Salvatori Moretto

Trial and error with a few days of tinkering between light mixtures of black lacquer in a 1/41/5 type ratio, diluted shellac,( put on mut dabbed off just a little so it's not too shiny) as well as the skin gets light baths in coffee before it's molded to the tsuka. I've also literally thrown dirt on it before the wrap Polishing it with a padded 800+ grit padded sanding to help simulate things rubbing over the higher nodes over time. It can take a day or two to get right on each tsuka sometimes as each skin reacts slightly different each time, maybe due to slight thickness differences? Thanks again guys! Cheers, Sal'

Well I ended up purchasing it from him for his starting price. I'll have it at the Tampa sword show coming up most likely. Afterwards I'll put it back up for sale on here and ship world wide. And thanks for the kind remarks about my tsuka work, I'm just glad I was able to do the koshirae justice Cheers and thanks again guys! Sal'

This one only has five hours left! Does anyone know why there might not be any bidders yet? Is it just because it's mumei and o-suriage? Cheers, Sal'

Another one of my previous mounts has gone up for sale while my friend is still down on his luck. Mumei and o-suriage, this blade has a good weight to it! This customer used the koshirae that I was selling on here a while ago to use when I mounted this for him. Wally Hostetter re lacquered the saya in a nice simple black. to freshen things up. I made a new tsuka and used a high grade samegawa from namikawa in a full wrap which I then antiqued to look old, and a simple black silk for the tsuka-maki. Used bambo themed koshirae and i believe shishi dog menuki. I think this would definitely look great with a fresh polish I see a lot of potential for the blade under that old polish. Nagasa: 67.0 cm. Sori: 1.8 cm. Moto-haba: 3.2 cm. Saki-haba: 2.4 cm. Moto-gasane: 0.7 cm. Saki-gasane: 0.5 cm. http://www.ebay.com/itm/252727262741?ssPageName=STRK%3AMESELX%3AIT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649&autorefresh=true He set the auction as no reserve, I placed a starting bid. As you can tell from the last blade he put up someone got one heck of a steal! He will only ship to US and Canada, but if there are others who wish to bid, I will more than gladly act as an intermediary, have him ship the blade to me, and then ship the blade for him to your location for only the cost of the shipping I incur. Good luck everyone! Cheers, Sal'

Even with unknown origin, the blades komonjo sells often go for the price this sold for, as a un mounted blade. This might be a blade to some people that is worth appreciating because of its unique look, and to others, a fun, higher quality blade than they are probably used to for cutting I can't speak of its origin, but I can say by holding it in hand that it was FAR better than any bugei/hanwei blade that i have held that often sell for the same price... I don't think they were any false pretenses on his part, it was I that mentioned shinsakuto as I was rushing to post here on my way to bed, but his ebay sale makes no mention of the word My fault Apologies Cheers, Sal'

Yes I think it may be one of the komonjo's or something similar but I don't remember, I'll email him for clarification sori is VERY deep, ill see if I can find my old measurements or just gave him measure it again. cheers, Sal'

Hello folks, just helping a customer, and friend of mine in need. It's one of the blades I mounted just recently, he just put it up for sale. I made the tsuka, seppa and did the tsukamaki and samagawa work, gathered and fitted all the koshirae (except antique menuki provided by the customer) and came up with the over all theme for him. Wally Hostetter did the saya, and Areku did the tsuba, and a close friend of his in Poland did the fuchi and kabutogane custom for this job as there were no fitting large enough for this on the market. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Japanese-sword-katana-tachi-nodachi-with-horimono-/252705429069?hash=item3ad66ad64d:g:rVEAAOSw6DtYWDX-&autorefresh=true Only higher quality materials were used, even used a really nice piece of grade 1 samegawa for this one and the antiquing came out very nice. A lot of craftsman put a lot of work into this very nice and unique tachi style blade mounted as handachi. It has a nicely carved horimano and he's starting the auction at only $1000! Attached are just some teaser photos from him auction. Thanks, Cheers, Sal'

He just relisted it and it's starting at about $1000 I'll post it in the for sale section as well. Thanks, Sal'

Hello folks, just helping a a customer of mine in need. It's one of the blades I mounted for a long time customer just recently, he just put it up for sale. I made the tsuka, seppa and did the tsukamaki and samagawa work, gathered and fitted all the koshirae (except antique menuki provided by the customer) and came up with the over all theme for him. Wally Hostetter did the saya, and Areku did the tsuba, and a close friend of his in Poland did the fuchi and kabutogane custom for this job as there were no fitting large enough for this on the market. http://www.ebay.com/...qAAAOSwux5YWDW8 Only higher quality materials were used, even used a really nice piece of grade 1 samegawa for this one and the antiquing came out very nice. A lot of craftsman put a lot of work into this one, and he's asking a fair price it imho. $2250 obo

