rkg

Hoanh, FWIW, the imaging equipment is surprisingly secondary if you've got your lighting and reflection control nailed - you'd probably be best served to start out by just getting a macro filter (I prefer the multi-element ones, but they're getting stupid expensive - For example the canon 500d filter costs nearly as much as one of their short macro lenses - the best single element ones I've seen are made by marumi, and they're not terribly expensive), racking your 15-85 out and working on getting the lighting so it reveals what you want to see - depending on what you want to show, what you've got may be good enough for you just doing that. Its usually better only to buy new gear when your existing gear is proven not to be up to the task (or is getting in your way). That said, swords are super contrasty, so they're a challenge - if you're trying to print large you'll see every problem your lens has, which is why I'd usually go for a (modern) prime lens - for the close-ups its also helpful to be a bit further away from the piece so you have room to work on your lighting/reflection control (though YMMV on that depending on what you decide to do for your lighting/reflection control), so I prefer a longer prime. As another poster stated, you really need to be shooting in raw. If you want to actually upgrade your body, the live view feature of the newer units is Really Helpful (I pretty much always shoot this stuff tethered unless I have no other option - its a lot easier to make out the fine details on a large computer screen), and I like the results you get from having the higher resolution a/d as well (and then there's the sensor shaker and...). The other thing is that because of the high contrast issue, you'll find you need more resolution than you think to do a decent overall shot (diatribe about human vision resolution deleted). On the lighting, it really depends on what you want to show - sometimes you need a point source, sometimes you want fake sunlight, sometimes you want a broad source (like a fluorescent tube). here's one I shot to emphasize the hada/peer through the hadori (which was really over-applied): http://www.rkgphotos.com/work_samples/p ... _tanto.jpg There's a couple of other creepy things to consider avoiding - a lot of articles talk about putting swords on glass - NEVER do that - use plexi, and then use standoffs of your choice off of that. Also some guy put out a video a while back showing a rig that holds swords up in the air to shoot - I built up something similar, and it gave me the heebie jeebies to use - it was entirely too easy to have the piece slip and possibly do a point plant - I think its better to use a rig where gravity is your friend rather than your enemy, particularly where expensive swords are involved... And finally, along the lines of the "give a man a fish" parable, you might also consider getting and reading this book - it talks more about the physics of lighting and is very helpful in allowing you to figure out what the lighting has to be in order to achieve what you want to show: http://www.amazon.com/Light-Science-Mag ... Y52Q8S8PH9 Happy Shooting, rkg (Richard George)

Hi, unusual tsuba, huh? here's a couple: Apparently a theatrical tsuba: http://www.rkgphotos.com/recent_stuff/z ... a_arty.jpg and a couple of saotome/tembo "amoeba" http://www.rkgphotos.com/recent_stuff/a ... _drama.jpg all I've got is a vr image set of this one right now: http://www.rkgphotos.com/recent_stuff/s ... ctual.html Best, rkg (Richard George)

Here's a solid gold one... Best, rkg (Richard George)

Nakahara's "Facts and fundamentals of Japanese Swords A Collector's guide" - it isn't on the site list, has some contradictory observations to some of the other more "accepted" beginner's books, but I would highly recommend it as one of the top 5 beginner's books - I wish it had been available in english when I had started collecting - would have saved me a LOT of mistakes/money Best, rkg (Richard George)

I don't know if anybody cares, but there's somebody auctioning off some swords/armor/other Japanese items this Saturday - here's a pointer to the sale: http://cashauction.com/AUCTION-Japanese ... 180921.php From the list it seemed like there might be a few items that might be worth looking at, so.... I've never heard of the auction house and only know about it because I got a call from my dad who saw it in the classifieds of the WSJ... Best, rkg (Richard George)

FWIW, the pound was worth ~USD1.79 on 7/1/1976... Just sayin'.... Best, rkg (Richard George)

Yeah, thanks for putting this up Pete!! :-) Best, rkg (Richad George)

Brian, Like I said, the catalogs I just received from Mr. Merral (and which I assume are in transit to you) do include the estimated price list that Hoanh was dilligent enough to scan/post. Best, rkg (Richard George)

Hey guys, When I perused the Hartman collection catalog I just received from Mr. Merral, I found they had included the estimated price list - just out of curiosity, does anybody have the realized prices? I was kind of curious how "out there" they were at the time, and.... Thanks, rkg (Richard George)

No. FWIW, Jim listed several possibilities for the piece at the time. the kantei points on this piece pointing to Ono is the design style, metal (though admittedly several the owari "schools" used something similar - especially later on), and most importantly the "fake" bones. Best, rkg EDIT: changed my flip comment about owari metals to be more correct...

