Ed

Try my friend, Patrick Hastings at Tagane Arts (link below). He makes Tsuba and fittings in a tradititonal manner. He does use chemicals for patination, but so does everyone else including the Japanese (horse piss and daikon is a chemical solution). He does really nice work and can do custom orders. He will get back to you, though he may be slow to answer as he and his wife just had a new baby. Tell him I sent you. http://www.taganearts.com/Fittings/FittingsideMenu.htm

Good advise by Curran and Rich. While to my semi-trained eye these shout FAKES, I can see how many buyers could be fooled. Sadly when I look at e-bay I think many are already being fooled daily. Many of the ones seen there appear to be nothing more than late period tsuba made for the tourist trade (shirimono). This does not mean to say that there is anything wrong with modern made tsuba, if fact there are some exquisite works out there, and quite pricey as well. In fact I am looking for Gendai Tsuba by "Toshiyuki Tomoaka". If by chance one of you run across works by him, please let me know.

Hi guys, Glad to know you enjoyed the pics. You should all save your money and plan to come next year. Brian, sorry I didn't realize you had asked a question. SF and Florida are pretty close in size, with SF inching ahead maybe slightly. BTW: The Florida Token Kai is in Febuary. Regards, Ed

Andreas, It is evident to me as well that you do not want to put it into Gunto mounts. Yet it sounds as though you are trying to justify the Gunto mounts to offset the cost of a koshirae. There have been many older swords placed into gunto mounts and many gendaito placed into more traditional mounts. Over the years many gendai have been remounted for Iai. Maybe you should either slow down and save your money for the koshirae. Or consider a more cost effective way. I question some of the cost of your restoration. restauration of tsuba, tsuba fitting with copper for nakago, restauaration of fushi, kashira, menuki and kurikataBuy fittings which need no restoration, I have remounted several swords and never had to restore menuki, f/k, tsuba. If the tsuba you choose doesn't fit well replace the sekigane yourself. it is easy on iron tsuba, copper is soft and works easily, it is attached with jewelers solder. Simple. Use horn for the kojiri, koiguchi and kurigata. The most difficult parts are making the saya and tsuka. Think about have the saya made and finish it yourself. If not you can have one made with cashew lacquer and horn fittings, in basic black for approx. $450 A new tsuka core with new same and new wrap (using your fittings) should run you approx., $350 - $400. The rest depends on how much you spend on fittings. Bottom line, mount it in whatever style makes you happy.

The 2007 San Francisco Token Kai, put on by the NCJSC was as expected, a show to be remembered. Most of the US dealers were in attendance along with several of the Japanese dealers including Seikeido, AOI-Art, Bunsai, and Taikeido. Hundreds of collectors and part time dealers were there as well. The floor was active throughout the show, with buying and selling from start to finish. There was most any type sword available, from budget level to exquisite Juyo quality. There were fittings, books, netsuke, cloisonné, pottery, scrolls, woodblocks. And when things slowed down, my buddy Al had a large bottle of Makers Mark under the Table. Truly a great show. The NBTHK /AB presented a display of Tanto which were incredible. Mr. Benson gave a very educational lecture on the history of Tanto as well as an individual description and history of each featured Tanto. There were almost twenty tanto available for viewing. They included such smiths as Awataguchi Kuniyoshi, Soshu Yukimitsu, Yamato Kanetsugu, Soshu Hiromasa, Yamashiro Nobuyoshi, Yasutsugu, Hisamichi, etc., etc. My two personal favorites were the Soshu Yukimitsu and the Yamashiro Nobuyoshi. The NBTHK also presented an overwhelming display of "Machibori" sword fittings. Mr. Mike Yamasaki gave a wonderful lecture on the Machibori fittings. Dr. Robson of the NTHK was kind enough to bring a great display of Mino swords and Ko-Mino fittings. The swords were Koto, Shinto examples. All were of exceptional quality as were the fittings. These exhibits alone were worth the trip to this show. Anyone who seriously studies the Japanese sword should make whatever arraignments are necessary to attend. No where else outside of Japan will you see such a group of high quality swords. Another reason to show your support and join the NBTHK/AB. Met a couple of new guys from the NMB Bill M, and Bdgrange, both very nice guys. Spoke with a few others as well. I took some photos but instead of trying to list them here and use up all of Brian's bandwidth, I posted the pics on my site and if interested you are welcome to following the link and have a look. Please excuse the low quality, out of focus photos. Trying to shoot macro close-ups hand held is not easy. http://yakiba.com/sf_tokenkai_07.htm

Oh yeah. The results of the last few items I submitted took forever to get. I was told it was due to the incredibly large numbers items being submitted. All you can do is be patient, the results are slow, the papers slower.

Not that I would condone doing it, but after reading the post regarding tannic acid it reminded me of something from my childhood. As a boy growing up in the deep woods, bayous and swamps of Louisiana, trapping was something we did to make a little extra money. The process of treating the steel traps was to first boil them to remove all oil residue then soak them in a tub of water filled with Oak leaves. The tannic acid in the Oak leaves would give the steel a dark brown/black patina, not rust. I suppose painting a solution such as this on a nakago might produce the same results over time.

I will be in attendance and have a couple of tables. Please stop by and say hello. Looking forward to seeing those of you I know and meeting those of you whom I don't.

Like Ted said there is no hard fast rule, therefore it is controversial with proponents of both sides. I personally am a proponent of oiling the nakago, both old and new. Again along the lines of what Ted said, I believe in preserving the entire sword, not only the polished areas. It is a fact that steel will oxidize or rust if unprotected, it would seem prudent to prevent this if possible. The NBTHK sword "care and maintenance" guide states, "It is a good idea to apply oil to the surface of the tang with one's fingers. however, an excessive amount of oil must also be avoided here."

