Steve D

With help from @paulb I'm off to see Mike Hickman-Smith on Friday for him to have a look at the blade. Will be good to get someone to look at it. I'll report back with his thoughts...

A couple more pictures of the mune at the habaki and tip. Looks like very symmetrical all the way along the blade.

It's not a kaku-mune unfortunately, it's lori-mune as far as I can tell. I'll add some more pictures tomorrow as I'm away from the sword today.

Darcy has come back to me and believes the blade could be around 600 years old and should be worth investigating more. Has put me in touch with Ted Tenold with regard to getting a window polish done to determine school and maker. "Right now it's a lottery ticket, and we can help reveal if it is a winner."

Yeah, wasn't sure that would be what you meant 😆 It's 4.2mm

Approx. 17.3mm although it's a fairly smooth curve rather than a sharp line.

I'm trying...😆

And I have, at least, some shiny blade:

Thanks Bruce. Habaki removed (quite easily with wood & gentle hammer). Maximum Sori is approx 11.25mm, (3.6sun?) (measured with a digital vernier on a CNC machine bed) at approx 360mm from the tip. Roughly the centrepoint between the tip and mune(?) That would make it a torii sori?

Stunning 🙂

Might try in on the old French sword 1st...

And some measurements:

Just thought I'd add a few more pictures to this. Had a good look over the blade and, hopefully, there's more surface rust than pits for the majority of it (not that I have a trained eye of course). What are your thoughts? It certainly 'feels' like surface rust if I scrape my nail along it..

Thanks 👍

Thanks for all the replies guys. I'm in the Midlands so not near the sea and not aware of any salt water. There was a scabbard but that fell to bits a few years ago. I've just another look at the blade and the it looks more like surface rust rather than pitting so, maybe, not as bad as it could be. I'm only a few days in to trying to understand the blade and get a grip in the different names of all the pieces so there's no rush from me to do anything drastic with the blade. My plan is to see if I can get someone Paul recommends to have a look and go from there. Hopefully it will be good news but we shall see. I'll update as I find out more. 🌲🌑🌲

From the other thread (may be worth closing now?) 二龍争玉松間月 Ni ryu tama o arasou sho-kan no tsuki. Meaning is: The Moon between two pine trees looks like Two dragons fighting for a gem.

No offence taken. If I'd have know what it was when I was younger I would have looked after it. I guess it could be an expensive process finding out more so it's a case of working out what I can afford to do with it. For the time being I will look into a window and go from there.

Seriously? 😲

It's an 1810 Du Klingenthal Heavy Cavalry sword, unfortunately, also stored in the garage but not as bad as the katana. It's very nice and in need of restoration too.

Thanks Ken. It's approx 32 1/2" overall, about 25" from the habaki(?). It's not been in salt water, just stored in a damp garage unfortunately.

Hi all Japanese sword virgin here.. Following on from this post... I thought I'd see if anyone can recommend some tips on what I would need to do to preserve this blade to prevent any further damage or decay until I am able to get a professional to look at it. It's a sugata that was given to me when my mum cleared out the garage of dad's old things. Been in the family for over 40 years but know no history and has not bee cared for so is in pretty bad shape. Here's some pics:

Thanks Chris. All good points and taken on board 🙂 I think I'll start another post in the more appropriate section to try and get some hints & tips on maintaining the blade as some of the guys you mention might not see this. I've definitely got an itch to scratch, finding out more about this sword and will look into it a lot more 👍

When I started this thread I had no idea what I have or that it might actually have some value but learning more about it makes me want to know more, so I'm kind of stuck with a sword that needs restoration or at least having a window opened to find out any more info on it. How much would it cost, in the UK, to have a window opened and where could it be done? I was discussing the sword with my mum last night and she wondered if I might be able to do anything with it as I'm a skilled engineer by trade so have a good eye for detail and good with my hands. Is it a complete no-no to attempt to at least remove the worst of the rust if great care is taken?

Looks like this sword is causing some discussion 🙂 I'm completely new to swords and am learning new words and descriptions for things I didn't even know existed, it's great! My initial reason for posting was to get some info on the sword as I didn't have a clue where to start. The more I'm learning the more I want to know about this sword.

Thanks for the kind words. Just given the blade an oil & wipe down as instructed.. Here's the handle & collar (tsuka & fuchi?)