Prewar70

Brian, why do threads get changed and posts deleted? I replied on both of my Tsuba threads tonight only to come back now and see that my post and the one I replied to were deleted???

I'm going to see this Wakizashi Friday afternoon. It's the start of my turkey season here in MN so hopefully I will have a nice gobbler on ice in the morning and a fun sword to consider in the afternoon! Here's what I have for pics so far. Saya is in good condition. Blade has a few openings as you can see and is unsigned. Provenance, same old story, sword has been in the family a long time, brought back by a world traveler. One thing that did jump out at me is the tsuka. The ray skin, if that's what it is, looked a little off to me, in color and the nodules all seem very uniform. Everything else seemed honest. What do you think? Thank you.

Thanks David

I came across this one on the web, not mine, don't know anything about it, except I have not seen one like it. I think it's a beautiful piece.

Who polished it?

Wow. Very similar indeed, thank you.

It's on a sword I'm curious about. Age? Does the hole at the bottom serve a purpose? Is it of good quality? THank you.

So was it sent off for polish, just curious because of the quick turnaround. Who did the work?

Update, I decided to send this to Bob Benson for polish and to repair the saya. Bob has it in hand and believes it will polish out. Like what was previously mentioned, it's a nice, honest piece and felt like a reasonable expense to me to understand restoration and to get to know a polisher. I look forward to following up to this post with new pictures at some point.

As I look at hundreds of sword pictures I am curious as to why some swords have so many holes in the nakago. Would it not be easier to fashion the tsuka to fit the existing holes? And some swords I have seen have 4 holes, in places I cannot see a logical reason for. Is it do to shortening the length of a blade?

Thanks for the help guys. Too bad chasing swords isn't any fun

Thanks guys.

Collective wisdom thank you

I viewed the sword today and not sure what to think. When I put my eye at the tang and viewed the length of it it appeared wavy like machine buffed perhaps. I did not come home with it but took some more pics. The habaki does not fit right. Tsuba seemed better in person.

Characteristics that I can discern. Signature looks good to me and mostly resembles 3rd generation, Osaka branch. From the pictures, it has a Yakidashi, or sloping hamon. Hamon is not sudare-ba (curtains), this very distinctive but not all swords from this school had that. This has a wandering hamon, I've seen pictures of it but not sure what it's called.

Jean, take a look. It's not a great picture and polish isn't good but I can see enough that it is very similar to other swords for this smith. I'm hoping to see it in person this weekend. What do you think?

Here's a pic of the tang on a sword I'm looking at. Your help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hey John thanks for the info, I appreciate it. I asked the guy what he was hoping to get and he said $5k but was open to offers. I replied back that I think we are too far apart but said I'd be interested at $750, but depends on what it looks like in person. It is humorous how people come up with pricing.

Agreed. Hoping I can see more activity in person. What is it dated?

Do you think there's more to this sword than the gimei? Age appearance of the tang, shirasaya, etc.?

Seller sent me these pictures so I haven't been able to go look at it in person. I need some help on the translation but I'm very curious. Thanks.

Crickets. Guess I upset the Nihonto forum gods by creating a second thread. I will know better next time.

I'm curious if the results would be surprising. I see discussion about old blades having thin skins and I thought how much metal is actually removed

I'm sending a tanto to Benson and I will weigh it.