Jump to content

Karusk

Members
  • Posts

    110
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

Everything posted by Karusk

  1. Is it taboo to ask how much it was? Or what everyone thinks it might be worth considering all the opinions here?
  2. The one thing that makes me think is second pic from the bottom the patina seems to be different in the same shape as the hamon and sorta stops right where the clay mixture for a retemper might have been. Maybe in an effort to make it go into the patina and make it fool an armchair expert like me? And the yasurime seem to be a little obscured there too. On the other side though it looks a little like someone polished into the nakago once on that side a little. Maybe to see where the hamon stops? Would it be a terrible idea to have that area only and like a millimeter on the other side polished to see what the hamon actually does there?(not a suggestion a question) When considering something retempered i like to keep in mind that most of the time a retemper was simply done to restore a ruined blade to usefulness. The higher quality the retemper(ie harder to tell like this) the better you can probably hope at least that it was done in the past by a master who simply wanted to save themselves some work, or rather save the work of someone else. I was pretty sure the minamoto sukekuni i posted was retempered when I bought it but i just loved the hamon and figured for the price i guess i was getting two master smiths for one blade, but i have now convinced myself its an original hamon, and these guys say be wary of the signature 🤣😑🤣. Still happy with it! In the end its worth what someone would pay for it. Im sure one of these guys wants its as bad as i sorta do. I REALLY still believe that other one was a retemper (a promising wazkizashi recent thread) and not the exception to the rule the other guy pointed out to me. In the end youre gonna have to shinsa it and hes gonna have to shinsa that one. Im gonna have to shinsa the minamoto. Hopefully we all dont know nothin and you got a 10k + in your hand. Everyone pray your wrong for him.
  3. For a retemper the most obvious pointer is a hamon that ends before the nakago or goes bent into the unsharpened edge above the nakago paired with a thicker than usual super dark patina. Theres exceptions i have been told the last time i suggested a retemper. This apparently happens when they wrapped it in something wet like beets or radishes to keep the nakago from being heated and ruining the patina. I thought it was supposed to obliterate the yasurime as well. I can see the yasurime and the hamon seems to go straight into the patina from what i can tell. Can you find any warps or bubbles in the sides? Does the hamon go into the patina or does it curve towards the unsharpened edge right above the patina? Had a look and i cant for the life of me find this article i read all that in. Ill continue to try to find it.
  4. That sugata/sori🤩 🤤. Cant wait to hear what these guys say. I dont think you could be faulted for believing it’s Kamakura or at least nambokucho. Definitely a blade meant to be wielded from horseback.
  5. The color patina and sugata add up to an edo period bade to me. Shinto not shin shinto. So 16-1700. Cant tell ya for the signature im not that good yet.
  6. Alright thanks for checking it out!
  7. If you could check out the post i made of the sayagaki id appreciate it! Someone else translated, but im hoping someone can tell me who it was written by.
  8. Rofl i assumed my assumption was wrong too😂. Thank you! Honestly super surprised you could make this out. It was super difficult to get to show up. I need a better camera.
  9. Soshu Tsunahiro 13th gen. From the collection of Kunio Izuka founder of the new york token kai. Signed Masamune Masson sagami no kuni Tsunahiro. A day during the third month of bunka(1816) O Watanabe Kore Ju. (Special order and name?). All the strokes are very light and the yasurime as well. From what i can find this is characteristic of this smith. I tried and tried ti get it to show up sorry ill need to powder it and dont want get crap all over it. I also tried to get the hada to show, its visible to the eye but extremely tight and apparently impossible to get to show in a photo. From a very trustworthy dealer with a guarantee to paper if i send it out. He says there is a paper somewhere and when he finds it hell let me know. Im not super good at schools but it most definitely seems soshu to me. Ever see a blade and immediately have to have it?🤣 I usually stay away from anything younger than shinto but this one yelled at me rather than spoke. Id like to know which part of that is the name of the person who ordered it. Kore ju Im assuming. Any idea of who that was would be appreciated. Not for sale😑.
  10. You’re absolutely right too cju there are always exceptions to the rule. I seriously doubt it was done here though. Its not outlandish to think the tsuka was made for it, its actually most likely it was. Especially if its a good close fit like that. I would seriously doubt someone cut it to fit the tsuka, but it’s probably happened too. I have seen some ugly cutting to a nakago to make it fit a fancy bone like pin tsuka. (Or assumed it wasnt original forgive me) Its honestly even possible the blade is much older and longer and was broken above the nakago, then reworked although that would absolutely mean it was retempered as well as the original hamon would most definitely go into the patina of the nakago. (Interesting read bazza! Im here to learn too thank you!) Lets assume it was just shortened. @Bazza Is it possible this is actually a very shallow sori koto blade considering its yakiotoshi? That article pretty much says this is a trait of much older blades. Someone said this mei was a koto smith as well.
  11. Karusk

