b.hennick

I agree with Peter an ebook with all that information on my phone or tablet would be great.

Goldfish or Koy? There is a signature that I would appreciate help with. Yes I pick up Yama and Kuni but ... Any idea who made this piece and when? All help is appreciated.

Check the bottom of the page in the link to see that written. It is not a quote on the web-site but the writing of the site owners.

I just received the catalogue from Amazon. It is a huge bargain at about $42. Wonderful photos good essays and excellent printing. I highly recommend it.

Hi Marcus: I am eager to get this one! Can you offer Messageboard members a group purchse price? I am sure that we could organize a good size purchase to start things off.

I'll second that! Great event a real learnig experience. See you in Chicago

I am happy to have David McDonald wrap a handle for me, for Brian Tschernaga to make a habaki for me, for John Terado to make a shirasaya for me, and for Ford Hallam to make a tsuba for me. Brian, David and Ford have all entered contests in Japan and had some recognition and success for their respective work. I think that on of Brians early habaki was thought to have actually been made by his teacher. Brian was that good and now is better. I have yet to buy a sword by a modern non-Japanese smith. If the opportunity comes I will take a serious look at the blade. Pierre Nadeau has completed 5.5 years of traditional training in sword making. I do not know if he completed his training but I will look for him to make swords in the future - Japanese swords made with traditional materials in the traditional way.

Although I collect Japanese swords and fittiings I had no problem buying Ford Hallam tsuba. I love his work. If I saw his tsuba on a table at a sword show I would stop, look and hope that I could afford it. My buying the tsuba was two fold in purpose: I wanted to support Ford and I really liked the tsuba. I am saddened to read Ford's post that was just made before mine. In it he basically says that he cannot afford to continue his journey in this research driven artisitc endeavour.

Hello: We did not limit the blades to one school or time period. We did have two groups of three swords each. The first had a suguha hamon the seond anythig but suguha. The point of the quality kantei was to judge quality not timer period or school. I agree that judgement is influenced by period. For example many Koto blades are O suriage and that is fine for them. Shinshinto blades that are o suriage is a problem. There are so many Shinshinto blades that it is reasonable to expect them to be signed, dated and ubu. As far as a small ware onan older blade that is probably not going to count much as a negative comared to shintetsu on a Shinto Hizento. This is a qualitative asssessment not a quantitative so no rating scale and poitn values. I think that you would agree that some value hada over hamon or shape over other things. So it becomes difficult. I think that all can agree that a good shape that coincides with period of manufacture is a requirement. So a Kanbun Shinto blade should be fairly straight where as a Kamakura blade is not usually or expected to be straight. There is a lot to consider and think about. Thanks for the comments/quesitons.

Looks to be black lacquer over copper. Nice design and execution.

Hello James: I intend to publish here once it has been published in the JSSUS Newsletter. You should consider joining the JSSUS as there are many good articles in our Newsletter. Membership helps to fund our translation of work from Japanese to English. The Sue koto two volume series is an absolute bargain.

Grey Doffin has an index to many books. I hope his work covered this. If not and you do receive one I would appreciate a copy.

I have seen many ivory and bone tsuka/saya with "blades" - little more than strips of metal that were made for tourists. Some have good carving most are rather poor. I have seen one tachi with ivory mounts that has a decent blade. All others so far have been junk.

Hello: I was asked for help with translating the 4 registration tags that follow. The measurments are easy enough. Some of the signature are OK but I have little experience with the handwriting of people copyng a mei. Assistance would be appreciated. The swords were purchased in Kamakura in 1954. Thanks for the help! I tried to correct by adding the correct tag but my previous repeat appears by itself.

I remember at a show a few years ago a person came by and told me what he was looking for. I had a sword with everything he wanted. It was $10k. He wanted a $15k sword. I offered to raise the price . He wanted a $15k sword no matter what it was. He has since become a serious collector of good blades. I am not sure if he still shops by price or not.

My friends in the Rochester Sword Study group have been a sharing collective of people who love swords/fittings and who help other to acquire the best. I am fortunate to have had the group in my early years to help with sword selection. They still are people I consult when considering a serious purchase. Advice from seniors who are not self interested is exceptionally valuable. Sooo join sword study groups, go to shows and meet people that you know from messageboard and of course read and study. I fondly remember Allan Pressley and Herman Wallenga to deceased members of that group.

Good to know that he is alive and well. I miss the guy!

I think that was a joke. When shinsa groups do not know what to call a blade they attribute it to Bungo. At least it appears that way. To all old timers "Where is Milt when you need him?"

My plan is to first publish the article in the JSSUS Newsletter and then once it is in the hands of the membership to post it to messageboard. I had several members of my club email or phone to let me know how much they enjopyed/learned from the presentation.

David - Ford was not replying as a tsubako so much, but as a student of sword fittings. He makes wonderful pieces because he studies fittings and has great talents. As an artist he has viewpoints on art. These exist because he has studied and learned a lot. He certainly does not need me to defend him, his views or his work. I have purchased his work as I both like it and want to support him in his journey. I look forward to his posts as they are well reasoned and have evidence to back them up. We are lucky to have him on messageboard. Having said that I value your input and the pieces that you put up for discussion.

For $45 I suggest that you join the JSSUS. Go to http://www.jssus.org - look around and if interested click the join button. It will take you to Paypal where you send money to treasurer@jssus.org With membership you will received 6 Newsletters that have several articles each as well as adds for sword shows and items for sale. Regards, Barry Hennick Director/Ombudsman JSSUS visit the JSSUS at http://www.jssus.org

To echo Tom: I would never open a zip file from someone I do not know. Even with those I know if the file is not expected I check before opening.

If anyone has a translation of the DTI 2011 catalogue I would appreciate receiving one. Last year I was able to get one due to the generosity of Robert Hughes. Thanks in advance.

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The American Branch of the NBTHK (Ted Tenold and Keith Larman) put on a wonderful display of polished cross sections of blades at one of the shows a few years ago. It was easy to see the construction with those. Perhaps Ted will post a picture or two.