Dr. Richard Stein's web site, The Japanese Sword Guide is the grand daddy of the English speaking Nihonto community. His tireless dedication to this hobby demands monumental respect. While I have no idea what type of problem he may be dealing with, I sense a degree of severity in Dr. Stein's post. I would like to ask each and every one of you to not only keep him in your thoughts, but keep him in your PRAYERS. He will be in mine. Here's to a speedy recovery. God bless you sir. Ed

Hey Chaffe, I wondered what you were up to. I lost your e-mail address a while back due to a computer crash. Shoot me a pm with your e-mail address. I was wondering if I would see you at the SFTK this year. Did you ever get the Ko-Gassan back from polish, if so I would like to see it in SF. Good luck with your web site and your study group. BTW: You let that scoundrel Cole attend ??? Ed

Brian, While this is not sword related at all, if you want to see a serious power hammer pounding on a serious billet of red hot steel, check out this 1904 video. Note it takes 8 men to turn the billet. http://one.revver.com/watch/53941 PS: If too far off topic, please feel free to delete.

Pete, AD it was :lol:

There were several smith's by the name of Masazane, most mediocre. It seems that someone was hoping this to be by the Ko-Bizen Masazane, of which there are only three known extant works. He was thought by some to be the son of Awataguchi Masatsugu. One of the three, a beautiful Tachi, was owned by a good friend and still resides in the US. Dr. Honma dated it to around 1000 BC on the Sayagaki. It was, at least at one time, considered "priceless". I was fortunate to have viewed in hand this genuine Ko-Bizen Masazane. IMHO, if the buyer of this one on e-bay thought it was by the same Masazane, he may be in for disapointment. ( I hope I am wrong) But forget my humble opinion, the best reason I can see to believe this sword was not by the famous Masazane is the the final selling price. You can believe all the big money buyers saw this auction, if any had believed it to be THE Ko-Bizen Masazane, it would have been scooped up at the last second for more than any of the active bidders could have fathomed. Remember a year or more ago, there was a big name sword(I forget who now) on e-bay. It had everyone talking, speculating. It hovered around the 5-7K (not unlike this masazane), then at the last second, BAM it sold for at least three times the high bid. One of the big dogs was lurking quietly, then when the time was right moved in for the kill.

Pete, That had occurred to me, but I disregarded it due to the fact it didn't seem to make sense. It seemed to me that a name attribution would be more fitting on a mumei sword. Shoshin roughly means authentic or truth. Authentic what ?? Merely an authentic sword ?? What do you think ??? To me the inlay looks poorly done. Maybe an attempt to fool ole gaijin into believing it had to be good with gold writing on it. Just my worthless opinion, perhaps one of the Big Dogs will come out and enlighten us. :D

Stephen, I have seen that character shown as "Sane" in Yumotos. Perhaps it can be pronouced either way. Nihonto Kanji pages show: 真 Zane. Oshigata on pg 392 of Fujishiro's, are shown as "MasaZane" on pg 173 of the english translations. Either way, for the bidder who is bidding like crazy on it, I hope it is legit. It is over $5000 now.

Maybe MasaZane ?

Personally, I would refrain from putting anything on the nakago. Whether or not he would sign it is anyones guess. But you can't be any worse off by asking. A sayagaki may be your best bet. I had him do a sayagaki in Tampa last year on a wakizashi he made in Texas in the 80's. While talking with him at my table, I pulled the wak out leaving the tsuka on, and asked if he had any idea who made the sword. After some thought he said, "I am not sure". Then I removed the tsuka and handed it back. He looked at the mei then at me with a chuckle and said "You funny". He was more than happy to put the sayagaki on it for me. One thing I found amazing is while he was writing he stopped, clearly in deep thought. When asked he stated he could not remember what year he had made this sword. His wife reached into her bag and pulled out a small journal, opened it and told him the exact day he made it. I was amazed that she kept such detailed records from over twenty years ago right at hand.

Try good ole E-Bay, they offer pages and pages of lighting equipment. http://photography.search.ebay.com/lighting_Cameras-Photo_W0QQfromZR34QQfrtsZ50QQsacatZ625

I think if you tell her you are picking up something for her, she might buy it. Of course that means you will have to buy her something, like a nice tsuba .

John is right. I wouldn't worry sending it state to state, but over the border into Canada probably isn't a good idea. Why don't you come to the San Francisco Token Kai in August and pick it up there :D .

Deron, Jim Gilberts site has good info on cleaning iron tsuba. Link: http://home.earthlink.net/%7Ejggilbert/Cleaning.htm I have some pieces of ivory. If you want one write and I'll send you one for nothing.

Saw this post and if you look you will see it was marked down quite a bit from the owners original asking price, which is still shown on the "consignment" page of my site. The F/K is high quality craftsmanship without a doubt. I know that it came from the estate of an long term antique dealer whom had lived in Japan post war. These were the items he had chosen to keep for himself. Most of the fittings and the Noh Masks on the "consignment" pages are from this estate. Is the mei good ?? Is it worth the asking price ?? If papered to this smith then, yes I think it would be considered a good buy. However, all of our opinions and $2.00 will get you a cup of coffee almost anywhere. The ONLY way to be relatively sure is to submit it to shinsa . Along the lines of what Grey said, it is worth what someone will pay for it. I never get involved with what a person wants to list a consignment item for. My thought is, "The market will dictate the price".

John, In the US seller pays 3% domestic, 4% international.