RichardP

A possible course of action you could propose to the seller is for the two of you to settle on a mutually agreeable polisher, and then send the blade to him. If the polisher determines it to be a scratch, you agree to assume all of the associated costs of having shipped the blade to the polisher, and of having the scratch addressed if you choose to do so (since it seems like the scratch, if that’s what it is, was factored into your purchase price). If the polisher determines it’s an hagire, seller agrees to pay all the costs of having shipped the blade to the polisher, as well as giving you the option of a partial refund or return, along the lines of what John proposed.

I thought I was being sneaky, but yes, my spouse immediately detected my ulterior motives as well…

Hi Mike- Thank you for your appreciative comments, but no, NBTHK doesn’t provide any info as to their reasoning—so it was nice of Geraint to give some thought as to the factors that might have guided them.

Thanks so much—while the results were a disappointment, it’s nice to get some idea as to what features might have guided the shinsa team’s decision.

Gimei. Dang...

Covid seems to be creating delays as well—I submitted a tsuba for the kodogu shinsa back in January and have yet to receive results...

Not hell at all—I don’t have any veneer bags, or an air pump or anything. I just cut the veneer, taped it to some MDF and rolled heat-activated veneer glue on both it and the plywood substrate. After a few hours, a second coat to each. The glue dries to a firm, plastic-y consistency. Then you mate the pieces and iron them with a clothes iron. https://www.veneersupplies.com/products/Better-Bond-Heat-Lock-Veneer-Glue.html Cost of entry is so low that if you have any interest at all in veneering, there’s no reason not to get a bottle of heat-activated glue (and a roller, and a veneer saw) and give it a go...

Perhaps until you look behind the curtain—then: buh buh BUMMM.... Nothing but butt-joints & brackets. (The brackets have been countersunk with a router so as to avoid tangling up the drawers, but that was my only concession to professionalism. All you need to build this box is a table saw and a router. And a drill press helps.)

On the underside of the gunsafe’s lid, right at the mouth of the drawer, there is a 1/4” metal flange set at 90 degrees that I drilled through. I attached an aluminum led light strip bar (https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/aluminum-channels/micro-alu-led-strip-channel-universal/2039/)by drilling and tapping the bar laterally to accept #4-40 socket head screws. Three screws hold the whole assembly in place, and I don’t lose any more headspace than the flange was already taking up:

The gunsafe came with a little led light set in the inside of the drawer face, but I removed it and installed different lighting. I used a diffuser filter and amber light gels to tint the light a nice candlelight color:

Hi John, I got the hardware from Morikuni.

Thanks everybody for such nice replies! I just fetched a better camera, here’s some clearer pics: (The veneer is Tamo wood, by the way: https://www.woodmagazine.com/materials-guide/lumber/wood-species-3/tamo)

Foam interior replaced with birch ply, and sword racks out of basswood. A Gunsaver dehydrator bar is mounted between the two racks.