drbvac

Ian: Well I for one am very pleased to see you back and to have your badge as a contributor is certainly and understatement considering your employemnt history and knowledge attained in your lifetime. The blade you shared is truly amazing and only someone such as yourself would pick it out of an auction lot based on that spectacular kojiri - good purchase no doubt and certainly much more than you had to pay !!

Good question but as stated - if cared for - how long is a rope?

Hard to believe after this amount of time to read a post with both old spectacular nihonto geniuses commenting together as Ford Hallam and Ian Bottomly - where have you two been? Still making fittings Ford? Ian - where you been. Now if neither you are the REAL Ford and Ian disregard !!!!!

Many of us are getting older and its amazing where the time goes. We start together, raising kids and working all at the same time then retire - and at the age when peers seem to be passing on every day. He was a young man and his intelligence and willingness to share his knowledge with one and all will be missed. RIP

I happen to also be involved with model railroading and one of the major problems is keeping the tracks clean and free of oxidation to maintain good electrical contact. In researching this one of the people who make videos discussed the problem with using Polar Cleaners, those that attract water through their chemical makeup and enhance the oxidation. Water of course is a polar cleanser and no one would clean a blade with water prior to oiling. Oddly enough even though with Nihonto we are not concerned with electrical conductivity we do not want anything that could attract water to the surface of the blade into micro fissures or cracks and then putting oil over them. IsopropyI is also a polar cleanser and I may be stretching the chemistry but MINERAL SPIRITS - cheap and readily available is NON-polar and based on this analogy from of all things model railroad tracks a better cleanser prior to re-oiling any blade. Mineral Spirits will not attract water and evaporates after application and leaves a clean surface with no trapped water particles. Never having heard of this before I will never use Isopopropyl Alcohol nor Ukicho to clean my blades. I may me off base but the science makes sense especially if both cleansers are not harmful other than one attracts water and one doesn't.

Are you serious ? I do like green but even in that pic the blade is junk

I was positive that he had passed away as there were several posts in his facebook page for the last several years with different folks wishing him happy birthday in heaven and hope he is blessed. I am sorry if my post upset anyone and I would love to be able to send him a note if anyone knows how to contact him . I am really glad the rumours of his death were exagerated and he is still with us Maybe he will sell me back my sword cane.

Thanks so much Moriyama San - I believe I hold another paper with the Cut two bodies inscription. I can print your reply off and place it with the papers so when I am gone someone who ends up with the blade will know what it is !!!

I do know what most columns are but no idea what they are or what they say and I would be more than happy if someone could give me some information in English as to what they are. I know there are NBTK papers and the white ones are ? I also realize it is a big ask so if no one wants to bother I would not be surprised. Happy New Year to all and thanks !!

I believe he has passed away Brian - I used to converse with him on Facebook as well and no longer He was born in 1937 so would have been 85 this year but I think he died around 4 years ago = great guy = interested in many things

I have a gimei blade signed with a two mei Tadayoshi and Roger Robertshaw replied to an email that YES it is gimei within 20 minutes ! He went on the explain that many of the gimei swords were actually not too bad as you would not have a hope putting that signature one a piece of junk !!!! If there was any hope at all of fooling anyone the blade itself had to be half decent. My problem is now that it is confirmed is it worth the trouble and cost of having the mei removed? Probably not so just note if ever trying to move it on that it is GIMEI right off the start.\ If this is considered a hack of the original post I apologise and will remove but I wanted to emphasize how great Roger is to deal with !!!!

I had a sword cane with a very narrow Japanese blade and nothing like this beauty but it looked like a cane with a silver handle and the koshira had birch veneer all over. I actually sold it to an old friend from England, Henry Reeves and the only one I ever saw other than this was an exact copy in a movie where the bad guy used it in a fight on top of a gantry crane at a dock !! I was very elegant and you could not tell it was a blade as it was straight and the blade was only a little over half and inch in width. Illegal here in Canada as well but should have kept it !

