b.hennick

Now the question is how did he do the file marks? It seems impossible. Ford do you have an answer?

Thanks for the last post. Of late I am enjoying the postings in the tosugu section of the messageboard most of all. I am still a sword collector at heart but I really appreciate the time and efforts made at education in this segment of the messageboard. Thank you to the senior members who give us their time and knowledge and thank you to the junior members who raise the questions that illicit those knowledgeable answers. Look at the plate - learn good steel - messages that all nihonto collectors need to heed. At the San Francisco show this summer I will make an effort to look at the plates of tsuba with a view to learning more about good steel. I would ask members of this board who attend the show to take the time to point out to me especially good plates. I will try to take some photos and perhaps work out an article or two. Thanks again!

There is a mistake in the shipping charge. It is only $40 not $140. I have communicated with the owner. He has tried unsuccessfully to correct the error.

Look at the tusba for sale listed today. His is called Bakumatsu Miochin viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5590 Interesting contrast/ comparison between the two. :D

As a result of earlier discussions of the work of Natsuo I bought a book on his work from Craig at Bridge of Dreams (great sale BTW) In any case there is no mention of him making a kogatana. There is a picture of a couple of pipes which I found unusual. Ford's posting of photos of his work led me to buy the book. Thanks for the contribution Nobody San.

Hi Brian: I saw the same listing but I am not sure that he is the same smith...Perhaps there is a different reading for the kanji. Nobody but nobody knows for sure.... :D I have to say thank you again for your efforts on my behalf and that of the collecting community who struggles with translation. THANK YOU!!

Thank you for the translation. I must have missed the character for ten and just read the two -- February 2nd month rather than December 12th month If anyone has informaiton on this smith I would appreciate receiving it. The blade has a tight grain - not muji and a choji hamon.

Hello: I have been able to translate the date as being a lucky day in February Showa 18 (1943) but I could use some assistance with the mei. Thanks!

I have a WWII blade that has a saya that is a leather covered shirasaya. Same wood same shape. The handle has older fittings. So that blade was taken to combat in a shirasaya - not shiratsuka..(is that a word - seems to work) :D

Hi Stephen et al: I registered this evening got my confirmation email and ID number. No request for a fee. I did not confirm my registration - big error. I then did that and my login went smoothly. I think this now works as it should

This thread has been a great learning experience for me. I appreciate the contributions to my knowledge base made by several contributors. I must also thank the original poster for without that post I would not be in the position I now am. I have a big smile on my face :D Special thanks to Ford and Ian who continue to educate all of us. I especially appreciate the time you put into thinking and then posting to this board. Again much appreciation! _________________ Regards, Barry Hennick

Hi Henry: I am waiting until all the bugs have been worked out. I thank all those brave ones who have successfully or unsuccessfully tried to login. When I see the email traffic has slowed and folks are happy I will be a willing participant. I am certain that there are others like me waiting for the testing to be finished.

"no rust in nakago etc " I hope that you do not mean this. If a nakago has its rust removed the value of the sword to a collector is reduced by about 50%. The patina - rust on the tang tell us about the swords age. People avoid artificially aged tangs and cleaned tangs. Sooo be careful and look for the rust or patina in the tang. You want dark rust not red rust. Red rust is active and not wanted - dark patina is wanted.

Thank you to Brian, Guido and Ted. Moderators here do a wonderful job. It is usually thankless. Some of our serious contributors spend time and effort with the aim of furthering people's knowledge. Some listen others don't. I believe that our moderators have been showing great patience with some people. I exercise my write to not read posts of some. If you do not like the rules here then take your posts elsewhere. This is a game with "no tkae backs". If you play here follow the rules. They seem simple to me.

