1kinko

Jean C- kanna blades are used in Japanese hand planes. I wasn’t saying horimono go into the hamon, only that one can carve into hardened steel. Mike- the nagako on my kogatana are soft and flexible, the easier to keep attached within the kozuka. Is the steel in your double hamon modern kogatana soft and flexible? I like your idea of creating friction in the saya. Franco- lots of blades with little hada get polished, I doubt the polishers in 1600 made $130/inch, the fact that it was not done doesn’t explain why it was not done, mei and horimono can be carved in hardened steel, who gets to appreciate the contrast between 2 sides of a blade? Have you seen evidence of a forge-weld on a kogatana? I don’t have a lot of them but I don’t see any evidence of 2 different steels, while I do see different colors between the soft and hard steel in kanna blades. I'm only playing devils advocate because I want to understand.

It makes no sense to me that forge-welding two types of steel/ iron together is somehow easier than forging a mono-steel blade and quenching to form a hamon (but I must also admit that I don’t understand why only one side of a kogatana is polished). I have forged tsuba blanks from old kana blades (with hardened high carbon edges) and carved them, so carving a horimono on a hardened blade is not so difficult- the main difficulty is that any mistake or over/under-carving requires a lot of work on the remaining part of the blade.

It’s a little crowded, Tsuruta san is friendly and there is usually someone there who is pretty fluent in English. What you see on the website is representative of what you’ll be able to handle and evaluate with no rush.

Yes. They are not the only ones in the area but have a lot of swords to evaluate.

Not just swords but: tokyo Japanese Sword Museum Nezu Museum AOI sword shop kyoto Nijo Castle and palace Kiyomizu Sannenzaka Museum Golden and Silver Palace(?) Rengeoin Sanjusangendo Monastery Okayama Bizen Osofune Sword Museum Okayama Castle and grounds Okayama National (?) Museum Lots more- Kyoto is a museum! Travelzoo has a trip to China and Japan for $499 right now. Guided but hits Tokyo and Kyoto briefly. I’m seeing if I can stay another week or 2 in Japan at that rate.

I picked this up 2 years ago at the NCJS show and would like to know the symbolism on the ura side.

You can check your progress with an Amsler grid.

There are many vitamin formuli for AMD treatment. Preservision is what my wife was recommended. Your ophthalmologist should be up to date on the best for you (there are certain conditions that guide which formula to use). Preservision cost @ $36/210 soft gems at Costco last I bought them. Other brands are less I think.

Go to a national Japanese sword show and talk to the sellers and buyers. Bring an Optivisor or loop and study carefully. Read the tosogu section here at NMB. Learn about the Japanese alloys. Seeing in person and handling is very important.

5g rokusho 5g copper sulfate 1.8L distilled H2O (near boiling, 15 min - 8 hours) is the standard formula for patinating copper, shibuichi, shakudo, or kurumido. Some add alum. Some adjust pH up with bicarbonate or down with weak acid (sometimes umeboshi juice).

Sorry this is sorta off subject, but the apparent nanako patterns in the first photos really had me wondering. I’d never seen swirling nanako before. The updated photos I guess show the progress in digital technology.

Yup, but I see no evidence of foil or folding. Also, I see no evidence of plating abrasion that would reveal an underlying metal.

24K gold doesn’t tarnish or take a patina.

It’s been while but either acetone or turpentine (one or the other) works fine.

Try Tokaido Arts in Japantown, SF. A few years ago the owner knew someone local who would mount it in the traditional manner, with the traditional silk trim and wooden roller core.

Interesting that you then go to the English translation to see what you got wrong. I’m a fittings guy and I wonder why no one has told Tsruta-San (sp) how to better describe tosogu than “engraved with gold color”. Is that really what the Japanese text says?

The nice part about the Sheffield Hallam University publication is the comparison of different formulas on different alloys. I will note however that Ford has never recommended anything but the rokusho, copper sulfate combination, with alum as needed. There is another source of patina formuli but it’s all in Japanese and requires some translation of Japanese units and depend on the same chemicals in different proportions: Kinko Dento Giho (Traditional Soft-Metal Workers Techniques) by Katori Mashiko, 1986 (ISBN 4 8445 8550 9 C 3972). Available from Amazon.jp, about $45 plus shipping.

Nothing archived. I have printed copies in a note book somewhere (I think).

Sayashi.biz has a series of photos on how to make the kogatana slot. There are instructions and photos concerning basic saya construction in several of the Kapp and Yoshihara books as well.

Nice work. No 14 C (not C14) horse shoes available here. I’m jealous.

Rodger- it’s really no different from inlaying into copper, shibuichi, or shakudo. As I recall, Ford shows the technique in the pinned Yugen videos.

Gold plated. I’ve never seen gold wasted on ashi.

Well, of course Ford would be the best source for this information, but I’ll tell how I do it. It of course depends on what the grudge is composed of, and it’s probably a mixture of oils and proteins. Patinas are ruined by low pH, abrasion, or heat, so stay away from most inorganic chemicals. Basic grunge should be removed by simple detergents at low concentrations but full strength shouldn’t hurt. For organic oils, start with alcohol or acetone as the more water-soluble and move in to ethane, or turpentine for fattier oils. Proteins can be removed with papain used to tenderize meat, but be careful to read all the ingredients or buy pure papain. The deep crevasses in your habaki may require use of a soft toothbrush, but go slowly and softly and rinse and evaluate frequently. Brushing is most likely to erode the patina on the upper edges so vertical rotation of the bristles is safer than horizontal brushing. You might try all these techniques on the inside first. These chemicals can all be used on patinated menuki to remove old pitch from their interiors.

The base of the baleen can be cut into strands any thickness you want. If you have spare pieces you could burn it. If it’s baleen it will smell like burned hair, if it’s bamboo it will smell like wood.

The downtime seems to have gone the job. Mac snd iPhone back to normal- thanks!