Curious about.....why?

[Hokke]

So I just picked this up and while it hasn't arrived yet and I haven't seen it in person, I'm curious as to why it could be in such a condition. If it were here in the states, I would assume someone picked it up at a garage sale and went to town on it as a DIY. But no, this is coming out of Japan and im curious if anyone has ideas as to why it was taken this far down and left there. First thing I thought was maybe to hide kizu, but no damage was mentioned, which doesn't necessarily mean anything, but it's a reputable dealer. I did not pay much for it, so it doesn't really matter to me either way, just surprised its wasn't at least evened out to a consistent base finish. 

 

[PNSSHOGUN]

Amateur polish to remove rust, likely Gimei. What exactly convinced you to part money for this?

[Hokke]

35 minutes ago, PNSSHOGUN said:

Amateur polish to remove rust, likely Gimei. What exactly convinced you to part money for this?

Dont know if it's gimei, im far from educated enough to make that determination. It came with full koshirae which rendered the blade nearly a freebee for the price. Im accustomed to seeing blades coming out of Japan that are in unrestored condition, old polish, oxidation etc...but not like this. I guess DIYers are in Japan too, I dunno, just expected this condition to be more likely found here in the states I guess.

 

[Tensho]

I've been seeing this done a lot by Japanese dealers(especially on ebay) my guess is they're taking Hazuya or Jizuya stones to rusted blades. I don't understand why they do this. 

[Kiita]

On 1/17/2025 at 6:34 PM, Tensho said:

I've been seeing this done a lot by Japanese dealers(especially on ebay) my guess is they're taking Hazuya or Jizuya stones to rusted blades. I don't understand why they do this. 

That kind of scratch pattern is far too coarse for hazuya or jizuya, more like arato. You would be there for the rest of your life trying to grind through pitting with uchigumori fingerstones. Presumably the previous owner went at it with a 1-300 grit green silicon carbide stone such as are quite common in Japan.

[KungFooey]

Another possibility is that the dealer put it in for polish and they discovered a hitherto unseen kizu. It would then make sense for the polisher to call the dealer, telling him what he found and the dealer saying "ok, stop now and I'll pay you for what you've done" - then to offload it to the foreign market.

[Tohagi]

Quite a rude work, even in first steps, for a Japanese polisher. Il the omote side, the shinogi-ji is ondulated all the way...

Looks mecanical more than arato stone work.

[Hokke]

7 hours ago, KungFooey said:

Another possibility is that the dealer put it in for polish and they discovered a hitherto unseen kizu. It would then make sense for the polisher to call the dealer, telling him what he found and the dealer saying "ok, stop now and I'll pay you for what you've done" - then to offload it to the foreign market.

That's what I assumed perhaps, but the dealer didnt mention anything about any kizu when I inquired and it's a reputable dealer. Im hoping whatever the reason will be fairly evident when it arrives.

[Hokke]

7 hours ago, Tohagi said:

Quite a rude work, even in first steps, for a Japanese polisher. Il the omote side, the shinogi-ji is ondulated all the way...

Looks mecanical more than arato stone work.

I noticed this as well, but since I am unversed in foundation stone work and its appearance, I hope it is either consistent with course stones or it's just the pictures and lighting.

[The Forest Ninja]

That scratch pattern is way too coarse to be an Uchigumori. It's not a consistent pattern either.

So unless the person was bouncing the whetstone on the blade I'm guessing it's a belt sander.

[Mark S.]

Blade has been extremely overground in the center.  Notice how blade flares out near the kissaki and machi and main part of blade is much thinner.  Geometry of blade is way off.