Well said Rich! It is easy to buy stuff - only requires some money. Buying good stuff requires money and knowledge. The greater the knowledge the better the purchase. One can find great things at many price points. If you are wealthy, you might be lucky or make bigger mistakes without the knowledge. So big bucks are not the guarantee to quality. Study and perhaps guidance is what is needed. I have helped and continue to help less experienced collectors buy swords. I too ask for help or at least opinion before a major purchase. My last sword purchase was made after consulting a more experienced collector. His opinion and explanation of what I was seeing helped me to decide to buy the blade. This message board seems to me to continue to offer both knowledge and advice. Unfortunately some do not take the advice. I thank those who give freely of their time and express their opinion often to be rebuffed for saying what is obvious to many of us. I personally tend to follow the dictum "If you have nothing good to say, then keep quiet." Back to lurk mode for now...

At the Chicago show David rewrapped a handle for me. He had to do some work on it to make the fuchi kashira fit better. He also had to change the position of the menuki. That required replacing some missing same. I am pleased with the job. He was unhappy with how it looked when he first rewrapped it so he redid the work on his own without a word from me. He wants satisfied customers. All in all I am very happy to have it done at the show. No waiting no shipping no problem! Here is yet another reason to attend a show. I also saw David rework a habaki or two at the show - much to the satisfaction of the owner.

Bruce Kirpatrick gave the presentation. He believes that the name Yamakichibei is in effect a tradmark. There were many people who made the Yamakichibei tsuba. He showed charactertistics that were common in all. Some were startling. For example the placement of iron bones was controlled. It was as if the tsuba would be stacked and the bones formed in a line. He pointed out chisel mark signature. He pointed out that the lower right corner of the tsuba was thicker than the rest. He showed hos the tsuba was folded and the commonality of lines heading towards the corners of the guard. On and on. He does not believe in the traditional two generation theory. His presentation was supported by great observations, some interesting theory and a good history lesson. I wish that there was a handout but the presentation was free flowing. Bruce has his detractors but it is hard to dispute his observations. This was a most interesting presentation. He did not take into account old theories that are repeated in books. He believes that one had to look and understand the work not repeat what "sensei" said.

The show was very very slow! There were few walk-ins. There were fewer dealers there. None of the usual Japanese dealers came to the show. I sold a few fittings and bought 4 tsuba and an iron fuchi kashira. Generally prices were low but little was moving. I attended a good talk on Yamakichibei tsuba. New theories presented, great examples, thought provoking - an eye opener.

HI Rich: I disagree! I use your site quite often. Most times when I Google something it takes me to your site. It is often referred to on the messageboard. It is a wonderful valuable resource. I would offer the JSSUS web-site as a host but I would need Board approval. Since it is against JSSUS policy to recommend vendors and artisans I would need those links removed In any case I am sure that there would be a good home for your site. The information is great and there is so much to learn on it. It must be maintained with easy access. Thanks for all the hard work that went into what I believe is the most useful single site for Nihonto on the net.

Thank you to all who helped with this project. It is great when a thread or post on the Messageboard can be turned into an article for publishing in the JSSUS Newsletter. After the article is published I will post it and the little quiz created based on photos of Jichū no Hataraki 地中の働き It is very difficult to find good photos of Japanese swords. It is even more difficult to find good photos of hataraki. There is no short cut to learning about these things. One needs to hold good swords and to have features explained by a knowledgeable collector. I encourage all of you to come to a sword show, to get together in informal groups and share your knowledge and your blades. When someone looks at one of your swords ask him/her to describe what they see. If they see a feature that you do not recognize ask them to point it out and explain it to you. That is the way to learn. This hobby of ours is hard work. It is not black and white. Time, effort, books, Internet, Newsgroups only take you so far. To go further you actually need to hold and study a sword. Finally, I had some time off work and used that time to do a full size oshigata of a recent acquisition. It is only when doing a oshigata like that that you look at every centimeter of the blade and look for features. Try it you might be amazed by what you see.

Does the hada look acid etched to you? It does to me. Some of the photos are in black and white rather than colour - to show different things I guess. The leather cover does look new or at least unused condition.

Thank you again for your help! Much appreciated.

Please help with this translation. I think that the smith is Kanemasa. I need help with the rest. Thanks.

Perhaps you should ask the polisher to open a window. Based on what you see you can decide to have the whole blade polished or not. Window is is a polished area of about 4 inches. It is reasonably quickly done and shows hamon and hada well.

Thanks! Barry