Possible Hira-Zukuri

[smac401]

Hey guys,

Just got this one from an uncle earlier this week and am somewhat stumped. I thought it was a naginata that has been cut down at first, but have since been advised differently. It has been shortened several times and is in need of a lot of care, don't hack on me to bad I just got it yesterday. It is unsigned but had a nice tsuba and single menuki with it when I got it. They are posted in the tsuba reference request area. The blade is old but how old and where it came from is any ones guess. I feel it could be brought back to life but it is way beyond my hand to do so. If anyone has any ideas on the time period or any other information please feel free to comment. I added the menuki anyway, its nice..Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

Steve M.

[Marius]

Steve,

 

this looks like it might be an interesting blade, a shortened wakizashi. But your pictures are simply not good enough to allow anybody to make any kind of statement. It could be a sword from the Muromachi period, but it could be Bakumatsu. It could be a kitchen knife (OK, just a joke )

Please do post some better quality pictures (don't forget the tang) and maybe people here will have something to say about the blade...

 

You will probably know by now, that any "restoration" attempts by yourself or an unqualified "polisher" will result in a serious deterioration or outright destruction of this blade.

 

There are two ways for you to go:

 

1. leave it as it is. You can cover it with a thin film of high quality machine oil or gun oil (Balistol works for me) or choji-abura (the clove-smelling stuff used for Japanese swords). Do nothing more.

OR

2. find a polisher (a real one, not some self-taught idiot) with the help of this forum

Send the sword to him to have it assessed (be prepared for a waiting time and for some costs).

Maybe the polisher will want to open a "window" to see if the blade is worth polishing at all.

If it is, you'll have to decide if you can afford it/want to spend the money. Unless it is a masterpiece, it will probably make no economic sense. Polishing is expensive, you can't do it on the cheap, really not, unless you want to ruin the blade, that is.

 

OK, I think that is all. Has been said here a Thousand times, BTW :D

 

Thanks for your attention

[nagamaki - Franco]

Attempted to open these image files which set off virus alarms, just fyi.

[Jamie]

They do not open for me either, although I did not get virus alarms.

[Brian]

Happens sometimes with Imageshack. I'm told it isn't them really, but some of the ads they have featured on their page, and have been told there isn't too much harm there in spite of the warnings.

But use caution anyways.

 

Brian

[smac401]

Hey guys,

Sorry for the late response, been out of town. I spoke with someone about it and the pricing is kind of steep for such a short blade (14.75 in). I know the photos are not that great and the imageshack has been giving me fits as well. Some killer virus has attached itself to it. I had to back my computer up the other day as well. I think Brian finally removed the post because of it.

I will try and get some better photos of it and find another site to use. Any suggestions on that would be nice. As far as the blade goes someone has tried a cleaning on it but it doesn't appear to be to bad and can probably be fixed. It does have an active hamon but I don't think I can get a close enough photo of it. I will up date when I can. Thanks again.

 

Steve M.