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Thanks everyone I appreciate it. Just wanted to be sure.

Hello everyone, I was hoping to check with you to see what your feelings are on this blade. The picture is really bad and it’s hard to tell if it could be real. Has anyone seen an authentic blade with a design etched in it, or is that the dead give away that it’s fake? Thanks

Thanks a lot guys that’s super interesting! I googled it and I feel like it could be either baleen or the lacquered paper. I’m so use to seeing cotton, silk, and leather, I thought for sure it was a fake thing. Learn something new every day.

Has anyone ever heard of a plastic type material on a tsuka? I recently found this picture and something looked off cause the wrap was almost too perfect. Would this be another Chinese technique or is this something that can actually show up on a real nihonto? Thanks a lot -Ryan

Thanks a lot for all the wisdom guys I really appreciate it. Maybe I am jumping the gun a bit, I think I just got worried it’s gonna get worse. It’s oiled up good at the moment so it should be good for a little while. Maybe it is best left as is.

Perfect, thanks a lot guys, I just had to make sure. For polishing I’ve already contacted 2 places, San Francisco Japanese sword society, and David hofhine. San Francisco Japanese sword society quoted me 575 for a full polish but are really adamant on me getting a new Shirasaya which I’m not that interested in cause I’d prefer a new koshirae if I had to get something new. David hofhine quoted me 695 for a full polish but has a wait list of about 23 months. I can link the websites below, but has anyone out there has experience with with either of these places so I can confirm their real and do a good job. I’m also open to other places to have it done if someone knows a good one around the same price. I’d prefer to stick to North America if possible, I feel like shipping would be crazy to Japan. Thanks again -Ryan https://sites.google.com/site/sfswordsociety/ http://ipolishswords.com/Services.html

Hello everyone, I come to you again seeking help from the masters. I recently bought a sword from a gentleman on Craigslist for $100 bucks that caught my eye. I already posted in the translation tab because It has a surrender tag, and I was having a hard time figuring out if it was real. A few amazing people helped me out and not only translated the tag but also told me it was real. Since then I’ve decided I would like it to be professionally polished but I just want to make absolutely sure it’s real before I do because there are a few things that are still a little fishy to me. 1. The habaki and Seppa have like a gold foil over them 2. The Tsuka doesn’t seem to be 2 pieces put together but one and the rayskin has a gap 3. The saya appears to have a plastics exterior covering the wood. If I could just get final confirmation on legitimacy that be fantastic. If it is real I’d have a few polishing options to run past you for a recommendation. Thanks a lot in advance -Ryan

I’m pretty new to the world of nihonto and was hoping you might be able to help me with a question I have? Ive occasionally heard the word “Wazamono” used in describing some blades in this forum, so I tried to find out more online. From what I can gather, it was a word describing sharpness of blades during a certain time period when blades were tested by cutting people. Are blades that are made by the smiths described as wazamonos made to a superior level? For instance are the wazamono swordsmiths the best Smith’s? Would these particular swords be more valuable and of a higher quality, or was wazamono simply a word used to describe a sword’s sharpness based upon the smith that made it? Thanks a lot -Ryan

Quick question before I make my final decision. Your saying not to spend more then 250, does that mean that at the very least that’s what it’s worth even if it’s not a really nice blade? Thanks -Ryan

Thank you all so much for the wisdom, I really appreciate it -Ryan

I managed to scrounge up another photo, though it’s not the best quality. Not sure if it’s worth buying or not to be honest. -Ryan

Thank you so much Jean! It’s unbelievable that you already know that much. Sadly that’s the only picture I have at the moment. A friend of mine was selling it and said it was from the 1500’s. The blade I know to be in pretty beat up shape with chips out of the blade, some rust, and a broken tip of the sword (maybe 2-3mm). If I end up getting it I’ll post up some more pictures for you. Thanks again -Ryan

Would anyone out there be able to tell me what this translates to? Also If you had any idea of how old this might be too, that would be fantastic. Thanks a lot -Ryan

Thanks, So I guess at this point it’s pretty much a guarantee that it’s chinese, but personally I’m not that upset. I mainly got the sword because of its brass body and how it looks. I had already thought about buying a nice blade to raplace the old one that it came with but only if the whole restoration went well. If I could get the koiguchi off of this saya, I had the plan to try to gut the saya down to just the brass exterior then sand down a new shirasaya until it fit into the brass one. Not sure if the plan would work but that was my theory. Any thoughts?

Thanks a lot for all the words of wisdom everyone. Unfortunately I have no idea of the make or history of this sword, it just really caught my eye so I want to attempt a restoration ie paint the saya and clean all the tarnish and rust off everything. I’ve got more pictures for all you masters to look at. Again, thank you so much for the help.

Thanks for the reply everyone. So the wood was actually supposed to be black all along?

Hello all, I’m in the process of trying to restore an old wakizashi that I recently acquired and was looking for some guidance. I want to remove the metal koiguchi from the top of the saya so I can possibly replace the old gross black wood inside. There’s no screws and it appears to be glued. Would anyone have any suggestions on how to safety remove the koiguchi without breaking anything? Thank you so much, Ryan