Kantaro Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 Encountered already a few times online some Tsuba with a weird blackened color...wondered what happened because some looked like real old tsuba. Some seem to put color enhancing rust prevention product on their Tsuba??? Some sellers even sell this stuff in Japan: Sword accessories (tsuba and iron accessories), Nambu ironware, iron kettles, antique ironware, natural "white glue wood condensed tannin" color enhancing and rust prevention agent, turns red rust into black rust (tannin iron) | Jauce Shopping Service | Yahoo Japan Auctions. eBay Japan Not a good idea if you ask me? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buchtas Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 Restorer here, anti corrosion agents based on tannin are probably the best and the most gentle anti corrosion solution there is. It neutralizes active rust and turns it into black oxide that is inactive and harmless to the item. And it makes a nice surface colour, depends on the mixture used. We use it in our museum very extensively and sucessfully, not only for conservation but also to to give artifacts we are restoring its period correct patina. I can give example of proper museum level use: Sorry that this example is not a nihonto but it will have to do. Here we have a rapier style sword, that was missing the handle and was bathed in phosphorus based acid by our predecessors in 70s. That bath, removed all the rust but also, well made everything very porous, and my job was to get it to a presentable state in other words restore it as close i could get it to the period correct state. Aside from making a new wire wrap i had to polish the blade, and then use tannin to patiante the pommel and crossguard/basket. as you can see it was in very sorry state this is roughly half way before beign finished and you can see on the pommel and crossguard that i was already using the tannin to slowly get it to where i was happy with it. and this is finished sword completly restored to a period correct look with adequate layer of tannin on the pommel and the crossguard. This example was already cleaned by the accid so no rust was there but if I was to get a, lets say plain round iron tsuba (i found an example here https://shogunsgalle...n-w-golden-dew-inlay) I would approach this firstly with very fine carding wire wheel to get the surface rust away without damagind the surface of the tsuba and then would repetadly used a tannin, you would have to force it with a brush, that has a thick and strong hair, down as hard as you could, you have to get the agent into every microscopic crevice you can so it can neutralize the rust and change it to the black rust, and then I would either let the tanin there if I was satisfied with the surface colour or just wire wheel it off to have a clean iron finish but free of rust. So this is my opinion and way i was taught by todays standarts but feel free to add to the debate, restoration/conservation is focused today on as non invasive ways as possible and also reversibility of the procedures done. PS: if anyone is curious about my background, studied restoration for 3 years, graduated and now working for a military history institue in prag as a restorator/conservator. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spartancrest Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 45 minutes ago, Kantaro said: Some seem to put color enhancing rust prevention product on their Tsuba Well this guy the "Backyard Blacksmith" https://www.jauce.co...j2hmyuc?search=tsuba is a big fan of the stuff - all his work is uniformly coloured with the same artificial patina. It stands out. [but in this case not in a good way!] JMHO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buchtas Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 3 minutes ago, Spartancrest said: Well this guy the "Backyard Blacksmith" https://www.jauce.co...j2hmyuc?search=tsuba is a big fan of the stuff - all his work is uniformly coloured with the same artificial patina. It stands out. [but in this case not in a good way!] JMHO this is really thick and not uniform layer of the stuff, really not good looking 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROKUJURO Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 My opinion: Do not touch anything Japanese when you are not trained in Japan by an expert. All "general" restorations are wrong and will damage the object, often beyond repair. Museum restorators are the worst; they know nothing about Japanese arts and crafts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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