RichardP

On the bottom drawer, the face plate is hinged and swings open to reveal a keypad:

The little drawer on top holds origami, and has a sliding tray for small accessories...

The long top drawer is made of solid mahogany with a mahogany veneer base—I built it like I was making a humidor, and with two-way humidity control packs, I hope to be able to keep koshirae at a pretty constant 49% humidity.  

Hey all!
So I built a katana tansu, thought I’d share:

This one is over at nihonto.com, on an Ishido katana....

https://www.nihonto.com/7-03-20/

3 hours ago, JH Lee said:

I don't understand the obsession with cutting paper.  It's like watching someone gut a Lamborghini because he thinks it should work like a tractor.

To be fair, Lamborghini makes a pretty sweet tractor:

Must be one of the rooms here:

https://www.tsubahotel.com/en/

Hello Adam!

You might consider addressing the various points of entry into this field—you’ve got militaria enthusiasts whose natural interest in gunto seduced them into nihonto proper.  Then there are the martial artists, who may have been swinging iaito before they ever heard of hada, but have gone on to pursue the roots of their art in nihonto.  There are the artistic connoisseurs, who bring a strong aesthetic perspective that really gets at the heart of nihonto.  
These categories will overlap of course, but by presenting and discussing them, a prospective buyer can do some necessary introspection and really start to drill down on WHY they are considering buying a nihonto.  (For example, someone whose interest in gunto is limited to its connection with WWII may be perfectly happy with a non-traditionally made blade, if that blade comes with wartime provenance.) 
Each category will also present different issues regarding our obligations to be good stewards for these objects.  Does the buyer insist on accompanying koshirae?  Why?  That’s a major fork in the road right there.  If buyer wants koshirae so that the nihonto can be used for martial arts practice, does buyer understand the potential for damaging the nihonto in the process?  Does buyer realize that the cost of having modern koshirae made is not going to be recouped if the buyer ever wants to re-sell, and nihonto with matching, historic koshirae is both big bucks and now a big obligation to care for saya lacquerware?  If for the above reasons the buyer sours on the notion of koshirae, does the new notion of nihonto in shirasaya hold as much appeal as the old image of the samurai sword?  If not, maybe time to rethink things...

If you’re looking to maintain the humidity at 45%-55% for the koshirae—and the volume of your case isn’t too big—you might look at two-way humidity packs.  Boveda manufactures packs with higher humidity levels (~70%) for humidors, but they also make ones for violin cases and such with a relative humidity in the range you’re looking for:

https://bovedainc.com/wood-instruments-music/

This is the best hygrometer I can find for the money:

https://www.amazon.com/Cigar-Oasis-Caliber-Digital-Hygrometer/dp/B00JXOKT1O/ref=mp_s_a_1_28?dchild=1&keywords=hygrometer&qid=1611603707&sr=8-28

It’s small, inexpensive, easy to calibrate, and seems to be very accurate.  

On 1/15/2021 at 4:57 PM, Surfson said:

He probably took a stone and ran it along the ha, making it dull.  I have seen dealers do this when there are small nail catcher chips.  It is easy for a potential buyer to overlook the fact that the ha has been reduced less than one mm.  

Ughh—never thought of that, but of course there would be a financial incentive for unscrupulous dealers to do this.  (Always nice to learn even one more way the world can be awful...)

Saw the title, saw Brittany Spears in a kabuto...

4 hours ago, Bjj said:

it’s real Damascus steel.the gold is real it’s heavy and old .

Wow—the notion that steels from different regions produce swords with their own color hues seems really plausible, looking at the raw material...

What’s going on here?  Seems to appear on the other side of the blade as well...

Thanks Piers.  (I was imagining the handle unscrewing from the head, which doesn’t make any sense.)

On 11/13/2020 at 6:36 PM, Bugyotsuji said:

Thanks for the thought, but I think the older style were actually more difficult to use. The internal screw 'drift' is such a clever evolution. Only the two on the left in my photo above have this feature. (I have tried unsuccessfully to open the tops of the middle two.)

These are so beautiful.

Piers, could you—or someone—please clue me in as to what makes an internal screw a useful feature on a mekugi nuki?  

Thanks Mr. Hallam—off it goes to Mr. Benson for submission in the January kodogu shinsa.  Will post results!

Mr. Weissberg’s site, nihonto.com, shows a kodogu set with very similar dragons:

 https://www.nihonto.com/11-6-19/