obiwanknabbe

Well, radishes were used in the process of making tsuba... Other than that? I do recall reading (needing citation) that many samurai would have themes or designs on their swords that were a bit of an inside joke or a reference to a story/poem.. Hard to say . Nice piece though.

Having paid almost nothing for it i would think it's worth the cost of a polish and shirasaya regardless, if it's healthy enough to take one that is. Wish i could trip over a score like this. Nice find.

want.. many things.. can afford.. meh... not so much.. 1) Would love to get my hands on a presentation Matetsu tachi.. 2) Clean.. pre 1600s Hitatsura Nagamaki katana.. 3) Kogarasu Katana. (there was a gassan school one that belonged to the emperor Hirohito's brother on Ninoto.ca a few years back that haunts my dreams)

I don't recall "sword shows" perse, but i do remember when i was younger (mid 1990s), the Tri State Gun show would come to long island NY every year or so, and there were swords on every table for 150 bucks.. Pre internet, no one knew much about them or what they were worth... Time machine please!!

My mantetsu was almost a loss.. not so much defaced as played with hard and put away wet... Still need a proper saya made but it was still better than the pile of rust that was the original.

I have trouble imagining the amount of time it would have taken to do this with hand tools. Pretty darn amazing!

Im seeing other characters on the blade in the 2nd picture... are those painted or in the steel?

The style of Hamon in no way determines whether the blade is traditionally made or not.. That is unless it's simply polished on such as seen on stainless steel blades or reproductions, but then again this is more to do with how the blade was made, and not the hamon determining the method of production. Kurt K

I am working on getting better/more complete picks.. the boshi/kissaki looked ok.. no issues. the overall shape does get slender towards the end. quite a bit of taper.. not sure if its a product of many polishes or if it was the original shape. kurt k

This is a sword that a friend of mine has come into possession of.. You thoughts are welcome as she would like to learn more about it.. I did not take these pictures so its all we have to work with. Im pretty sure its Hoshu takata ju fujiwara muneyuki. MUN781 1648 or so.. the date pic is really blurry so im trying to get another one.. i could not see any hada..the habaki is a lost cause . It looks to have been polished quite a few times... the hamon is still wide enough... it May have one last polish left in it.. She was considering restoration and remounting as it was a gift and wishes to honor it as much as possible.. she is aware of the costs. If anyone has any further info about this smith it would be greatly appreciated Thanks in advance Kurt K

got my daisho box today.. worked out perfectly.. Thanks!!!

Here is mine.. think it reads spring 1940... 356

Lots to process here.. thank you very much for sharing .. Now im off to not sleep and think about swords.. Which is most every night anyway. I have been working on a new blade and some of these thoughts have crossed my minds as well. I suppose, on some level, those of us who work steel all feel similarly about it.. hum... to it then. Kurt K

This falls into the "oh Hheellllll no" category.. carving looks stamped and is poorly done at that, habaki is garbage.. blade is buffed to the point of having no defined surfaces. fittings are very poorly cast.. Everything about this screams "run". The Ak looks legit though... Kurt.k

I have mikes #... pm me

I first saw it in a "National Geographic" when i was a kid.. Prob not the first time it was ever published but it was certainly akin to the moment i figured out the reason i liked girls when first I caught a glimpse at a playboy centerfold. Remember the pregressive... "ooooohhHHH.. yea.. that...Ok...now it makes sense " realization? lol

Why was I not born into money? sigh

Mike has never done wrong by me.. He will be doing my next saya as well. Kurt k

would love to meet up with DFW locals but i work on saturdays.. Crime only takes tuesdays off..

Fort worth here..

I don't know about it having been cut down.. Where is the other Mekugi ana then? ... Then if it were cut, what was the point? All the fittings would be in the same spot they were before as it all seems to line up the way most tsuka do. No pile of seppa as if the Machi was moved up. not a over sized habaki. Am i missing something?

Im thinking there is much more going on with this blade.. That Nakago is huge.. Polish candidate in my opinion.

I was looking over an old post and realized that I never uploaded the pics.. so mea culpa and here are those shots.. Id still be interested in what people thought about the steel strapping on the tsuka under the ito and the 2nd mekugi. Kurt. k

It hammered for $1800... way to much for the condition in my opinion.

I have seen the diamond/punch stamp before on other blades that were made by Bishu ju Mano Masayasu... Some have conjectured they were used as inventory/batch marks. I have a theory that they denote blades made by the master and not a student as i have observed that they only show up on blades that are Soshin Mei .