ggil

Removed Showa stamp, looks like. Maybe NOT gendaito?

ill be there Saturday or Sunday.  looking forward to it.  

Baleen maybe. Japan just opened back up for whaling again, coincidentally

keep up the good work ferretting out the tricky fake stuff guys!  Y'all good people just saved David the hassle of researching the piece (not Tsuba), and possibly have done a great service to his business, in the long run of course.

Totally guessing, pre-showa, but not by more than 100 years, just going by the yasurime and how proudly they still stand even with all the corrosion nearby. interested to see what the seasoned folks think. kinda a hard call with the blade being out of polish. And we never get much to go on. still a shot in the dark a bit. maybe zooming in to see if the metal has big/small/no grain.

Maybe some resident vets miss the post with the words Showa (bless their souls) in the title, but you can look thru a few posts and see some folks that are excellent at translating whatever missing characters you need, and send them a pm. That would be a surefire way to get help with translating.

Thanks Pietro Sir. The second one is much better, but still pretty risky. Mods please delete, thanks.

I wonder if the habaki is original to the blade

This is odd! usually you see the patrol swords which are around 18” Nagasa, and have only the sun emblem. Not seen a dirk like this before. No idea about what rank would’ve worn it or how many instances of this dirk there may exist out there. I wonder if the police had a boat crew that patrolled water ways? That would make sense that the officer would carry a dirk like the navy. Thanks for sharing. Too bad the blade looks to have an etched hamon, but still really cool.

Whoa! amazing a polisher took it that far down. Steve has a point in that it could be a reference for a smith that forged a single piece (Maru construction) but blades polished down this much should be reTIRED, or given the restful peace they deserve. I wouldn’t trust it to swing, not that I’d trust myself to swing nihonto at anything anyway.

I love it! Thanks Jean for sharing. “Of course [the hamon] looks cool because I made it!” He seems like the kinda sensei one would have fun drinking a sake with on occasion.

From the caliper photo, It’s sort of diamond shaped and it looks like you are measuring the mune not the kasane. If it’s really >6mm under the habaki and <2mm near the kissaki (near where the ideal point of impact is), then yeah a lottle tired.

NCJSC had a recent newsletter all about history and practices regarding menuki. I’m away from the casa for a week but can scan and pm you a copy when I get back. Maybe you can pm Thomas Helm San as he is on the NMB and will have the write up easier at hand. I think a few other are here too I’ve seen Junichi San here a while ago, but I don’t know his last name. The write up seemed quite comprehensive and it may be a good idea to arrange it being saved electronically here if there is no issues with that.

Something I do recall is that if the menuki are mounted the wrong way they have a funny name for this (something like ‘out of control menuki’ or something), almost like it happened all the time they get mounted out of proper form.

Maybe dreaming sure, looking again at the habaki yeah I tend to agree, but also maybe trying to avoid the nightmare of dismissing something decent and it ending up worse off for it. Looks like the edges have been cut away a bit near the middle from ameteur polish, which is a real awful thing for these.

I agree with Chris on the window option. The blade appears late edo (pre Showa I think for sure) and likely traditionally made (basing this on the nakago age, 2 holes, and the fat kissaki (hard to forge that, what’s its name please?). if you are patient enough you can not only restore the koshirae but learn quite a bit of interesting info and history. Professionally Polishing the katana will cost quite a bit, so gotta get a window put in to see if there is anything there really worth it, but then when/if you get a tsuka made (gotta buy the missing parts first) you could be looking at a blade that would probably look better without the window. Don’t rush, stick around and learn for a good long while, and that would be the best thing before jumping in to restoration, unless money is no option and it’s got sentimental value or something, then you can easily be pointed to properly qualified and decently priced services from various board members. Search polishing services here and some great options show up. Good luck! If you stick around and meet some members in person they can get a much better feel for the thing when in hand. Your thoughts on the blade are important as it is in your hands and you can study it and make an informed decision after learning more. Logan is right restoration is expensive. I think fully restoring this would be $2k, or more if it can be done (pitting isn’t too deep, turns up machine made or Chinese, has hagire)

Number 6, then you can bring the story and useful life instruction from the 8 bridges in the iris pond motif our good members just recently went over. It’s still fresh for me so I would choose this one. I’m probably wrong on the symbology though due to limited knowledge of the many historical and narrative themes we see.. next favorite is #4 due to the symmetry and tricky undulations in the inner rim.

a 'destructive' technique, so not something many would condone here.  would add some certainty to the field though, a small chunk taken out of the nakago, as in the amount lost when adding a mekugi ana, wouldn't cause me to lose much sleep.  go science! never heard of anyone doing this on the NMB.  I was one time asking here about nano-indentation hardness testing and got the whole, "you want to destroy nihonto, go for it a%$hole," type of response.  Supposed to be about preserving here so makes sense.  Maybe a PM to the old thread members (in the posts you found) would get more bites.  People don't want to be known as those that would jimmy around with antiques here, makes for alienation within the community. 

Ed is a good guy. I narrowly missed the chance to own a decent wak in shikomizue by a few minutes (gotta keep checking the NMB all the time you know). He kindly offered to find me another. I actually thought the blade he was selling was rare enough (definitely cheap enough) that it would be an undue burden to hunt out a cheap (and having niku and wide motohaba) shikomizue, but I bet he would either have found me one or would still be looking if I’d have said OK. Healthy blades in shikomizue for $500 don’t grow on trees. if the owner is reading this and wants to offload it let me know. Ed please keep up the good work!

The hamon looks interesting in this blade. Pictures don’t do these justice of course so I’m sure it is way better in hand. It will be interesting for you getting to know this very old blade, I’m sure. It would be a nice challenge to see if your kantei can match the experts, but you can take your time.

looks like a cut rate 'polisher' thought: better than fukure... the 'bohi' are not symmetrical.  a good polisher can fix it somehow, I bet. 

May be a bit late, but if I was you I’d get in contact with Fred Weissberg (club president) or Tom (vice pres). Either of those 2 or really any other club member besides me because I live 45 mi from the city and really don’t have much pieces or knowledge, so 90 miles round trip of crap traffic to hang out with me and my crazy brood...

The patina on sho reminds me of the sunset, or age tanned leather, or both. Very lovely!

OK please let us know what happens.  It would be nice to see what is under the scuffing.  I hope it turns out to have a boshi and not a cut-down blade.  A lot of work to go into outfitting a blade without a boshi.  The tanto shape overall seems attractive to me, so if cut down done by an experienced hand.  Darcy's gut wouldn't hold him back, so good chance you are going to be happy about the tanto.  I just noticed the habaki is 2 piece silver covered and has some artistic texture worked into it.

Oh that mino wak for $650 is tempting someone like myself. What a beauty?

Thanks Professor! You go on with your bad self!

I heard the longer the polished shank the older. I think it makes sense more time to work on tiny intricate geometry 1600 on. Sorry to hijack and I hope you got what you needed here, and hope you ask if you need more.

U just want an old beater saya? I got one in my garage but not really worth postage as it’s split pretty bad. You collect sayas? Actually pretty good idea as there are few old ones still intact.