Jamie

You can order choji oil, but light machine oil will work. Singer sewing machine oil should work if you can't get or don't want to order choji oil.

It does look like the hamon significantly thins in the boshi. Looks like it's still there though. I don't think the pictures are very good either.

I feel like you almost need to hold them up next to something else to see the dark jigane. I have a northern blade and it certainly doesn't look dark sitting there by itself. Nice sword, good find.

You would not use that on Nihonto I hope.

I think it's been sanded or something similar.

I agree it's Showa to. Writing is chippy as others have also said.

Wow People truly never cease to amaze me.

If you can't identify this, why would you think you can make it better? Your questions alone scream that you shouldn't touch it! Do you even know your intended result? Clearly not. Not trying to offend.

I have a Mumei sadatsuna. It's practically spectacular. Had a is like silk. Has many very subtle activities. I also have a Mumei Hasebe It's the best example of hitatsura I've ever seen. Literally. I don't need for it to be signed. It's what they were famous for. I also don't care who made it. It's stunning.

Old, active hitatsura. There is nothing quite like it.

I know a few people that have used Mr Schmidt and been happy.

Bite you meant. While not fatal probably that is substantial damage and very expensive to repair. A properly Japanese trained polisher should be able to tell you if repairable or not. I hope you enjoy your new sword. While there is damage you should be able to enjoy it's good points.

I have a nambokucho naginata naoshi with very good lines and good hi. the hi are slightly polished into but it's in remarkable shape for such an old blade.

I can't quote everything in this thread I have comments on but I'll add a couple of my thoughts nonetheless. Anyone lacking focus, in my opinion should as previously stated attend a show. There are just so many nice polished blades. So many that out of all of price ranges. Join the NBTHK and go to the meetings at the shows. The tanto display a couple years ago was incredible. And the last one displaying koshirae through the ages. In my opinion some of the best money you can spend on education is going to the shows. There are so many phenomenal blades at every show I can't begin to list them. Listen to more experienced collectors also and learn from their mistakes, not just your own. At the show I mentioned we got to hold and inspect a Kiyomaro tanto. May older collectors told me they had only seen one through glass in Japan. There were a bunch of other blades also. One that is one my very favorite blades I've ever seen. I'm not mentioning it for courtesy to the owner. I just can't stress the shows enough. I have a tanto for sale now. It's priced lower than the price I paid and the papers cost together. This statement isn't marketing, it's true. And I'm sure it's true from many others here too. It's ok though it will sell or I will keep it. I liked it when bought and still do. It has a couple flaws but it's strong points far outweigh its flaws.

Yeah sure. A few really nice blades have slipped through my fingers. However I just recently picked up a daito from my favorite school in my favorite style. Had I bought the others I'm referring to, I wouldn't have been able to commit to this one when it came available.

I do not think its tobiyaki.

Wow man. That's remarkable. Congratulations.

Many generations of Tsunahiro and many known for tempering hitatsura. This does look hitatsura based on the cleaned up pics. Obviously more research needed but might be a good looking sword at the very least.

I'm with John. I'm not sure how one would call this "quite good" condition. And if it is Shinto, I'm not sure how you are so confident in even saying that. Well you'll see when you attempt to recoup your money.

Chris, That's called a window. You can have this done instead of full polish to see if the sword is worth the investment of full polish.

steel color has to do with composition not just polishing. That hardly even makes sense. We know that swords from certain locations was different colors as has been said already. Northern steel is black. This must be due to local resources. Local resources and knowledge are the factors. Utsuri was not able to be replicated for a very long time. Why? Because the knowledge was lost. And we really don't know how many smiths there were in old times. I bet many more than we think.

Everyone here is going to give you similar advice. Get books and look at as many swords as you can before buying. Try to have a focus when you atart buying. I mean like like a school or time period. Something. One additional piece of advice that hasn't been offered yet is to go to one of the sword shows. There are more good swords than you will see in any other place. You'll be able to see and handle many nice swords. These are irreplaceable experiences. And you'll meet a bunch of other like minded folks. As far as the links you posted- the last one looks to be in the best polish. So probably is the most studiable. I did not look at their return policy or anything else related. I looked at just the pics.

Mail ordering from Fujishiro was easy, and fast. I am in the us. Just follow the instructions above. I live in Colorado and it's extremely dry here. Almost all the other choji oil I tried here, and camellia seemed to kind of dry up. Fujishiro s performs well even here. It could be argued I am in such a dry climate I don't need to oil. However I feel stuck to tradition. I do not use uchiko though on anything in polish.

To be clear, by cleaning I meant just applying oil, letting sit for a while, then wiping with a tissue or microfiber cloth and reapplying oil. Repeat. As Ken and Stephen suggest uchiko might be a good idea too. You can get good uchiko from Bob Benson or Fujishiro San. I like fujishiro's oil a lot.

I'd bet oil and just regular cleaning and it would look better.