67cobra

All good to know stuff. I was hesitant when he mentioned polishing it up, hence I haven't done anything to it so far. I did some reading before posting here and some other sites and knew about never cleaning the tang, since apparently its super critical in ID'ing and dating a blade. I also don't think he has any interest in selling it ever. If he is really insistent on polishing it then I'll probably do it for him, since honestly at least if I do it, it won't be a dremel job. But knowing its potentially valuable I'll encourage leaving it. It did have a scabbard, its at the top of my first picture, with the silver stripes and electrical tape, all full of gouges from something sharp. I guess he did that when he was a kid. It holds the sword, but otherwise is a lost cause. Last thing, Ray, are you saying that the tang translates to Seki ju Kunihiro, or is that an opinion based on the appearance? Thx

Beginning of the story, a coworker asked me if I could make a handle for a sword his grandfather gave him. Grandpa was in the Navy at some point. It used to have a handle but it broke off or something, according to him. He sends me a picture of just a blade with the little brass bit at the base of it. Sure I tell him. I get to looking at it and to me it looks too nice to be some pakistani knock-off, but not necessarily some medieval samurai sword worth thousands. I know the Japs carried swords during WWII, so maybe an officers sword or something? But the markings don't look anything like what I see on the internet. The tang is filed pretty rough and has some characters stamped in it. No kind of cartouches though. So aside from making a handle, he asked if I was going to polish it up. IDK, depends on if its something valuable. Blade is still sharp in some spots and almost looks black, I'm not sure if it would have been blued or if its patina. Also some rust on the blade and the tang. Under the habaki is still shiny due to some grease. Maybe someone here can help me zero in on where this might have come from, if its worth anything, and if I should screw with it or just make a handle and give it back. PS: No visible temper line