Lee Bray

I hadn't commented as my answer has already been given. A is real. B is real but Yoshimitsu makes copies of older works and I think this is an example, hence the 'shortened' nakago that still looks pristine. However, now knowing there are convincing fakes of his out there, I'm not so sure.

Hi Ford, That's at the root of my worry - you're an artist and should be making the stuff, not talking about it. (Please don't read that as me telling you what to do.) I did say it's a great idea but I still think you're going to have to become a robot to cope with the routine. It's one thing to do something for love on a daily basis; it's quite another to do it for money. I think my recent actions have proved my respect for you and your work and I would certainly pay to hear your thoughts on tosugu on a daily basis, I just think making a job out of it will affect you. Perhaps consider alternative payment methods. I would subscribe but I don't use paypal and TT charges will be more than the subscribtion cost.

Honestly? Great idea but I think you'll be pulling your hair out after 2 weeks and you'll be sick of discussing tosugu. One item a day involving your time to study, type your opinion and discuss is going to be excessive. I'd say if the private discussions are getting to the point where you're considering this, it maybe better to try and scale that back somehow. Easier said than done, I imagine. Perhaps my opinion is based on a lack of self discipline - I know I couldn't look at and discuss anything once a day indefinitely and I know I'd regret making that commitment.

Thanks, Jacques.

Yasurime are in kesho style which is late shinto, shinshinto. I'd say that's one mark for it being gimei.

Jason, if your polisher cannot differentiate between Shinto and Koto with the blade in hand, I'd seriously consider using another polisher. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7381&view=unread#unread

I have a modern cast tsuba that rings like a bell. I have a modern wrought iron tsuba that I made myself that doesn't ring. Surely the fact that most bells are cast must say a lot on this matter?

Are you sure this latest piece is cast? I can't believe they would add a shakudo fukurin if it were cast, seems too much trouble. I honestly don't see it as 'obviously cast' but that's not saying a great deal...

Hi Jason. This sukashi piece, https://www.aoi-art.com/fittings/tsuba/F10133.html, makes for a good comparison between thick rust and thick patina. Sorry I can't help with school.

All great info, thank you. There is a Kunimori close to where I live in poor Chinese polish being offered at HK$110,000 - approx. US$14,000. I managed to contain my shock at the offer and graciously declined...

If you sign with your real name. Which the rest of us do.

You say tomato, I say tomato. I see his comments as blunt, certainly not sugar coated but truthful and to the point. I'm not trying to start a fan club here but I've had help from Reinhard via PM which I found concise and accurate. I honestly don't see the point on jumping on him every time he posts. He's always posted with the same attitude, that's his way. If he offends, don't read him. Anyway, said my bit. Apologies to all for the derail.

Here we go again... Edit - Sorry, that wasn't meant to be a glib comment, I just don't want to see another thread/idea run down because of personal differences. Perhaps some thicker skin (I need some myself) and some allowance for cultural differences?

You may well have started this yourself by changing your board name.

Reinhard would be a more than worthy contributor.

Veiled? I think everyone saw me coming a mile away... :D Give it to me and I'll promise to get it polished immediately. You're more than welcome to the pics. Thanks for clarifying the mei. I have access to a lot of Shibata Rei oshigata through a friend and the index I have shows 4 or 5 Toshinaga but none are niji-mei. Mutsu No Kami Fujiwara Toshinaga - TOS290 - Ise Bushu Ju Yamamoto Geki Toshinaga - TOS74 - Musashi Mino No Kami Fujiwara Toshinaga (or Jiyumiyou) - JU32 - Mino (Kyoto) Yamashiro No Kami Fujiwara Toshinaga - TOS287 - Yamashiro I'll be able to check the oshigata tomorrow as we have a sword day planned so I'll see if your niji-mei is close to any of the above.

Well, if you don't like it. I think it has quite a pleasing shape, condition aside. I'd be dubious about the mei. Crude and newer rust inside the strokes.

If my post has caused any confusion, allow me to clarify. I asked about the cross hatch/fine lines as, to me, their presence would indicate nunome-zogan. If there are no cross hatchings then, I believe, it is mercury gilded which is brushed on and requires no cross hatching. *Edit to further clarify... * As Peter said it has lines evident, I presume it is nunome-zogan.

Keep studying real swords on authentic dealer sites and where ever you can find a blade that is genuine. Don't try and learn from ebay. With enough of the real thing, you will soon come to see the real thing from the fake just by a reasonably quick glance. I only say 'reasonably' as some of the more modern day copies are getting better. Most are very obvious after you've taught your eyes to see. Even if a genuine blade is rusty, chipped, bent, whatever, the trained eye can see it. A missing habaki or a missing whichever piece of koshirae makes no difference to the blade. So 'looke' for real swords. Keep looking at them. Then look at some more. Have I stressed that enough? Only then go look at ebay and laugh heartily at the cheap and nasty imitations.

There was a free auction site opened by an admin over on Don Foggs' Bladesmiths forum. I helped with testing. It was primarily for knives and smiths tools but didn't seem to take off due to low volume of viewers. Perhaps a collaboration between forums to get more people interested would be beneficial to us all, however, ebay has such a high flow of viewers that competing with them is going to be hard.

That IS the relevant question and I'd say cosmetically, yes, with polishing. However, the blue colouration evidences that the heat applied to the nakago has been sufficient to alter the heat treat in that area. So then that begs the question, is the heat treat/sword safe? If the HT is altered, and recently, how collectible is it? Probably not very, in my opinion. About the temperature needed to change the temper in the steel and your comment about the solder joint melting first. I honestly don't think that's the case although I could be wrong. I've softened steel just by the heat transferred from grinding a blade(non nihonto). No colour in the steel at all, just too hot to touch. I'm thinking the sharp transition line is from possible immersion in water of the whole blade, with heat being applied to the nakago for Keith's stuck habaki suggestion or for machi okuri.

Is that not a mercury gilding application of gold? Nunome zogan would be a tricky process to do on the irregular areas shown here. Any cross hatching/very fine lines behind the gold? School - Higo? Based purely on the vines and nothing else.

Keith, I like your idea but surely the thermal conductivity of copper would not create such a sharp transition? The habaki would need to be a fantastic insulator to create that transition line. It looks like someone has been trying to draw temper on the tang for whatever reason. I think we can speculate all day long about why but at the end of the day, a decent smith would not have left the nakago looking like that so it's probably a hack job and should be treated with suspicion.

Interesting topic of discussion. For another time and another forum.

And one in which we all share and live so some civility would be great. Whether the writing on this piece is fraud or whether it is the illiterate ramblings of a smith with too much nostalgia and sake inside him, we'll probably never know. The fact that the work is not great means we probably never will know.