"...and then you messed it up!"

[werner]

Hi Folks,

 

..thought it might be interested to start a new post - giving people the chance to let their pants down!

 

I think as with nihonto there is the same danger as with any other knowledge based thing in life.....after a few years one forgets his humble starts - I would be interested how many of the people who "are out for the kill of anybody who touches a nihonto in a less traditional way" actually have put their hands on swords (as novices) in exactly this way when they became interested in the subject. In other words: What did you mess up when you started collecting. (And I know this will take some courage .......)

 

Jock

[drbvac]

Had "thank God" mumei katana, poor polish - not great so hit a 2x4 with it to see how far into it would cut = about 1/2 inch

[xxlotus8xx]

I'd be quite surprised if anyone admits to anything less that tradition. We'll see.

[werner]

I might as well start

 

...I actually was stupid enough to trying to use lots of glue to "fix" a tsuka and managed to put the nakago into it when still not dried - to find out that when it was dry - the glue didn't only keep the tsuka together but also secured the nakago in the tsuka in a not desirable way.....still bothered about this one eventhough it was a tired showa blade....

 

And then there was the time when I got a thick/beefy kanemichi katana - long nasaga and good fittings for $600 and returned it to the seller as it was blunt as I thought it as a almost "fatal" flaw - I didn't think it was worth to have it polished.....

 

Mind you I learned a lot since then - but still only scratching the surface (surface scratching doesn't refer to handling a nihonto btw)

 

Jock

 

(intention of this posting is to remind some people that they might have done things wrong in times past too and to educate everyone in what shouldn't be done.....just to explain my intentions and to avoid misunderstandings!)

[xxlotus8xx]

I'm waiting for someone to admit use of CLR or chemicals to clean rust...

Personally I have always asked first and was detered from disaster from the kind hearted NMB senior members.

But a great thread subject!!

[John A Stuart]

Over-use of uchiko. Every week when I got my first blades, just couldn't let them rest. Now it is rarely used and never on my best. John

[jason_mazzy]

Tell me more about this over use of uchiko? Was it that you were scratching the blade by to much pressure?

[Toryu2020]

This story originally puiblished in the NCJSC News letter but...

 

I had a signed and dated Shinshito that I used for Iai and Tameshigiri practice. I cut cardboard, mailing tubes, plastic coke bottles, tatami mat (not tatami-goza) whole mats!, swamp grass, pampas grass and all kinds and sizes of bamboo. The blade never cracked, chipped or bent but I sure put a lot of wear into the blade. Painted the saya with green auto paint, wore out two tsuka and two saya.

 

Having learned the error of my ways, had the sword polished and put away somewhere safe where it will never face the danger of this kind of destruction again...

-t

 

@Ray be careful dude we have video evidence on you!

[John A Stuart]

Fortunately I stopped before any really noticeable damage. The biggest fear I had subsequently was I was using too much pressure on the boshi and losing crispness of the mitsugashira. It just was totally unnecessary. John

[jason_mazzy]

not to derail this topic, but I have some very beautiful ducks, and thought of making a duck feather that would be wrapped and made for use on nihonto. As rumor has it they are used for sweeping uchiko powder off the blade before the paper. Was curious if anyone here would be intereted.

[xxlotus8xx]

@Ray be careful dude we have video evidence on you!

 

Non-Nihonto. Doesn't count

 

Although I do try and take good care of them and the higher end ones have seen Tameshigiri twice at the most. And then safely filed away.

[sanjuro]

OK I'll come clean! at the very beginning of my collecting I had a shot at polishing. This was pre internet and I had no mentor in those days. The result was I ruined a blade... Not a good blade but a a nihonto never the less. I still have the blade and I still regret bitterly my ill informed attempt at polishing. Dont go there!

 

Far from wanting to discourage this topic, may I just make an observation? A cathartic admission of abuse/misuse of a nihonto by the very same people who give advice on this forum is fine and I dont mind at all participating. Most of us started somewhere and have made all manner of mistakes in the journey to where we are today. My experience of sharing such admissions however, is such that having illustrated what not to do by admitting ones own mistakes often leads to the novice becoming convinced that they would not have committed the error in the same way. They then proceed to attempt the same thing in their own way and simply repeat the error by taking a different path to the same destination and with the same or a similar result.

 

Caveat Emptor..... or should that be Caveat Actor?

[zuiho]

Hello,

 

One of my first books was B.W. Robinson's Arts of the Japanese Sword. In it was a small section on how to clean up rusty iron tsuba. This involved a wood fire and black shoe polish.

Naturally, I just had to try it . It was not a good tsuba to begin with but with this treatment I successfully made it much worse.

About this time, on my first sword, I decided to clean up the small rust spots along the edge. I had uchiko powder but decided Naval jelly was much better suited. I must tell you, the stain this stuff leaves behind is a fair imitation of a sashikomi polish. Might look ok on a Chinese fake but not so good on a nihonto.

Bill G.

[Jean]

Keith,

 

Forty years ago, I did the same with a suriage wakizashi. I gave it to polish to a shop but 3O years later I gave it to a togishi who rectified everything.

 

The only excuse is that there was no litterature or mentor in France and neither internet. Nowadays with all the information at hand nobody has any excuse.

 

What was done forty years ago could be excused, but not now.

[IanB]

After being bitten by the bug, I remembered that, as a young kid, I had played with an armour in the stables of the local vicarage. It had been donated to a jumble sale and nobody would buy it so the vicar simply dumped it out of the way. Plucking up courage, I went to see the vicar who decribed how he had chucked it out two years previously, but was informed it might still be under the rubbish in the garden. I excavated what was left of it and after de-rusting it with sand paper, filling the rusted holes with fibre-glass and re-painted it black, re-laced it with football boot laces. It was my pride and joy at the time. There I have admitted my sins. Bit like A.A. this. Not of course that I have any knowledge of such organisations.

Ian Bottomley

[Icepic]

I won a auction for a waki on e-bay for about $450. USD. It is uba with a mei but has a fatal flaw. the yakiba runs off the blade at the kissaki. (no boshi). So what I did was to clean the blade with was 99.99% pure methanol, then treated the blade with Renaissance Wax. Most collectors know about Renaissance Wax, however I am sure it is not accepted by collectors of nihonto. I will not use it on my good blades but I don't yet regret using it on that blade. I am not recommending this, let me make that clear, becouse it is non-traditional and I was quite nervous about doing it. Well, so far so good. It's a shame about the fatal flaw, becouse other than that it is a nice blade. I thought about entering it for kantei-sho last August in San Francisco but I sure it would have been useless. Sorry, kind of got off topic. Anyway that is the most non-traditional thing that I have done to date.

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

so the vicar simply dumped it out of the way.

 

Sometimes I understand Ford's attitude toward clergy...

[reinhard]

has a fatal flaw. the yakiba runs off the blade at the kissaki. (no boshi).

 

Since it's a wakizashi with a mei it is probably a fatal flaw here, but just to prevent further mistakes: Yakiba running off the blade at the yokote can be tolerated on very old blades (late Heian/early Kamakura period). If the blade is important from a historical and artistic point of view, missing boshi is not considered a fatal flaw anymore. BTW On some very old blades boshi is consisting only of a tiny band of nioi along the fukura. It takes a good polisher to bring it out.

 

reinhard