Maybe those will clarify.

 

 

Florian

[FlorianB]

There’s another point.
If those sprinkles are martensite, the piece must have been hardened.

 

But I learned that hardened Tsuba are brittle and could break so softer iron was in use.

 

What is to make out of it?

 

Florian