Thanks on the images. I picked up the stands at the local Tap Plastics.... You can probably find something similar online somewhere or at your local store fixtures supply store. Best, rkg (Richard George)

David, Thanks on the piece, though it was bought and is winging its way to the new perspective owner. on the "cut" - I actually believe this was done by the tsubako - One of the kantei points to this school is the "fake" bones - apparently they sometimes end up looking like this (they'll dig up material and hammer it down...) Interesting on one of the yagyu thing - that pointer to a t-shirt with the twin kasa on it was hilarious :-) Best, rkg (Richard George)

I just checked with the curator again - flash photography isn't allowed, but you can take pictures. Best, rkg (Richard George)

Hi, I was asked to put up some images from the opening of this exhibit, so here are a few to give you a feeling for the exhibition. Note that these don't show all the artifacts put on display by any stretch: http://www.rkgphotos.com/frazier_ktk_20 ... _views.htm Sorry about the poor quality viewer I only had limited time to put it together, and... Best, rkg (Richard George)

Hey guys, Here's some images of an ono tsuba I just shot - still trying to figure out whether to include it in my spring cleaning or not, and thought you might enjoy looking at the images in any case: and for those of you who find my VR image sets interesting here's a couple of html5 versions of this piece - note that I messed up the nomenclature that the on this, so the front is labeled "back" and visa versa :-/: http://www.rkgphotos.com/sale_stuff/ono/ono_back/ono_back.html http://www.rkgphotos.com/sale_stuff/ono/ono_front/ono_front.html And yeah, it might look familiar - its also shown here: http://home.earthlink.net/~jggilbert/ono.htm Best, rkg (Richard George)

Marcello, these were usually mounted with the cup facing down towards the blade - think hilt of a European smallsword. the ana plug is probably gold foil over something. Best, rkg (Richard George)

Adam, The best beginner sword belongs to somebody else.... You'd be money ahead to plan on traveling to one (or more) of the sword shows and just look at a bunch of swords, preferably along with some knowledgeable people to point out the features, pay the money to go to the kantei, etc. Seeing a number of pieces in hand will help you to see what you like/don't like, what problems look like, etc. That said, when you go to buy, you can pick up decent wakizashi pretty cheaply these days. Best, rkg (Richard George)

the first one appears to be a tembo piece - looks like a fairly nice one. Can't help you with the second. Best, rkg (Richard George)

Hey guys, Before I forget completely, there's a very similar piece to the monkey/moon themed tsuba I started this thread with in the February 2012 Choshuya catalog, including the offest nakago ana. I think its in better condition than mine, but still... It was papered to Ko-shoami, and... Its near the bottom of this page - item 16: http://www.choshuya.co.jp/sale/gj/2012/ ... /index.htm Best, rkg (Richard George)

What was the original attribution on this piece again? thx, rkg (Richard George)

Good find, though It looks more like saotome/tembo work to me than a piece that would end up in the "tosho" bin. Best, rkg (Richard George)

Louie, There are several problems with deliberately buying "klinkers" for study. First, its kind of hard to understand what a good sword is if you never study one. Second, once you've seen really good pieces, all those "minor" flaws will probably drive you nuts in short order. And finally, pieces with big problems can be bought cheap, but will usually have to be sold even cheaper when you inevitably get sick of the flaws and want to shift the piece. I'd posit you're better off going and spending the money to look at good swords instead - a trip to a sword show will afford the opportunity to look at a lot of pieces, both good and not-so-good. I personally think this is more important that getting a wall of books "first", though buying/reading Nagayama's and Nakahara's books first would probably be a good idea. There are also other ways to not spend so much of "first" pieces - you can buy decent wakizashi for cheap these days - they're also hard to move along as well, but at least you can get something to study that is in good condition for not a lot of money. You can also look at getting a gendaito of some kind -again, you can find decent in-polish pieces for not a lot of money (relatively speaking). Good Luck with your search, rkg (Richard George)

Hi, I've just about burned through my stash of old tsuba boxes to put liners in, so... Does anybody out there have contact information for one of decent tsuba sized kiri wood boxes? Thanks, rkg (Richard George)

Hi, Amsec used to make a gun safe that lays flat (amsec hc1854), though they seem to have stopped making them - I have one, and it works great for swords - maybe you could find a used one or something... Here's a pic, though you originally could get them w/o the funky seat built over it: http://www.safeshowroom.com/eshop/10Exp ... ode=HC1854 Maybe you could get one of the custom guys to make you either something like this or a Very Deep safe with a pull-out to hold your swords so they can lay flat.... (this might not be too bad, as a lot of the cost is based on the door size and you can have a really tiny door - I was looking at this a long time ago to build something to store polearms, but decided it wasn't really worth it...). I also know people that use those giant double door safes, and apparently the Japanese have nifty safes for sword storage as well. And a lot of people just store them vertically in a normal gun safe (probably your least expensive option...). As far as security goes, you really are probably most worried about fire - pretty much all of them that you can't cut open with an axe/sledge and that weigh more than 400 pounds or so will defeat the door kicker types, and none of them will hold up very long to a determined pro (either they will open it, or convince you to by holding a gun to you or the wife's or kids' head(s) ). Camouflage (you can build that nifty dansu around the safe if you want)/and avoiding people knowing what you have are your friends.... Good Luck with your choice... Best, rkg (Richard George) EDIT: P.S. Obviously pretty much anything with a lock can keep prying little fingers away from your pieces, though as Clive pointed out, teaching them respect for the pieces from an early age is also a Really Good idea

Hi, Thanks for posting the second image - that is the front of the piece. I think ford is right about this being a fairly late piece that was made to look older. Best, rkg (Richard George)