greetings and what've i got here?

[gun addict]

Hello

 

This is my first post here, and i am a true newbie when it comes to antique blade weapons especially Nihontos. Recently i acquired a set of Katana and an O-tanto from a gentleman whose uncle brought them back from Japan during WWII as part of gun trade and ended up with them both for $150 apiece. I as a firearm collector recongnized the fact that the katana is in a WWII officer's gunto sheath but that's about it. The Katana and O-tanto are both unsigned and while the tanto shows very good waxy active hamon the katana showed a straight, non waxy hamon that is abit harder to catch

 

Please check out the pictures ive uploaded on photobucket and gave me an idea on the history and age of the blades, thank you very much in advance

 

 

 

http://s1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa463/swableader/

 

O-tanto pic

 

 

 

 

Katana pic

 

 

 

 

[Stephen]

welcome to the board and get ready for life long study of Nihonto, sorry i cant say much about what you have as all pix are too small to tell. Daito looks like buk not gunto

[NihontoEurope]

Hello,

 

Apart from pistols and machine guns you have a lot of out-of-focus-images of something that looks like a sword of some sort.

 

It is my believe that no one here is able to give you a fair judgement.

 

A humble opinion.

 

/Martin

[Geraint]

Hi Tian yi. Hope I have that right.

 

I agree with both comments, Stephen reckons that the sword is Buke, that is civil mounted but with a combat cover for use in WWII. Interesting sword which we will all look forward to seeing more of in better pictures.

 

Whatever you do, don't try any cleaning other than to apply a little light oil to the blades. It is terrifyingly easy to wreck a sword, Get stuck into some reading on the board, you are in for one heck of a ride here.

 

Even from these images I would say that you got a very good deal. Take it slow and learn a lot.

 

All the best

[gun addict]

my apology for the fuzzy pictures, ive got several more pictures just taken with a 20 dollar bill for size comparison

 

http://s1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa4 ... d%20tanto/

 

katana and tanto

 

katana tip and straight hamon

 

 

O-tanto tip and waxy Hamon

 

 

O-tanto

 

 

O-tanto hilt (sorry, not the right word i know)

 

 

katana size comparison

 

 

 

katana tsuba

[Brian]

Not an o-tanto, but a standard wakizashi.

The wakizashi looks to have a nice hamon (temper line) with some tobiyaki. But we will need more close up pics of the tang and blade in good light.

 

Brian

[gun addict]

i see, a wakizashi it is then......Besides the tang and a picture of the sword in good light what else is needed? Im very much interested in preserving the history of this blade

[gun addict]

Katana's tang

 

[Lindus]

Hi Tim

Your pic's need to be around the 900 pixel mark so the swords can be evaluated, not difficult, just use one of the photo shop type systems to crop and reduce after taking the pic's I use Fine pics but there are many others.

 

Close ups etc, suggest you check out the good info available on NMB Faq section above, pretty sure that taking pics etc is covered there.

Good venture

Roy

[gun addict]

i will have to get on that, but i dont think i have the softwares necessary for cropping and refining pictures, will do my best however

 

Meanwhile i'd like to know more informations on these swords based on the pictures ive posted, i know its a difficult task

 

these are as good of pictures as i can get with a crappy iphone and an outdated labtop

 

katana tang

 

 

katana tang and hilt

 

 

wakazashi tang

 

 

wakazashi tip black and white to show Hamon

 

 

Katana Tip

 

[Jean]

Almost impossible to say anything except they are in Civil mounts.

 

If you are under Windows, you can upload freely Microsoft Office Picture Manager

[Lindus]

i will have to get on that, but i dont think i have the softwares necessary for cropping and refining pictures, will do my best however

 

Meanwhile i'd like to know more informations on these swords based on the pictures ive posted, i know its a difficult task

 

 

Impossible,again refer to NMB Faq section and download as Jean suggests as well look at downloadining "Picassa", search google for photo shop type options.

Roy

[gun addict]

katana Boshi

[Lindus]

USE a scanner....

Try taking some advice on this , we are trying to help.

This is called the "Kissaki" and also "Boshi" google it.

Roy

[gun addict]

was the Kassaki or Boshi picture satistactory ? If so i ill somehow resize the other images i have on file due to them being too large to be uploaded. Hell i'll be grateful if someone of knowledge will let me email them all my images via attachment then post it here.

 

Again i hate to sound like a newbie but computer terms such as resize and pixel and such are as foreign to me as Boshi and Kassaki. I am learning however and thanks again for everyone's time

[Lindus]

We are not "getting" at you my friend,just suggesting some options. Check out my pics on my web site,may help in seeing what we need.

http://collectorsloot.homestead.com/boot5.html

 

Regrds

Roy

[gun addict]

well lindus now those pics are just beautiful. However i have a very limited budget so unfortunately iphone pictures are all that i can afford nowadays. Being a college student and an E-3 dosnt exactly give you alot of money to play around with. With that being said maybe i can borrow a friend's professional camera and have a few more pictures taken. However many times my photo become too large to upload

 

Also it makes me nervous to disassembly the swords apart every time as you'd all understand

[Lindus]

was the Kassaki or Boshi picture satistactory ? If so i ill somehow resize the other images i have on file due to them being too large to be uploaded. Hell i'll be grateful if someone of knowledge will let me email them all my images via attachment then post it here.

 

I'll give it a try Tim

 

greyman2@endworld.freeserve.co.uk

 

Roy

[Ron STL]

I saved a couple pics to "My Pictures" and could enlarge them somewhat and adjust contrast. The nakago appears mumei and tells us little from what I can see. The kissaki view shows a rather active hamon that's carried out through the boshi which would make me think "ko-to" work, not shin-to boshi. Can't say much more than that. Most likely another late ko-to wakizashi, ubu but unsigned. Most of these will turn out Bizen den something. (Nakago is not the wide, stubby uchigatana nakago though, you think?)

 

Ron H.

[gun addict]

Hi Lindus, ive sent all the pictures ive taken of these two blades to your email, let me know if you received it or could make anything of it.

 

Quick question, the sheath of the wakazashi is made of a , for lack of better term, laminated purplish wood? It almost looked as if its got glitters on the inside if that makes sense, what could you gents make of it?

[Lindus]

Hi Lindus, ive sent all the pictures ive taken of these two blades to your email, let me know if you received it or could make anything of it.

 

Done as much as was possible Tim and returned with some suggestions.

Regards

 

Roy