polishing ?

[Jock]

Hi folks,

 

Don't kill me for this question......

 

I have a few swords, 2 swords do only show the temperline when held against a light source in a certain angle.....nice ones by the way.

 

The problem is that I don't have the means of spending $1000's on a professional polishing - is there a cheaper way to do something to make the temperline a bit more visible - or can a "non-full-polish" be done by somebody ? etc etc

 

Thank you for your great help + advise

 

Regards,

 

Jock

[James]

I came across this sword polishing cream on ebay.com

I'm not really sure how well it will work for you, but it seems that it has worked for other people.

Here's the link for you:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Japanese-ANTIQUE-SA ... dZViewItem

[Henry Wilson]

I would not bother with polish cream. It makes me think of the Grow "it" big creams that I know nothing about at all.

 

If you want to have a bash at it, I recommend a regime of uchiko cleaning. I am doing this with an old wakizashi that I have that would not survie another polish.

 

What I do is I clean the out-of-polish blade with uchiko once a month as if I were cleaning the blade as directed by the NBTHK guidelines. I take of the oil and apply uchiko and give the sword about 20 wipes on bothside, very lightly and evenly and then give the kissaki a slight once or twice over. I take care not to put finger pressure on ridges and crisp lines as uchiko will take these away. Hamon and the like should start to come out. The only think it is a very slow process and it may take years to really see anything. What you should do is take photos of before and compare them monthly (or bi annually) to see how things are going.....

[sencho]

That cream is basically "Collinites Metal Wax" poured into little containers... I usually retail a gallon of this stuff for the same price as this guy retails a thimble full....

 

He says his supply is extremely limited, but this is bollocks... there is an endless supply of the stuff.... he's obviously a crook.

 

If you like I will sell you a gallon for the same price, but only on the condition that you NEVER use it on nihonto.

 

Nihonto is a work of art and a peice of history.... don't nickel and dime it.... there is only one way to properly polish a Japanese Sword and that is send it to a Professonal Japanese Sword Polisher.

 

Cheers!

[nagamaki - Franco]

one less expensive option for consideration is having a "window opened" by a qualified polisher to get a better view of the hamon and activity. This might also help in determining whether a full polish is warranted in the future.