Viper6924

Well, Piers I´m not really sure if the black tip is joined on or if it´s the original rod. Looking at the grain I would say it looks like the original rod lacquered black, but I could be wrong. The crack indicates that it´s a screw-on. The "red" rod has an odd looking almost hexagonal shaped hole. I hope You can see it in the picture. Mmm, who knew that the wonderful world of Japanese ramrads could be this interesting :D /Jan

Getting on the ramrod-train Here´s the dif between two of my ramrods. I just love the red finish on the top one. Match the stock to a tee. Keep up the good ramrod job, Piers!!! /Jan

Well Guy, You are on a roll :D You got them at a great price. Judging from the pictures, it´s a great buy. Congrats!!! Jan

Just to clear my head of bog-iron teppos... Here´s a picture of my new zunari kabuto. I´ve been looking a long time for a gritty kabuto to match my nerigawa menpo. Think I managed to create a rather sinister looking samurai Now I must find a maedate to match. The maedate-holder is rather beefy. The maedate I already have for my other kabuto wasn´t even close to fit. Well another project in the wonderful world of collecting samurai-armor. Jan

You are probably right, Piers! I´m thinking about sending an Italien hit squad to the dark forrest of the bogman or humour him :lol: Ahhh I go with the humour thing... Jan

The Tanzutsu is rather nice. Only really flaw is that they polished out the inside of the barrel and changed the bizen. The bog-man has used it for targetshooting. This whole bog-iron, 99,9% FE story starts to take on religious proportions. I would be very surprised if measurements on some other teppos don´t point at an iron content of at least 97-99%. The God damn gun is made out of iron!!! Then we have the question of the bog-iron itself. I guess we will end up with the fact that the gun was made from gound up mountain ore from Fuji-sama. Collected by shintomonks on the emperor of Japans birthday I this thing getting on my nerves? Jan

Now You have to delete another one, Piers :D PM sent!!! Jan

Hmmm.... Why am I having another "bog-iron moment" feeling here? A rare "named" teppolito and my dear friend Anthony got it for the price of a bar of candy. And I´m still stuck neckdeep in a smelly bog ditch. God, there is no justice :D :D :D :D :D Really happy that we manged to save this teppo from the dark bogman. Well worth restoring considering the history behind it. /Jan

Yeah, thats what I told Anthony on the way home Jan

Well, me and my fellow blackpowder-friend Anthony spent an interesting afternoon with the three teppolitos and it´s very amusing owner. This man has a fantastic collection of old weapons. Amongst many the three teppolitos. To make a very looong story short; Mr Anthony went home with one bajou-zutsu and one tan-zutsu. My attempt to lay my hands on the tan-zutsu with the dragoncarving was not met with success. We got stuck in a deep trench of "bog-iron" It´s never fun to kill someones illusions. The seller still claims this teppo is made out of pure 100% iron (FE). The iron is made from some kind of bog-iron or from a sacred mountain... This is the only teppo made from this holy matr. Probably made around 1450-1500. I tried my best to educate him with some Japanese history (Tanegashime 1543) and some other useful info I have picked up along the way. But no way José!!! I am a very polite man, so I concluded this debate by giving him an estimate from around 1500 dollars to 130000 dollars :lol: He will now contact a expert on metals so they can carry out an extensive investigation (I´m sure the metallurgist will have a laugh). If this bog-iron tan-zutsu turns out to be of "normal" iron, I guess I will soon be it´s new and proud owner. However, if it turns out to be a teppo made out of sacred "bog-iron" only to be touched by the emperor of Japan, well at least I have had the holy graail of teppos in my hand :D On the tan-zutsu Anthony bought, was two kanjis in front of a mon. Any help translating it, would be great. I put my money on "made from bog-iron"... Jan

Hi Guy! No, it was a gentleman to our right. I acctually thought he was russian to :lol: Jan

Really happy for You, Guy! Thank God You put in that last bid :D You were def spot on with the quality of the maker. The rivets are superb. Again /Jan

Sweden 1 Russia 0 I went to see it on the weekend before the auction. You get a whole lot of heavy metal for the money when You get one of those. Must have been pure hell dragging it along for a day. But I must admit to the "say hello to my little friend" feeling when You hold it Nice link, Piers! Jan

I rather like teppo no 2 with the dragonmotif. Looking past the "cleaning" of the barrel it looks good. Wonder if a signature is hiding under the barrel? I could see myslef dropping 2000 dollars for it. I´m pretty sure he´s got the whole deal with the metalurgist totally wrong. The bottom one of the two other teppos, which I could study "in hand" needs a lot of TLC. If I bought it for a very very very low price, I would send it to Japan and let someone fix all the ugly brass. It had a mon on top. Also a two kanji signature. I hope the seller can fix a picture of it. Stunned to see a third teppolito in the pictures. I wonder if this guy is growing them in his backyard :D I also wonder why people feel the urge to polish tell hell out of Japanese teppos You see other guns from the same period with their original patina. Perhaps it´s some kind of punishment for the war... /Jan

Justin, You wouldn´t have a few more pictures of the teppo for us blackpowder-junkies All the best! Jan

Japanese oak at it´s best. Is there a Japanese term to this carving around the butt? Any reason for it besides the fact it looks good? /Jan

Thanks for the confirmation of the date and maker, kunitaro. And again Malcom, great link. This will be a christmaspresent to my mother (I`m such a good son). She likes masks and this will be her first Noh. Nice to be able to tell her the story behind it. I like the woodgrains and overall look of it. /Jan

Thanks a lot, Sebastien! Great help. Life would be so much easier if kanji-reading would be on my list of skills Thanks again! Jan

Hi! Need some translation for some text inside of a Noh-mask. I guess perhaps a poem. All help is highly appreciated, as always! Jan

I really like the color of the wood. Very bright. Don´t know if I ever seen the carvings on the riflebutt before. NICE!!! Jan

Well here´s my box for hauling gunpowder, bullets, bulletmolds, tantos, menpos, tsubas, money, smokes, small heads.... :lol: I think it´s looks very much like Piers box no 1. Of course it´s impossible to be 100% sure what it´s orignal use was. But most ammunition boxes I have seen in books, on the webb or in private collections looks very much like these two examples. Until an old samurai comes knocking on my door telling me something else, it will be part of my blackpowder collection. Nice collection of ammo-boxes, Piers Jan

Great info, Malcom! I can always count on You when it comes to prints. Thanks again! Jan

Thanks Piers! A quick search and I got the name of this series; Mirror of famous generals of our country. /Jan

Well, here´s a print I just picked up. Takeda Shingen pondering the pros and cons of the teppo...I guess Or perhaps he have a vision about his clans upcoming destruction. Don´t know the artist or from what series, but I´m sure help is near. I must say that I have a sweetspot for prints involving teppos. Not so often on the market. Sorry for the bad picture. Had to blow it up a bit. Jan

Well, here´s one of the few pictures I managed to take from the exhibition. This is what meets You in the lobby. I like the grin on the horse :D I guess the golden color on it´s eyes means it´s a demonhorse... /Jan