I have made some cast copper fittings for tsuba that are done in wax first and then cast the same way a gold crown for a tooth is made. The are usually staple shaped and fitted to the top and bottom of the tsuba opening then removed and cast. They are closely adapted but not exceptionally tight and are just friction fitted and no filing or hammering takes place on them as they are placed so that there is no potential for damage to the tsuba itself. Like anything else - in any attempt at any endeavour - do no harm. Now that said if you do not have access to a casting machine or a dental lab you are probably out of luck !

Honest to GOD people settle down - I am tired of all the snarky replies I have seen on the board of late - make a statement if your want but be sure of what you are saying and state it succinctly and no personal comments or thoughts - this is a group of gentlemen collectors who happen to like a strange thing to collect and in the true style of the Japanese - be polite .

Very strange looking indeed and can't be Satsuma-age as tip cut through the other direction - Kanji in the mei look a little strange as well

If that comment was for the post I did the stamp was not removed at all as I said - just filled in till i cleaned it out It was a regular forged blade and as far as I could ascertain - water quenched and then at some point well after it was made was given the stamp. Then all the dragon fittings were added to the Koshira and the rest of the mounts - don't know who made them but all iron,

I had a blade by this smith many years ago and it had all dragon fittings and very nice horimono of a dragon - sort of sad I sold it now. It did in fact have a showa stamp on it that "someone" had filled in with dark colored wax so I did not see it until I was wiping down the blade with alcohol and it melted. Still a nice sword

https://new.uniquejapan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Unique-Japan-Sword-Catalogue-38.pdf Anyone deal with Pablo Kuntz? His catalogues are beautiful reference materials if nothing else !!! Blades seem to be upper end of the market but not completely out of range for some of us !

Most collectors are not investing in Nihonto or if they are they will be disappointed. Dealers will have problems selling blades between 5000 and 25000 as they are a little pricy except for people with a high disposable income and over that is another group of purchasers all together. Unless an individual collector gets into a situation where they absolutely need the money they will rarely sell for less than they paid. They may not make anything but will hold on until they at least feel they didn't lose. Japanese edged weapons are a very small piece of the collectable world and for everyone I am sure you have found to get something nice - they are hard to find at a really low price - however they are also hard to sell and the usual mark up for most through dealers has to be close to 50%. Almost as bad as the depreciation on a new car. In any event - we all rent them from the next silly buyer while we own them and can enjoy them while we have them in hand.

I really didn;t think that this sort of quality showed up much at general auctions any longer and for certain there could not have been many folks present who would have any idea what they were bidding on - well done - may make me want to go to more auctions as a lot of these nice blades may be still out there in peoples attics and no one left in the family with any idea what it is!!

These are excellent pictures of a lovely blade and koshira !!!! Well done - did you actually just pick this up at a local show ? For your sake I hope the seller did not really know what he was selling !

Thanks for that John - I wasn;t aware of the function and it is certainly easier than getting into a pissing match with someone who loves to get into a discussion that is unrelated to the topic at hand. Maybe not as viscerally satisfying as telling the SFU but less stressful and quicker

Not even part of the topic or the conversation but noted you have 39 posts and ranked as new explorer but if you are the Ian Bottomly from the UK that I had conversations many years ago and used to work at the museum as well as others you are a long way from a new explorer !! IF so welcome back and we are lucky to have you rejoin !!!!!

Find a reputable dealer somewhere that has a good rapoir and well known as trustworthy and offering good, papered nihonto especially if you are not able to actually hold the piece in hand. That said - many times if your were able to actually hold and see the blade it may not make any difference if you have no idea what you are looking at or for. I have purchased blades all over the world from auctions, dealers, e-bay (believe it or not) and like any other collectable the provenance and dealer is everything. You may luck out and get an inexpensive blade at a bargain price but chances are if it really was it would not even be for sale. After several hundred or even a couple hundred years you would be amazed at how many hands most of these swords have passed through, been appraised and assessed by people a lot more knowledgeable than I am. Garage sales and old soldiers finds are becoming almost impossible to come across so - form a relationship with a dealer that can find and buy good blades, if not papered get them done and buy from him.

I used to be in touch with Henry many years ago and something makes me think he has passed away - not positive but I believe it is so = I did sell him a cane sword at one time with a Japanese blade in it and he was a true english gentleman in all dealings with him. If I recall it was in the spring of 2018 as last time I had contact with him was in 2015 and on Facebook