The pilot who dropped the incindiary bomb started a small forest fire up by Mt. Emily due to issues with fog and navigation; last i knew, the sword was at the police department in Brookings, OR in a display case. I intend to see if I can examine it and get photos sometime in the near future, as I am moving to Oregon again soon.
We don't have a post number anymore since the update....Thomas, the man I am asking about was wearing a gray T shirt with tan slacks or long shorts, standing behind a table with a Noh mask and a yellow vase in the foreground, with a hotel luggage cart off to the side.........sorry for the work, hope you can help. He looks like a guy i surfed with years ago maybe; his shirt has Haleiwa, Jockos, etc. on it, those are North Shore Oahu surf spots. Thanks......
The existing fukure will get worse with any non sensitive polish; if polished, the togishi will have to work around those. Not a job for an amateur. Probably not cost effective, imo.
When you say working on, I hope you do not mean actually working on.....I can't tell if the lines are all messed up, or if it just a photo artifact; the acid bath has not been helpful to the appearance, either. The fukura seems way off as well, if not a result of lens distortion.
Swap meet only has replica items; Bob Benson may have some swords which trend to higher quality of Nihonto. All my stuff is still in American Samoa. Ken may see this and have better guidance.
We will need to ssee more photos with close ups to offer better opinions, Johan. Understanding nihonto better is a great undertaking and lots of fun, enjoy!
It would be very interesting to read a history of polishing technology; it may be that one or more exist (in Japanese) but i do not know.....I would pay good money for one in English! High level polishing, in my opinion, comes down to: access to good technique, access to good stones, and lots of patience. These are all things that the Japanese people have had access to for a thousand years. I have heard that some mines of particular stones have become exhausted and good stones harder to obtain (or very expensive, try $3000 plus for a good uchigumori finishing stone.) Goes a long way to explaining why polishing is expensive.
Woodrow Hall....I do not have contact info for him, maybe Ken Goldstein on this forum has it?
https://bushidojapaneseswords.com/index.html contact for Bob Benson....he will most likely be in touch with Woody; no guarans that either will have a recommendation, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.
It would be nice to see the rest of the sword (judge the sword, not the signature); if an actual koto sword, the nakago has been cleaned, which is most unfortunate. The first nakago ana looks punched, which is in line with koto.