Hada Identification

[Mark C]

Hi All,

 

Hope this is in the right section.

 

I'm not trying to prove the sword anything other than Showato as it has a seki stamp and is signed Seki Ju Maekawa Kanetsugu Saku Kore.

 

But I can't place the hada, I don't think it's Muji as I would expect. I believe it to be the original war time polish as it has a good inch of unsharpened edge to it by the habaki.

 

Your thoughts greatly appreciated.

 

All the best

 

Mark

 

[Stephen]

Surprised it has seki stamp. Nice hada.

[paulb]

Mark,

I am not sure it is of much help but it looks to be a very tight ko-itame. The brightness and apparent darkness makes it look as though there is a lot going on within the jigane which does seem far better than an average seki stamped sword. While it is impossible to tell what steel was used in its manufacture the hada does suggest it was at least partly hand made. The darkness in the steel might suggest imported steel was used. The Showa specialists can probably throw more light on it.

If the rest of the sword is like this it looks to be an interesting piece, well done.

[nagamaki - Franco]

From a previous thread on this topic:

 

 

Posted 14 January 2010 - 03:38 PM

zuiho said

In my experience, showato will show muji hada; no grain pattern in the steel between the hamon and shinogi ridge line.

Hello William, All,

An additional comment regarding muji hada. 

The term "muji hada" is often used in association with machined Japanese sword steel as in the case with showa-to. This, at least in my experience, is a misnomer, because muji steel is a given specific term that is applied and used to describe hada in true nihonto where the folding pattern is not distinguishable, as in say for instance the same way that mokume, masame, or itame, would be, BUT, unlike machined steel, muji hada does indeed show hand forging qualities that make it "clearly distinguishable" from machined steel. Once a collector sees real muji hada and the image becomes imprinted, they will begin to understand what is meant by the term lifeless when it is applied to machined steel. So, perhaps we should call machined steel, just that, and stop slandering the term muji hada. Oops!, I bet I'm going to be real popular with the showato guys now 

 

[PNSSHOGUN]

Looks just like any old Showato steel to me.

[Mark C]

Thanks Guys for your comments.

 

Like I said, I ain't trying to make this something it isn't but of the three Showato I have in my collection, This one is very different from the other two.

 

All the best

 

Mark

[ROKUJURO]

'Machined steel' is quite different from 'machine steel'. The first is related to a working process, the latter is an industrial material. These two should not be confounded.

Any kind of HADA is a result of repeated folding and welding the steel. 

[Stephen]

John id like to see all your showato steel like that.

[Brian]

Let's not forget this chart.
There is not just one level of Showato. Can easily have some hada, in spite of what some of the below info says. If the steel was worked, it can show grain.

[SAS]

Mill steel can often show a pattern as a result of thermal cycling.