jason_mazzy

Mr. Sinclair is it possible to order a signed copy from you directly? or better through amazon and send it to you for a signing?

Are any of the above better than pure mineral oil?

Yes Mark the tsuba was bought from Japan. And I concur that it was neglected. I unfortunately took this down to the bare metal in order to preserve what was left, and knew that patinating it was the only way to prevent further damage. I was actually quite worried because the original sharpness that was in the least damaged parts I was afraid would be lost. Luckily Mark was kind enough to save this piece so I could mount it. I enjoy history and sometimes it's too hard to watch a piece slowly die, and I instead buy it and do my best to stop the damage. I would be happy to send you the piece to look at Ford. I can also send you the original photos. they are high def, so you can zoom in very close.

I have been working with metal since I was 12. welding, braising soldering and working on cars and engines. So in my opinion it was iron. secondly I was refering mostly to the casting method you described, and was stating that it was rust that was cleaned away that made the rust marks not casting. lets say you are right and it is steel. even then it was still rust that made the indentations you were reffering to. I was only stating the history of the tsuba since I have had it, not arguing with you or saying you don't know anything if that is how you took it. I respect your opinions and frequent your website to see the pieces you make. Perhaps you would like to see the piece in person?

Kogatana and kozuka as requested

the corrosion was real. it was quite rusted, and I had to use antler and ivory to scrape it dow, in my over zealous cleaning I took off a good chunk of the patina when trying to make sure all the red rust was gone. This is a real tsuba, Mark willl atest to this also. the rusting was deep in some places, and not as bad in others. it was also pure iron and not steel.

Mark Green from here on the site. He was geacious enough to help me with a sadly detiorating tsuba. This is for the better I assure you as it is now protected by the patina. and it is almost identical to the actual color of the good part of the patina originally.

I was set to comment I would meet you there, then i realized it was this last weekend. I am bummed.

Morita san, you are a stand up individual, and a class act.

Thank you for your help. i do believe it to be solid gold though. as you can see by the rear foot, that is reverse carved to make a hoof, it is slightly elevated, and it is the same thin metal gold on the other side. if you have the kozuka in hand and take light to the side of it you can see behind some of it it is also thin metal and also seems to be back filled with a pine pitch .

I believe the problem with the way the nanako looks is two fold. the lighting and camera distorted it in he pictures, and second it is the finest (smallest tightly packed) nanako I have ever seen. It is almost microscopic and you need a magnifying glass to apreciate it at all. It is so dense I can not even fathom the amount of time this work must have taken. the kirin is roughly 1.75 cm

very nice, but doesn't fit mu buddha/hotei theme.

I am a big fan of the character of the blade. I enjoy blade history.

I am somewhat reminded of this tsuba, and this period. http://www.owazamono.com/Tsuba-060.html#0

Thank you gentlemen, that is why I posted it here. I do find it very attractive, and I was hoping you would also. What is the correct style and what schools were known for this? I will be mounting this with a nice wak with a jizzo point and these menuki: I am still however looking for the right fuchi and kashira for this mounting. Though I am leaning towards buffalo horn, or solid black shakudo to keep it beautiful in a less is more way.

I am curious if this has a specific style, or school type. It is a shakudo and gold foil with what appears to be a solid gold Kirin somehow attached to the very fine nanako. Comments?

It has never been mounted. It was also in much worse shape and has been repatinated and cleaned by Mark.

I purchased this tsuba several months ago, and just got round to taking pictures. I was told it was muromachi period, and I enjoy it. I will most probably mount this along with my hotei menuki. It is a ray of light tsuba with wormholes or burrows. I am not very knowledgable in tsuba, so I was curious if it appeared to be muromachi period, what style and what school if possible. Thank you all for your collective wisdom. enjoy!

Thank you for the reply, and the email is sent.

Ted, i registered, but where do i send the email with all my information on it? I did not see it listed in the rules section.

100 is the new 80!! Happy B-day

Unfortunately I can not take a picture right now. But the blade definately has the reversal on the nakago, and I thought it was pretty interesting. i is a deep black, and has some unfortunatel rust and damage do to being neglected. blade should be healthy enough for a restoration, but I was wanting to get opinion on yasurime technique first. If it is a different or special type blade or age based on the yasurime, then I would obviosly move it up on the list to be restored. as of right now it is in last place. That is why I was hoping someone had heard of this before.

Stunning!!!

The lack of resposne leads me to believe this is either very uncommon, or just unknown of.