Restoration by FH

I sent Ford at the end of last year a totally depatinated Kozuka and a deeply rusted Tsuba (though rust was hardly visible).

BTW, never let (or remove) red rust between the tsuba sukashi

Here are a few pictures of before and after:

Hi Jean, why shouldnt you remove the red rust on sukashi tsuba?, i presume you mean on the inner sides...

Alex

Alex,

The inner walls of sukashi are treated like the patina on a nakago. You never clean them. They aid in dating and should be left to age gracefully. Cleaning them is as bad as cleaning the tang of a sword and kills the value.

Brian

Cheers Brian, im glad i found that out, clueless with tsuba, sorry Jean to go off on a tangent with your post...Cool tsuba by the way, sukashi do look the best, in my opinion....

Alex..

Agreed with Brian at 100%, unless it is very active red rust which has nothing to do with age.

The restoration definitely helps one to imagine how these would have originally looked when worn by a samurai in mounts. The kozuka restored is wonderful and gives a much better pictures of what the original owner wanted.

I was wondering how restorations are treated by the tosogu community/experts in Japan? Is it like polishing, if done right it enhances the value (and appreciation)? Or is it like fine furniture where originality is paramount and refinishing destroys value. Especially for kinko pieces, if you have a papered piece in poor condition and have it restored by someone with the expertise such as Ford, does this enhance the value? devalue the papers? Is it frowned upon or encouraged?

I'm thinking that machibori pieces are treated more like paintings than swords, so a restoration is usually ok if done correctly and may enhance the value since it brings out the original artwork?

Jean,

wonderful items and great work from Ford!

I have been looking quite some time at this TSUBA, I like it very much, but I was not sure about the condition as it looked as if there was a repair weld on the right side on the MIMI. Perhaps it was only corrosion?

Yes, Jean, only corrosion

Hi Jean,

Ford does good restoration work from my own experience as well. At some point last year I was trying to purchased your Owari Sukashi tsuba or its "twin brother" but I was a bit too late.

Yours truly,

David Stiles