Bungo

are the " grey " leapord spots actually " brown " in color ? May be the color is due to camera flash ? If it's brown, then it should be restorable............if shuny grey color, it's still restorable but it will take longer and if under " professional restoration " it will cost more, lot more ( time and $ ) milt the ronin

how do avoid going bankrupt? set a budget and stick to it ( easier said than done but.......... ) what activities do you undertake? nothing illegal............. or don't get caught if it's illegal do you have personal rules you abide by? http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Ferengi ... cquisition what will you never do again? yield to temptation to cheat on my wife ( aka boss ) what do you still want to do? cheat on my wife ( aka boss ) if I can get away with it. milt just joking Ronin

" But I heard that some people put it on the window-sill (the one inside of course) next to a damp cloth and rub it with a cotton cloth from day to day. What does the "Patina Conjuring Dentist" think ? " since I am still on the good side of a sword polisher............I can speed things up a little. Not sure about the damp cloth part though, I'd say if the shiny spots are small, just leave it alone for a while ( or get on the good side of a sword polisher and beg for a little of that liquid gold ) milt the ronin

Steve, I don't know if the commercial stuffs work properly. From what I understand, the sword polishers have their little " secret " formulae............. As a side note, Herr Ando from the land of the gods was spotted purchasing " plum brown ".......... I heard that from secondary sources so it's heresay. milt the ronin

you need........... " there's a solution( liquid ) that promotes patina, like the sword polisher's ( yes, they have that, how do you think they can take out the mei and return swords to owner within a reasonable period of time ? ).......... that helps too. " or let time takes it's time :lol: ( a very long time ) but I wouldn't let it rust, pass it over the stove and all that......... that's only for patient that's comatose ; and your's only have small patches of shiny iron, I'd say let time heals unless you can bring it to Chicago and ............. milt the ronin

the world's most beautiful tsunagi............ http://www.esnips.com/web/nihonto?docsPage=1#files klick on all the yukimitsu files. milt the ronin

not an expert..........but isn't it true usually the address is that of the owner ( well, ex-owner ) and not the site of surrender ? milt the ronin

I read " open to the world "..............what's with Sawako Noma President and CEO of Kodansha Ltd.? Not dealing in high finance in any stretch of the imagination ( unless I won the Mega Million 370 million jackpot last night ) but it makes no sense esp. the Noma's name is closely associated to Kodansha.............. milt the ronin

Stever, If you look closely at the seppa dai area, you see some " patches " of different patina " intensity "..............but that's only under direct sunlight. Whoever owned this thing before put it to some harsh treatment and I have to promote some natural rust ( in this case red rust ) to neutralise the effect to the iron surface............. it seems like the Chicago dirty air did the job of rust promotion handily ( 2 months out on the balcony, no dirct moisture/rain ). Once the tsuba was coated with uniform red active rust, I burnish it with some tool ( , being a dentist, we do know how to burnish things, yes, Pete ? )and most of the pittings are gone ( but not totally eliminated, that would be impossible unless I take out the " handpiece " , another dentist's joke ). I also find out passing the rusty tsuba over the kitchen stove will turn the red color to dark brown/black ( cool it then clean with chogi oil )............... still experimenting with this and fuc%$#$ing up a potential national treasure !! p.s. there's a solution( liquid ) that promotes patina, like the sword polisher's ( yes, they have that, how do you think they can take out the mei and return swords to owner within a reasonable period of time ? ).......... that helps too. milt the ronin

ford, actually there's no problem with the inside of the sukashi....all dark brown rust. There's no fire scales damage and actually it's quite easy to restore the darn thing, of course it'll never looks like Momoyama era patina but that's not I am aiming for............... milt the ronin

well, I do have a trick of giving it a " wet sheen " look ( Skip H. approved too !! ), the cut out is thin so there's not much about pittings to be seen there. milt the ronin

DK. well, do the Curran maneuver ( hem and hawh about "dubious" green papers to get the price down )..........and we might make you a honorary Scotman. milt the ronin

slowly but surely.................... Chicago air does wonders milt the ronin

http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/digi ... asics.html check out the menu to the left, everything you ever need to know about imaging.............. milt the ronin

" katana blade dating pre 1850 excellent condition with no or minor flaws nbthk papered budget €5000 ($6500) " possible. " complete armour set dating pre 1850 good condition and complete budget €5000 ($6500) " set the budget to 10,000 ( entry point ) if you are looking for quality set. milt the ronin

How come Gen. Yamashita is not listed? Can't be political correctness as I see Tojo and Yamashita was a far better man than Tojo. Milt the ronin

the second pic shows the typical nonsensical mei so typical of fakes............... if the first pic comes with the second then they don't look good. milt the ronin

I was talking to this guy who's quite knowledgeable at one of the sword shows i attended a few years back.......... the skinny guy with the pony tail and cowboy hat . He has this theory regarding tsuba....he thinks they came with options, like some samurai ( or merchants ) liked them " plain/zen " , e.g. plain sukashi...... then others likes them a bit " showy " and chose the add on ( e.g. nunome ) options. Looking at my own collection of tsuba, these two come to mind........... http://www.esnips.com/web/tsuba?docsPage=30#files milt the ronin

kyo sukashi ? Kyo Shoami ? I reckon on a good day it would be called the former. Sort of like a mumie sword with utsuri............ on a good day it may be attributed to Bizen, on a bad day they may call it Bungo. p.s. another example........... http://www.esnips.com/web/tsuba kyo79.jpg some call this Kyo Shoami. Either way is fine as long as you like the design. milt the ronin

esthetically it doesn't go well with the thin brass wave over the kanji hotstamps.....makes no sense. Also i think the two holes thingies are later add on too. May be jingo tsuba was in fashion and they decided to add the jingo touch ? who knows ? i think Dirk got it right that the koi was an add on....... just my opinion, but of course. p.s. klick on the second pic and it would be clear. milt the ronin

at 5 O'clock, brass waves over the " original hot stamp " ? milt the ronin

after downing a six pack of sammy adams' winter brew( well, S#$@3, I need it after the market melt down today ).I think I am beginning to see nijuba................... milt the ronin

That seems to be written in Manyogana. I can convert most characters of that. But it is still difficult to understand the poem. Ref. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man'y%C5%8Dgana (note: the link is not shown properly because of (') in it) Mucha Gracias........ I do not know that, now it " makes sense ", learn something new !! milt the ronin

thanks guys............. so it could be Kamo YuKi ( yuki combination sounds better than the other versions ) ? milt the ronin

I know I am pushing it a wee bit but............... http://www.esnips.com/doc/a5e23e52-6523 ... 1f7/sleep6 it's not in sosho.......... milt the ronin