JH Lee
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Posts posted by JH Lee
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Hmm... wow. Ok. I learned something new. Still a bit concerned that this could encourage amateurs to break apart potentially significant blades that just needed some TLC. But the knife project was pretty neat, I admit.
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As far as I can see, and this is just my personal opinion, this is Komonjo's strategy: have super expensive/over priced "anchor" blades with papers on his page to give the appearance legitimacy, then offer poor/questionable/rusted blades at low prices + the likely fake Chinese made "shinsakuto" (which all basically look the same and all gimei with same style of calligraphy, which tells me it's all coming from just one or two people) to attract low-information buyers. This is just what it seems like to me. I have no proof and people can draw their own conclusions. But I do think they are devaluing Japanese swords and especially shinsakuto. Not cool.
Anyway, I am still just a beginner in my studies of Japanese swords. So, I really don't think I can offer any meaningful insights into the quality of Daimyou54's offerings. Sorry.
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Since this seller was mentioned, I just have to vent that I am getting really sick and tired of the Komonjo blades. It just doesn't make any sense at all. And I don't buy the excuse that some poor apprentice or young new smith is selling them under the table with fake mei, while risking being arrested for negligible margins on blades being sold through someone else via eBay.
Anyway, I think katana-length hirazukuri blades did exist but were very uncommon. This blade has such a thick amount of hadori that it makes me think there's actually not much yakiba left and the polisher just "drew on" a plausibly thin suguha. But that's just my shot in the dark.
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Gimei or not, that looks really beautiful to me. Good luck with shinsa!
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As for the question "WHY?!" here is the seller's answer in the item description:
"I cut the blade into three pieces so that it could be used as a material for custom knives."
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Ugh. I hope not. That's vile. Just my opinion. I love turtles.
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I can't read comments because I don't do Facebook, and I'm totally fine with that.
congratulations on your first purchase!
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15 hours ago, samuraiteddy96 said:
You know what, I would love to share my collection with everyone on the forums. Once I receive my commision orders, I'll make a brand new post to show my collection
Well, if I have to die of something, I guess jealousy might as well be the way to go
...and I could pretend you meant "share" in the literal sense too, just to daydream 
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Did the blade start with a "flat" hira-niku...?
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Poetry in steel. Best of luck with the sale. Truly beautiful!
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Oof... that habaki really doesn't belong with this blade. Reminds me of the last time I tried squeezing into jeans too small for my waist. "Muffin top munemachi"... and someone abused the nakago and ruined the shape just to squeeze that habaki on there. Ugh.
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15 hours ago, Geraint said:
Oh no! He doesn't ship to the UK! What a tragedy, now my collection will never be complete.
All the best.
It's no problem. There might be something comparable and "unique" in a nearby cat's litter box.
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1 hour ago, 16k said:
Actually, the nioi/ nie line is the transitional area where the hardened steel meet the less hard steel. So ashi relieve stress on the blade and supposedly makes them less brittle in those areas
Right. But you see in the pictures I posted, what looks to be ashi has become almost a wider "zone" of nioi. So, less brittle and softer shock absorbers of sorts; which is really cool engineering. I was wondering what the trade-off would be. For example, more prone to bending at those places or less able to hold an edge?
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Maybe blade should go to a polisher and the koshirae to a professional art restorer or similar type of worker at a museum who has relevant experience and knowledge of Japanese antiques. As for remounting, I would steer clear of Fred Lohman. There is another gentleman in Arizona who does fantastic work. I only have my blades mounted by him for years now and no one else.
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47 minutes ago, 16k said:
That is certainly true and I can’t deny any of it.
But you also missed my point!
My point was mainly, Don’t do it yourself. I wouldn’t want this thread to incite people trying to polish a nihontō by themselves. It would run opposite to my beliefs.
Jean, at the risk of beating a dead horse... I agree with you. What I'm saying is, what should prevent amateurs like me from practicing and getting better and better at what my polish, so that one day, I can also become a "professional" and set up a website and charge people money to send me their blades? What is the difference between that, and other "professionals" who also surely practiced their way to better their knowledge and skills? If those other people get a pass, maybe people like me should, too. Maybe I'll just go meet some polishers and attend a seminar or workshop or demonstration, and then exaggerate to say that I was "trained by" those polishers to give myself a boost. Do you see the problem? I'm sorry if this seems argumentative. If so, that is not my intention.
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13 minutes ago, 16k said:
just to be clear, after John L.’s post:
I DON'T CONDONE OR ADVOCATE ANYONE WHO WOULD WANT TO POLISH A NIHONTO BY THEMSELVES. YOU WILL RUIN YOUR BLADE AND YOU DON'T HAVE THE ABILITY TO DO IT YOURSELF. IT'S A JOB BEST LEFT IN THE HANDS OF PROFESSIONALS. IF YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT DOING IT, WELL DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!
