b.hennick

Here is a Tembo tsuba with bat and moon stamps:

I think that the 201 level needs lessons on sword quality. Kantei for quality - which of the five swords presented is the best one? Reasons? Worst one? Reasons?

I just sent a donation to Brian in Jussi's honour. I appreciate, his daily contributions, the work in assembling this data base and his sharing his work with us. If you feel the same way please consider making a donation in his honour. Brian certainly needs the support.

Grey, I was trying to show a progression. I would never use either of the first two methods now.

Years ago I was taught to place a tang over a candle and get the tang smokey. The next step was to put scotch tape over than tang and remove the carbon. It worked fairly well but was messy. Next came a roll of special medical use printer paper that you placed over the tang and rubbed to transfer an impression of the mei. Then oshigata paper became available with a Japanese circular disc that looked like a black crayon. I also have used "grease pencils" that were special crayons used in labs on glassware. For full oshigata of a blade I use the Japanese disc to outline the blade and shinogi line, and pencils to fill in the hamon/hada details. Magnets to hold the paper in place. I use a strong kitchen magnet that looks a little like a mushroom. The plastic upper part extends past the inset magnets. The magnets are strong enough to hold the paper in place. oshigata crayon ink magnets I use

Where did the 99% figure come from? Why are so many blades submitted to shinsa if 99% are fake?

Thanks!

Can you use transferwise to make a currency exchange i.e. from Canadian dollars to USD?

Please stop pulling my leg it hurts! Why do we encourage this type of garbage? No answer is better than keeping this alive. This is my first and last post in this thread.

The third character is Masa 1, 2, and 4?

You convinced me.

I could see it happen for one side but not for both.

Scan and print with a 3D printer would also work,

If there is only one side implement, it usually is a kozuka and not a kogai.

Does this piece have a matching kozuka?

Polishers are not all equal, and you should understand (recognize) the differences. People need to really understand this statement. A polisher who may be OK for suguha/ or modern blade may do a terrible job on a hitatsura/ or ko Bizen blade. We have seen that in recent years. I remember well a conversation or two about this very topic. He would match the blade to a polisher who knew how to do it justice. This probably should be a new topic. Franco??

Is there a kozuka to go with the Kogai? If there is an empty slot you will have a difficult time replacing the missing piece. The handle wrap might be baleen. If so it will be very difficult to replace. I would not be interested if the kozuka is missing and I can't see the tang.

I suggest that you look up "ububa" Others might say Ubu ha. When a blade is newly made the first section above the machi (notch) is unsharpened. Many WWII blades that were made for the war show that feature.

Do you have an aquarium in the dental office? They would fit in nicely

Welcome Chris!

Here is something that you can try. Put a business card on the kissaki. Focus on the card and then remove the card. The point will be in focus.

I very much like the last two posts by Darcy - except for the last two sentences. I'll miss your thoughts and inspirations on NMB.

I think that I once heard that for every 10 eleven are fakes.

That is one reason that the blade is going to shinsa.

I would keep 1a, 1b, 3 and 5.