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Ebay Tsukamaki "Museum quality"

Jimmy R
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Jimmy R Collaborator

Jimmy R

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So I made the huge mistake at the Minnesote show of not leaving my tsuka to be re-wrapped by Mr. Buck as I had spent all my money at the time and so later picked an ebay seller with, as he stated "18 years of experience" who offered "museum quality" work. I sent him pictures of the handles and told him to alter them as he saw fit. I sent him $200 and he was very enthusiastic about getting started but insisted I immediately send the other $200. So I did just that. He stated that we would talk about what I wanted when the handles got there. I emailed him what I wanted and gave him specifics about Menuki placement etc. Nothing I asked him or requested was responded to. I sent him a picture of what I wanted and he did not respond. I then after 2 weeks of silence posted a request for his contact info on the board here. THEN he contacted me and made excuses saying he would send me pictures and the handles would be sent monday. Then another 8 days went by with no contact. I have two cousins in Half Moon Bay where I grew up and that is near him so I asked one of them to go get the tsuka. "No problem" my cousin Chad said. So after telling him this he finally sent the tsuka and sent the attached pictures. I am very upset about this. They represent some of the worst Tsukamaki I have ever seen. I asked for a refund of course but he told me to send the Handles back and he "would make it right by altering the cores". What a joke. DO NOT SEND ANYTHING TO THIS GUY!!! He should not be doing any restoration work. I got an email from someone who had a sword polished by him and was also upset. it seems no one wants to put a warning out about this guy. But I am now. post-2530-141968284183_thumb.jpg

Jussi Ekholm Grand Master

Jussi Ekholm

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I believe this is his website: http://www.takonomakurarestorations.com/

 

Now I may be just a novice but I wouldn't give him a sword for his 115$ per inch polishing work. Some of the work examples on his site seem to be of lesser quality.

 

Here is one small part of his bio: A consumate perfectionist, Eric's attention to even the smallest details, has earned him the reputation as one of the finest sword restoration artist outside of Japan..., his bio does not say a word about his training.

 

Sorry to hear about your bad experience.

Jimmy R Collaborator

Jimmy R

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Thank you Jean. I am going to contact him immediately. The large handle is for a Bingo Mihara. My favorite posession and I want it done right. I really appreciate everyones support in this. I really got sucked in by the way his bio is worded. I have not had anything like this happen in a long time. Ebay is treacherous waters. I went swimming and got attacked by a shark.

jim

Jimmy R Collaborator

Jimmy R

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His website is Montana Iron. Very good guy. I have ironically recently been dealing with him. I just saw some of his work and am very impressed. He will be using the best rayskin (from me) for his core builds with nice large nodes. Very easy to deal with and always does exactly what he has said. Maybe a good idea to use him from now on. His URL is

http://www.montanairon.com/

Jim

  • 2 weeks later...
Jiro49 Experienced

Jiro49

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If anyone wants to see what this guy does to blades let me know... He ruined a blade my friend sent him a 28.75" kiyomitsu just destroyed!!!!

 

Matt L. :bang:

Jorgensen Proficient

Jorgensen

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I am indeed very, very sorry to hear he has destroyed your friends blade. Especially from a good smith. Is it totally destroyed or will it be possible for a professional polisher to save the blade? I would indeed like to see some pictures, if its ok with your friend that you post the pics here. I think your friend should claim full refund for both polish and the blades value!

Jiro49 Experienced

Jiro49

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I bought the blade from my friend since he couldnt even stand to look at it.. Send me a PM with your email and Ill send pics.

 

I think too much meat was removed and anymore polishes will just bring out the shintetsu....

Jorgensen Proficient

Jorgensen

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  kusunokimasahige said:
It might be wise to post them here as a warning for the future, and it would be a good thing to show how a blade can get ruined by a bad polisher.

 

If you PM/email me the pictures I can post them here if you like.

 

KM

 

I agree... however PM is sent

Jiro49 Experienced

Jiro49

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I have no idea what the style of polish is, :dunno: not sure if its hera-kage utsuri or just hazuya work, same with the muneyaki..?

 

Now this wasnt in great condition but.......Damn!

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Jorgensen Proficient

Jorgensen

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I think I can tell you what this is.

 

To me, there are some better polished areas and some grey/tinted areas, along with some scratches etc. It seem to be a mixture of not doing the work on the "big" stones properly and then not doing the job with the fingerstones (especially Jizya). If all mentioned is not done properly, this is the result you get.

 

Or shortly said - nothing he did was done properly.

 

I have some experience with polish myself (with much better result than this!), but I know what it looks like, when you havent done the job well too ;)

(dont worry guys, have not destroyed any blades or done polish on valuable blades and will not do)

 

What I cant figure out, is what all the very white "scratches" on the pictures are? Are they really scratches, openings or just the camera that make it worse than it is?

 

-Jimi

Jorgensen Proficient

Jorgensen

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  Jiro49 said:
Hey, its worth twice that :glee:

 

Done! ;) -Does it comes with a swordbag then =)

 

  Jiro49 said:
Forgot to mention, he told my friend this should be sent to shinsa???????? :freak:

OMG... -he really has high though about his own polishing skills!! WT*?! (sorry, but...) Have you/your friend told him he did a crappy job? What is his reaction?

Jiro49 Experienced

Jiro49

Posted
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He kept saying its museum quality and the swords came out great... I will add pictures of my onld sword that he did (which I sold a week after I received it back). He also polished my friends munemitsu wak and yuo can barely see the hada.. How do you not bring out the hada on an Oei Bizen blade?????

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