Would be great to see the end results of what you learn about that blade, as I was bidding on these also That whole missing ana and nice file marks/shape is what drew me to it also -Sal

Well for a katana length project blade at 27.5 inches, that I was hoping to learn more from, I think it will suit my needs If it polishes all the better of coarse As far as the tsuka I knew it was a mismatch and of poorer quality to begin with, as the same with the overly rusted tsuba. I make my own tsuka and stock samegawa and ito so I have no out of pocket expense there unless I decided to do something special koshirae wise if it polishes out. I'm just super excited, if this one turns out ok it might be the first one I plan to keep for myself, if not, one to save from further destruction and pass along for other beginner collectors to learn from. Thanks everyone! If my polisher thinks this one is worth restoration than I'll update this thread with photos and start a new thread for it as more work gets done. Thanks again for all the good advice and feedback! Cheers, Sal

Hello and thank you all in advance Need some help and honest opinions. Just picked up this blade and was told the mei reads yoshimitsu, it does appear to do so, but any idea which one from what you see? I plan on having it polished very soon and having the saya restored (THAT SAME" IS BEAUTIFUL) and then finishing the mounts according to how well it polishes. Thanks again everyone! Cheers, Sal

Sold and shipped Thanks everyone!

Really need this sold ASAP, price lowered to $700 shipped CONUS Thanks, Sal

Bump!!!

$800 Shipped people!!! Sal'

$900 Shipped people!!! This is what I paid for the polish alone, need to get this gone to keep working on other projects! Thanks, Sal

Bump!

Bump, price now $1100 Shipped CONUS Thanks, Sal

This one is off to ebay folks! Here's the link if you wish to bid . http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/262380341545? Thanks, Sal'

Deal has passed people, Price adjusted to $1400 Shipped CONUS OBO, this one might just go to auction soon. Thanks, Sal

Ok here's a 15 hour deal...deal expires the moment I sign papers tomorrow in the early evening. I want to put down an extra $1000 tomorrow on the car I'm getting, so from now until till then only, Price is lowered to $1040 shipped CONUS!!! Thanks, Sal

Here are some photos of the nakago Also, Measurements are: W/ Saya it measures 27 3/4 inches W/o Saya 27 3/16 overall Nagasa is just a hair over 21 Tsuka is 5 inches Thanks -Sal

-Thanks Tokashikibob!!! I use my own concoction of different things to age the samegawa, but coffee is not one of them PM if you want more detail on the process -At the Tampa show it failed Shinsa due to the saiha, I have the paper from them still. I'll have pictures of the nakago and measurements in just a short while after I finish my morning coffee Thanks, Sal

If you appreciate value this is one you don't want to let pass by. This is a mumei Wakizashi, it has a mizukage or re tempering. Off the bat I will be loosing money on this. The blade has what is called a mizukage or retempering that was done on it at some point. Might have been done right after it was made by the original smith who wasn't happy with the hamon or possibly done later on due to a fire. When I got this blade it was covered in a haze or rust and in WW2 mounts. Had a fresh polish put on it, and I had Wally Hostetter redo the saya, and boy did he do an amazing job; Black with gold stripes, with silver dust in the black. I told him I wanted the black to mimic the night sky with stars off in the distance, he nailed it!. I made the new tsuka for it, used left over grade #1 namikawa skin from a past project and antiqued it so it would look more age appropriate and also made a new tsuba from buffalo horn based off the shape of the military tsuba it was found in, used a fuchi and kashira that I had listed on here but had not sold, and menuki from an old beat up tsuka and put together a very nice mount to try and pay respects to the blade the best I could. I didn't have the heart to leave a blade that was still so beautiful go unfinished, I had to see this one through. Now I know I am going to loose money on this because of the mizukage, fortunately enough I have the skills and was able to do the rest of the mount myself and saved money there. I paid $300 for the blade, $900 for polish, $450 to have the original shirasaya re-done, and give or take about $275 for koshirae, that's a total of $1925 into this. Here is a link to more pictures, i forgot to take photos of the nakago, by the time i remembered it was dark out, the blade is mumei and ubu (other than mizukage) and I can get some more pictures soon of the nakago and post some measurements as well tomorrow imageshack.com/a/ynPM/1 Price is $1,500 shipped OBO (Price is VERY negotiable) Considering you can't come close to that kind of price even with a newly made custom blade in this same condition, I think this is one heck of a sweet deal. I have a car I would like to purchase this week, IF you like this make me an offer, no reasonable offer will be refused, the faster this sale the better, I'm prepared to loose money already If you have any interest please let me know, Thanks, Sal