Ken-Hawaii

I agree. The video adds a lot to an already-remarkable blade.

Two of my weaknesses: Bizen & yoroidoshi! Where's a lottery when you need it?

I don't name my swords, but I do name my taiko drums.

As a sword swinger, it doesn't appeal to me. A little too much of a good thing.

Don't know which Web-site you were looking at, but no Nihonto can enter or leave Japan without a registered agent. Check out Bob Benson's https://bushidojapaneseswords.com/nbthk-shinsa-submission.html for more detailed info.

John, they could all be gimei, or none of them. When doing kantei, the nakago is one of the last places to look, & needs to be cross-referenced with the rest of the blade. On shipping tp Japam, I hope you know that you MUST have an egent, right?

Welcome aboard, Bob. I think that you're the first Veterinarian on NMB, so be sure to check out Smaller Wildlife in the Izakaya. Looking forward to seeing photos/information on your Nihonto.

I can confirm that EMS will start 6/1/21. Two dealers messaged me to let me know my shipments will finally be en route. Neither of them said anything about a price increase, but maybe they were just being nice.

Hawaii just went to Tier 4, so no real strictures, other than what the airlines are requiring.

It would be interesting to ask a high-level togishi what he "feels" when he starts repolishing a heavily-used blade.

Common sense says that if you have a blade with active (red) rust, you need to use something that will stop/slow its progression. Depending on condition, I've used Bob's uchiko to spot-treat an area, until I can afford to get the blade in for a polish. Other than that, just remember that uchiko is the exact same material that a togishi uses to polish your blade. I'm not a togishi, so I don't use uchiko, except as above. Case in point. A fellow iaidoka saved up for five years to buy her first Nihonto, & since I had advised her, she set up a Zoom call, so I could see her reaction when she first saw her blade. It was a nice old Bizento, & I was walking her through the details, when I had to break away to take a call. What I didn't know was that the seller had sent her a "cleaning kit," thinking he was doing something good, I'm sure. Anyway, by the time I got back, she was whapping away with the uchiko ball, & didn't stop when I told her to, because she had seen Samurai doing the same thing, before they used their sword.. She wasn't going to use it that way, & I finally got loud enough to get her to stop. It didn't take her very long to be able to see the damage SHE had done, & she was in tears. There wasn't a lot more that I could say or do. "We have met the enemy, and he is us" Pogo

That's damn impressive, Richard! Well thought out & designed. Just remember that thieves who see your locking machanism can just walk away with the entire katanadansu. Bolt to something solid.

About 10 years ago, I was teaching tameshigiri at least once a week, & I had it polished twice that year. It's a Cold Steel katana, & one of the toughest modern blades that I own. Excellent for cutting.

That's right, John. The blade isn't actually unsharpened, jsut micro-chips forming, from what I gathered.

After many years of swinging swords, teaching tameshigiri, I always question why blades don't stay sharp. I ran into a fascinating study that might shine some light on that, https://www.zmescience.com/science/shaving-razors-blade-chips-46373453/ I've always had the impression that more extensive or complete cutting occurred with tangential cuts, but this kind of cutting may play a role of more rapid loss of sharpness. Thinking about it, perhaps a tangential cut places more stress vectors on the side of the edge that makes an obtuse axis to the object. Fractures probably occur in a laminar fashion, parallel to the edge not supported by the material being cut. This is what keeps tosho, & razor blade companies in business. Just speculating.

Before you panic, Jason, take a look at https://markussesko.com/kantei/ Markus walks you through a university-level kantei. Great learning experience.

Glad to have you onboard, Charles. Please let us know your interests as they develop.

Yes, & midare is almost too shallow. Hard to tell if it's carefully-controlled, or the victim of too many polishes. Have to see the blade in-hand. Boshi is midare-komi with hakikake.

Be interested to see how it compares to Markus' excellent references.

For those of you who are bidding, but aren't yet Gold Tier members, that's another good way to keep NMB afloat.

Glad to see that Bob is finally getting some blades back from shinsa. I've been putting off sending anything outside the U.S. Congrats on the Motooki blade getting Hozon, Ray.

Please, George, read & study first. Then, you can make an informed decision on whatever you want to buy. I agree that Grey is top-notch, BTW.

The 70s, hmm. I got shot at, had kids, got divorced, remarried, sold my GTO & motorhome because I couldn't afford the fuel. Yup, those were the days.

+1

The discrimination circuit in most sub-$1000 metal detectors aren't very good at identifying anything except base metals (iron, tin, etc.). The good ones will also indicate silver/gold/platinum, but unless you have X-ray fluorescence equipment, don't expect to see any differentiation.