Alex A

Remember trawling through Ebay quite a few years ago looking for a Fuchi for a rather large katana. I cant tell you what size for a wakizashi but looked at hundreds described as "Katana" size, never forgot 39mm as thats what the majority seemed to be. For a Wak, 37mm rings a bell, maybe ? Not an exact science, just my observations.

Only knew Darcy by what he wrote here, his website, and emails, just me mithering him with newbie questions and the like. In a vastly different league to me, but he was never on a high horse., had great respect for him. All that, and never even know what he looked like Just his words. Condolences to his family and friends.

Il certainly keep an eye out

Aye, couldnt be further from the truth!!

Shocking news, really sad to hear. He was a gent , a really nice guy, we will miss him greatly.

No expert here, but just some thoughts, difficult from images Well, Nakago certainly looks Bizen 0,5cm thickness and worn at hamachi, gives the impression of quite a few polishes/age. Am i correct in saying the hada is tight?, not much to see?, Mokume?, Utsuri? Does the patina on the nakago look natural? Always presume its gimei, especially if you picked it up cheap. You be best showing someone with knowledge near you. They made blades at the end of the Edo period to resemble very old blades, not saying yours is, just a thought. Kuwana blades (ksky.ne.jp)

I wish, maybe go into a basket and off to the "best make an effort with this one" room.

If its an antique and 100 years old then why are they confusing things by adding another code for even older antiques? weird

Wise, by those that do it. Maybe even pictures of the package, showing description, before its shipped. Sending items worth £1000s through the post, not too much to ask for. And actually, the description is the first thing i look at on receiving a parcel!!!

Had a few dealers in the past email over the description for confirmation before they ship. Wont buy without this in the future, better to be prepared for any hassles. On a few occasions had sellers totally ignore what i wanted them to state on the parcel and just put what they thought best. Never said anything due to the item arriving safely though. Wont be any more like this, has to be right, we got muppets at customs!

Nightmare. Do you know exactly what was stated in the description on the parcel? Just wondering if inadequate and customs missed your write up

Leave a gap, force it and you might crack the saya. This advice from a guy that makes shirasaya, just leave it as Brian mentions, see how it turns out. Ive had this and it sorted itself out in a matter of weeks, eventually just goes in easily. Adam, for an handle that wont come off. Hold blade with a towel, find heavy square table leg, gentle tap backwards. Never failed Or use the proper tool Grey mentioned!

Leave it, dont force it. Its with being out and about and soaking up moisture etc, will be ok Give it a week or so, ive had the same bother

Congratulations Paz. On the contrary, never had much assistance from Parcelforce, especially when it comes to contacting the customs to sort stuff out. Still actually owed money for an overcharge some years ago, i gave up. Anyways, il stop moaning about them now. On a good note, never had an issue with anything leaving the UK, through them Paul, perhaps UPS are more open to ship swords etc when the folk wanting to ship are registered businesses/dealers. Maybe not so easy for Joe-public just wanting to ship one sword. The Antique gun dealer in the US i spoke to said he had to approach them to discuss the issue, the Dutch antiques dealer uses them for everything, swords included. Ive never tried them as Parcelforce seem ok with stuff heading out of the country, insurance is now a no-go though. I would hope that any dealer reading this would try and ship through UPS if sending to the UK, even at more cost. Might just save them and the buyer a boat load of hassles. Reading too many lately, seems worse since Brexit.

The thing with UPS, they were PREPARED to deal with the imports properly. Same thing on all 3 occasions. Gets an email, same 2 forms to fill in and send back online, 2 hours later, cleared. All relevent info on the forms, straight forward. Customs at parcelforce, Jeez, once sent a tanto back to the US just because the sender only put an initial for first name on parcel Luck of the draw

One more thing, at the risk of boring myself and others one last time. The issue is the customs at PARCELFORCE HUB COVENTRY and lack of knowledge to deal with such imports. If sellers keep on sending such items via couriers that end with PARCELFORCE this end, then the same issues will arise on occasion. This includes EMS and USPS. Folk need to try UPS, they have their own planes and own CUSTOMS CLEARANCE DEPOT in the UK. Not swords, but ive had 3 antique firearms shipped with no hassles whatsoever. They land and you receive an EMAIL with one or two forms to fill in ONLINE and send back ONLINE (takes 5 minutes). None of this ancient LETTER through the POST nonsense you get with PARCELFORCE. Now, its been said that UPS will not accept swords, but i know for a fact a Dutch antique dealer that sells swords and every other kind of weapon uses them, and only uses them. The gun dealer in the US uses them because he got sick and tired with hassles that ended with PARCELFORCE. We are not doing anything ILLEGAL, just INEPT folk dealing with stuff this end How does that old saying go about doing the same thing over and over again go and expecting a different result. If maybe a better option, worth looking in to.

Jeez, mind boggles. All i can say is in this day and age it is absolutely CRITICAL the description on the package is crystal clear and accurate. After that, just hope you dont get a naïve narrow minded buffoon dealing with it. Crazy.

Best part of the hobby, looking for and learning about stuff, better than ownership for me. Always going to be something of interest about and your views will often change.

The blade looks typical Sue-Seki.

Found it, by Jussi I think modern classification is sometimes too strict when it comes to "borderline" things, as I don't believe it would have been a big deal back in the day if your sword is 59 cm or 61 cm. I picked 10 swords from Kantei-Zenshu that were listed being used in katate-uchi style by NBTHK. Here are the blade lengths, and 3 of them are wakizashi but the few cms wouldn't have mattered back then. 66,8, 66,3, 64,8, 64,3, 62,3, 61,8, 60,6, 58,3, 56,5, 53,3. Here are portions of the description of swords that are 56,5 cm and 53,3 cm.

Difficult judging from images There is a thread somewhere with measurements of longer blades made for single hand use, if thats what you think it is, in hand .

Katana, looks to be suriage

You assume correct for Seki, file marks correct too What length is the blade?

Wow, the detail in those flowers!

As mentioned before, use a thick cardboard tube whenever possible, cut down to fit. If using a cardboard box then go around the entire box with brown tape, it may irritate customs should they want to check it out but better than getting beat up with holes in it, also makes it a bit more awkward for thieves looking for a quick grab, I use that “fragile” red and white striped tape too The item in the box, bubble wrap etc then i use masking tape. If customs want to take a look you want them to be able to open it up easily without having to resort to scissors and stanley knives and potentially damaging your item Had 2 swords turn up where the blade is sliding out of the saya. With shirasaa i wrapa piece of bubble wrap around the joint where the tsuka meets the saya and then wrap it tight over the top with masking tape. Should stop it sliding out and if messed with you will know someones had the it out for a look. With a blade in koshirae just make sure its wrapped tight enough to stop the blade slipping out, it is annoying when it turms up loose. Some folk pack cardboard boxes with wood https://www.bolk-antiques.nl/shipping-packaging