runagmc

I don't know if this would work, but if its some kind of resin you could try something like 'Goo Gone'. It's made from citrus oils and works good on tar and all kinds of sticky stuff. The citrus oils might be somewhat acidic though so you would need to nuetralize it after. Probably just a good rinse with water and then clean with uchiko a couple times and leave a good coat of mineral oil after that. Whatever you use it might be a good idea to test a small area first. Good luck. Adam

One thing to point out is that this is not a very long blade so the cost of a polish will be more reasonable. Keeping that in mind, from what I can see this blade could possibly be worth restoration, but I agree with Grey that you should not get it restored until your sure you have the knowledge to properly maintain a newly polished sword (and it takes some practice). I'm glad you had the good sense to seek some knowledge before doing anything with it.

Pavel, it's a very bad idea to attempt to do any kind of restoration to an antique (Japanese sword or anything else) without knowing exactly what you have first. If you were to use polishing compound on a ginuine nihonto you would make alot of people on this site angry. I know you probably didn't know any better so I thought I should tell you. Adam

I'd say 11mm is a pretty average amount of sori for a blade of this size and tsurikomi, or a little above average, but not extreme. The second picture looks deep because the ruler is at the end of the nakago. Sori can point to a certain era or school, but like most things nihonto, there are always exceptions to the rules. Adam

Yeah, i'll try to post some pics at some point. Thanks for the extra details on the W-A-K-I-Z-A-S-H-I. I agree, when dealing with all these descriptive Japanese words, its probably best to spell things out as clearly as possible, but I figured with all the LOL's and IMHO's and other text shorthand I see on here, nobody would mind my abreviation. I'll try to fight the urge to be lazy when posting from now on. -adam

does this wak have alot of hataraki? I cant really tell from the pics (other than the tobiyaki). the reason I ask is I have a wakizashi with some similarities such as suguta, boshi w/ kaeri, & mokume hada. It is mumei, ubu nakago w/ haagari nakago jiri and katte-sagari yasurime. It has a gunome midare hamon w/ just about every type of activity there is (especially chikei, jinie,and sunagashi). I had thought in the past it may be mishina school but Im not certain. I wish I could post pics but I dont have a camera right now. Anyway, nice blade, thanks for sharing. :D adam

Thanks for the post Carlo, that was very informative. Unfortunately I didn't see any info in the articles that dealt w/ chisa katana and kodachi characteristics. Chisa katana and kodachi are around the same length as oowakizashi from what I have read, so why are they classified differently? I never see much about chisa katana or kotachi so I was just curious to know more about their place in the history of nihonto Adam

hey everyone, i was wondering about what to look for to differentiate between wakizashi, chisa katana, and kodachi. if anyone has any input on this i would be interested to hear it. thanks btw: thanks to all the knowledgeable people who make this site a great learning tool. Adam

to me it looks like the nakago has heavier oxidation behind the original mekugi ana suggesting that the suriage may be ginuine. thats just how it looks to me, but im not the foremost expert by any means. Adam L.