ROKUJURO

Gentlemen, in descriptions of TSUBA I have often read about the different techniques to produce certain surface textures. While I can understand most of the expressions and can relate them to the use of the respective tools, I am unsure what is understood when TSUCHIME-JI is mentioned. When I work with a hammer I can produce a very smooth surface almost without any trace of the tool. When it is intended and the hammer face is small and closer to ball-shape I can produce shallow indentations which are easily visible as such. I would call that TSUCHI-ME JI. David, please allow me to cite your comment in the description of your latest purchase, the KACHUSHI TSUBA, just as an example: '.....The plate is well forged with a fine TSUCHI-ME-JI surface.....'. While I cannot be sure to see every detail from a photo, my observation is that of a surface with remains of black lacquer the texture of which I would like to call ISHI-ME JI as I cannot see hammer marks. There are many ways to texture different metal surfaces, and stippling with a fine hammer might result in very fine indentations just like ISHI-ME JI I have seen on soft metal TSUBA, and that might still be called a hammer technique. My question is what can be called TSUCHI-ME JI and can you draw a precise line between techniques performed by hammerwork and others made with punches or similar tools, MIGAKI BO, YAKIITE or chemical treatment? Are there perhaps several techniques found in a single TSUBA surface?

Ben, no, I cited the thickness.

Matt, if you had a 99.9% pure iron blade then it would be worth something because this material is quite expensive (see: http://www.aksteel.eu/de/1-produkte/0-reineisen/). On the other hand you could bend it with two fingers (or three...). So I am quite sure that the jeweler's spectrometer can perhaps tell tomorrow's weather but is not as precise as you would like it to be. If it had measured 99,4% or less, then I would have believed the remaining percentage to be carbon and this would have left some hope for a good tool steel. Stainless steel is another story: to make a corrosion resistant steel you want to have about 17% of chromium in the alloy. If your sword proves to be stainless as it looks to be, then the spectrometer is perhaps only working for gold alloys.

BENSUKE, welcome to the NMB forums! I hope you will enjoy the NMB and learn a lot as I do! Your feeling is quite correct: If properly placed, the TSUKA will not be supported on the KATANA KAKE, otherwise the cutting edge might damage the SAYA. By the way, your blade seems unusually thin with 0,55 mm...... Please sign your posts, it is a rule here.

Jean, wonderful items and great work from Ford! I have been looking quite some time at this TSUBA, I like it very much, but I was not sure about the condition as it looked as if there was a repair weld on the right side on the MIMI. Perhaps it was only corrosion?

Hoanh, as far as I know these TSUBA are cast from bronze with a lost wax model. The modelling is probably a meticulous work, and the positioning of the tiny dots must be quite difficult, I think.

Adam, thank you! That's what I wanted to express!

Keith, if there is an expert to answer this competently, it is Ford Hallam!

It is possible that my old eyes do not work correctly, but while the NAKAGO seems to have some age (or was made to look so) the HAMON on the pictures does not look convincing to me. I cannot see any activity and my first impression was that of an etched HAMON, not even artificially polished. Looking closely at it or under magnification, is there NIE or NIOI to be seen?

Gentlemen, the upper two pictures of SHINAE on the KSKY website do not show a 'weak' or 'poor' steel. These kind of cracks are typical for a local overheating in the forging process or, as Chris points out correctly, in the hardening. I have seen this a number of times, and it always looks exactly the same. In fact, these cracks across the structure of the steel represent a weak spot in the blade and might cause failure in use/battle.

Could it be an old TABAKO-IRE without it's KISERIZUTSU? Maybe a hint that someone gave up smoking? (Unlikely with Japanese, I know!)

Peter, If I had to clean it I would use a steel wire brush (on an angle-grinder which works like hell, or on an electric drill, or the good old manual brush). If it were very easy to remove the rust, a brass wire brush would be good enough. Once the rust is removed, you could use an oil spray like WD 40 (not so good on the wall-paper) or you spray the whole item with clear semi-matt lacquer. Wish you good success! P.S. This is not the way I treat my TSUBA!!

It surely looks like one. There are different types as far as I know. The one in the picture seems to have a relatively short and quite heavy chain, so it might have been made for decoration only. A KUSARI-GAMA in action can be seen in the fight between MIYAMOTO MUSASHI and SHISHIDO BAIKEN (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKqU8wxUAsU).

Looks like a well preserved WWII blade, oil-hardened, signed KAZUNORI. Nothing really special. Seems the vendor just dreams of a lot of money.....

Leather first changes the colour when it dries out, it usually becomes brighter. Applying a quality leather care (as recommended, saddle grease is best) of course brings back the original colour. A good leather grease contains natural ingredients like bees wax but no mineral oil or vaseline. Linseed or TUNG oil will harden the leather which is what you want if the material has become too soft and flexible.

As many authors seem not to know the correct spelling, here is another link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hait%C5%8Drei_Edict

SUISHINSHI MASAHIDE info: http://www.nihontocraft.com/Suishinshi_Masahide.html

If I am correctly informed, SHIRA/SHIRO means white or plain, so you should perhaps look for a KURO SAYA. I wonder if a laquered SAYA would then have the same properties as a normal SHIRA SAYA.

This is scale from very recent forging/heat application. I have never seen that on a genuine Japanese blade.

Waow! In a straight succession and 25 years per generation that makes almost one and a half thousand years! Impressing! I'll go and talk to my children right away this evening!

You mean SUKEHIRO and GIMEI? Although they have lived in the same time and town a cooperation at first seemed unlikely to me, but as I learned, there are in fact very few blades with double MEI. (Post corrected, I was wrong)

Looks like a YON-KAKU YARI for a shrine or was never intended for use.

Chris, just a question for better understanding as I am not a native English speaker: Would'nt a 'wide, thin blade' be more appropriate?

Chris, this I learned the other way round: saltwater is a faster quenchant.

Jacques, I don't think you can say so. Instead, Japanese swordsmiths used water because the method was working to their satisfaction. Pure high-carbon steels require a rapid quenching to produce martensite, and this can be obtained by water quenching. In the West, we don't use these steels any more, except for special purposes, so industrial alloyed steels are dominating. Quenching a modern toolsteel item in oil at appropriate temperatures will of course produce vapour in the first few seconds! You can also see bubbles, and that can only be reduced by agitating the workpiece in the liquid. The same is done when you use water, but this is rarely seen with Japanese swordsmiths. Interestingly, warm oil provides a faster cooling rate than cold oil, which has to do with the viscosity. Warm water (the temperature of which was kept as a secret by the master!) as used in swordsmithing reduces the cooling shock and helps to reduce the risk of HAGIRE.