Now, that I’ve said that, Pierluigi introduces himself as a professional. His work will be his judge and his calling card. I would never have attempted this by myself. The only issue is: what is a professional? Can’t you be one if you haven’t been Japanese trained. Surely, talent isn’t limited to a country and and art that has been mastered by some can be mastered or rediscovered by others.
Jean, I think you may have somewhat missed my point. Sorry, I should have been more clear.
In the journey to get to "professional" from "amateur," one must practice. And one must necessarily practice with precious stones and even more precious nihonto. In being trained by a Japanese master through years of careful mentorship and apprenticeship, I would imagine that there are fewer irrevocable mistakes made to what are technically irreplaceable (whether juyo token or rusted mumei) historical artifacts. In a way, I was echoing Barry's concern that self-taught or even "half-taught" amateurs will damage better and better blades over time.
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Here's my recent amateur polish with Japanese stones/fingerstones. FYI, it's a custom wakizashi by an American smith in W2 monosteel, NOT a nihonto.
Here's what I learned:
It's extremely easy to permanently disfigure a blade. We're talking tolerances of 1mm or less. The wrong angle, too little or too much pressure... once the damage is done, the only way to fix your mistake is invariably by removing more metal. There is a good reason why the classical apprenticeship for togishi is many years (now 10). Basically, I learned just how much I really don't know. And it reinforced in me the belief that no amateur should ever try restoring historical artifacts without the knowledge and training to do it correctly.
"How do you get to Carnegie Hall?"
"Practice."
The problem is that a modern W2 tool monosteel and Japanese tamahagane are different animals entirely. Given that premise, it follows that, to get good at polishing nihonto, one can only really pratice on nihonto. Without a mentor/master to teach you, it's not something you can learn by reading books or online guides. And if you don't know what you're doing, you shouldn't practice on historical artifacts for your own selfish pleasure and arrogance and desire to "get better" at the cost of many irreversibly damaged blades in your wake.
I don't mean to step on anyone's toes, but these are just my thoughts as a beginner collector.
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Thank you for being patient with me, Barry. I am still learning.
So, in the images posted above, where the hamon seems to be primarily nioi.... Are those the spots where the blade is potentially more likely to bend/take a set? Or am I over (or under) thinking it?
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Thank you, Barry. Are parts of the hamon that are nioi-deki softer/harder than nie-deki? No difference?
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I know the pictures aren't great, but I would be grateful for your helpful thoughts/opinions.
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7 hours ago, Brian said:
This is terrible and deeply upsetting. Are they making fake replicas and then intentionally passing them off as genuine antiques?? Or lying about polishing expertise they do not possess? That's not only unethical, it's ILLEGAL.
As an extremely inexperienced collector myself, I have to say that this kind of crap makes me even more reluctant and weary. Thankfully, my funds are limited anyway for any impulse buying, but still....
Anyway, if they are deliberately engaged in making fakes and lying to their customers, that is FRAUD by definition and they should be prosecuted by law as criminals!
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Some more photos from the togi, who admits to not being too good at taking photos (and who I don't want to bother too much by pestering for more/better photos). I have been told that the white misty appearance is not hadori but just the natural hardened steel. Is the misty part nioi? Is it softer than the darker parts of the hamon? Is it functioning as a kind of massive/irregular ashi? So many questions!!
Thanks in advance for the enlightenment.
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Thank you, everyone. I tend to get mixed up between gunome and choji.
Christian, it looks to me like a somewhat faded(?) sashikomi style polish. But I've been pretty happy with it the way it is. If you squint really hard under the right light and angle, you can see faint wisps of nie/nioi connecting some of the tobiyaki heads to the hamon and even some kinsuji.
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One of my wakizashi. I was wondering if this pattern is gunome or choji? Sorry I'm really bad at taking nice photos of my blades.
Real or Fake?
in Nihonto
Posted
I will respectfully disagree. It's not as though Chinese people have no comparable history of using tatara and making folded steel blades. I don't deny that those blades' general shaping is decent and sometimes the temper and hada look passable. I will even say that the person doing it has some knowledge and talent. But the broader context tells me that it cannot be a Japanese smith.
It just does not make any sense to me, personally, that "struggling Japanese smiths" would risk being arrested and going to jail by smuggling their blades out of the country through customs inspection each time. Would they really risk losing their license/ability to ever make swords again, becoming a hated outcast among other smiths, possibly going to prison, just to use some middleman in the US to sell blades on eBay for minimal margins, if any (after material/shipping costs, giving Komonjo his cut, after eBay fees, not to mention/time and effort to make, finish, and polish each blade).... It simply does not make sense. The only way any of that is even close to worth it is by 1) making a lot of them (and Komonjo certainly seems to have a steady stream of them going up for years now), and 2) if the one doing it is in a country where the conversion rate would benefit them more than USD to Yen.
Anyway, I apologize for distracting from the thread. These are just my opinions and frustrations about what I think is ultimately harming collectors and the wider JP sword market. I'll be quiet now.