    Sayagaki

    Thank you jussi! I guess you cant tell who wrote it? I was hoping it said Kunio Izuka, as its from his collection. Sadly he passed last year, he was the founder of the new york token kai. The blade will be posted soon. Your a super informative and helpful guy thanks so much.
  12. They NEVER took off the point(kissaki) they always shortened from the nakago. It may have simply been filed down to change the balance and weight for a new owner A sword does need to be tailored to the owner. If the point is taken off they have to completely rework the blade and would probably just have melted it down if it broke there. Sort if outlandish idea yeah. 🤪 Im glad one of these guys says it could be the original hamon.
  13. Karusk

    Sayagaki

    Doing the blade in a separate post to keep the conversation separate. Please help me translate. Supposed to be Sōshu tsunahiro (13th) Would like to know who wrote it as well. Blade coming in another post. Derrrr sorry flipping photo
  14. @Rivkin Appreciate the input, i have seen it said 100 times here to look more at the blade than the signature. Any possibility were looking at a relation of the listed signatures? I dont have any resource books yet to study and google isnt that helpful for genealogy. The seller wanted 4500 and let me have for 3200. He’s also been very honest with me about gimei and retemper i was looking at in the past. He told me that he didn’t repaper to save money because the paper was honest. I know they are suspicious but i was under the impression they are better off than old tokubetsu paper. I love this blade and honestly if its the one gimei i end up with im happy with it as a study. Sorry about the pictures ive been practicing and trying to get better at it. I will redo them soon.
  15. I honestly can’t convince myself either way. The position seems right, and the strokes all seem similar, though there are some differences. One of those listed has thinner shallower strokes like mine does while others have deep ones like this book listing. Is it possible were looking at two different smiths , like his son or nephew or adopted apprentice? I bought it for the hamon, which is certainly more activt than some of the higher priced things i have, you’ve seen my masastugu, which is very nice itself. So im happy with it either way. This paper seems to belong to it too i know they arent honored and are considered suspicious, but i think maybe someone else was having the same issue convincing themselves when it was papered before.
  16. Karusk

    Real or Fake?

    False. The carbon is what is making the steel. The higher the carbon the more flexible and durable the steel. Simple basic science. @DoTanuki yokai And your knowledge is non-existent. Go bend your nihonto katana and cry im done. You linked me a video of nihonto smiths destroying katanas as proof they will stand up to modern steel. I linked you a video of a famous American smith explaining why youre naive and anothed video of high carbon steels being stress tested the same way as your nihonto and passing. At this point youre being willfully ignorant.
  17. Karusk

    Real or Fake?

    Seriously this is like arguing with a child who believes in santa claus. The things you are saying are myths. And categorically untrue.
  18. Karusk

    Real or Fake?

    Sigh man your arguing with a scientific fact that i have tested myself. There is NOTHING about the traditional process of making a nihonto katana that can match the tolerance achieved with 1065 or higher carbon modern steel. And the carbon is still in the iron they are mining. We’re talking the difference between an lump of iron ore you pull out of the ground and iron ore smelted from RIVER SAND. You’re arguing with the actual historical fact of the reason why Nihonto was developed, because of the poor quality and availability of the iron in Japan. Thats just history.
  19. Karusk

    Real or Fake?

    All swords need to be tempered. Plus aesthetics. That choji hamon cost me an extra 100 bucks. Suguha would have been cheaper. I could have spent more for a more flamboyant one but I didn’t want to break the bank. The L6 is actually very difficult to work with and any fancier hamon he would have had to make the blade several times to get it right. It would have cost me 1700. He politely asked me not to make him do it as well when we were hammering out the details of the blade. When your buying from a Japanese smith your paying a huge amount for the Japanese laws regarding sword making. They can make three a month I thought it was less. They also have to do an unpaid apprenticeship. They also cannot use any modern methods or metals. Your paying for this extra hard work that is unnecessary with modern metals and equipment. About this video they are destroying nihonto katanas there my friend. Go look up someone doing this to modern 1060 or higher. I am speaking from personal experience. I have destroyed a modern nihonto in a stress test versus this katana. Thats right i said it i destroyed a modern nihonto. Hate me if you must. This L6 toolsteel took everything i threw at it and is perfect and healthy. Europeans did not develop differential hardening anywhere near the same way Japanese smiths did. They used hot tongs and interrupted quenching to achieve the desired flexibility and edge retention. They quench the blade and reheat the spine and quench it again. Japanese swords developed the more advanced hamon to give it a softer spine and harder edge. Thus making their design more flexible than they would have been able to achieve with the process and difficulty involved in separating higher and lower carbon iron. The whole process of making tamahagane is to add carbon to the extremely low carbon iron sand from rivers. As opposed to already high carbon iron mined out if the ground. Once the higher and lower carbon steels are folded the hamons purpose is to make the edge harder and better edge retentive while leaving the spine softer. You just dont need to do all this folding when starting with higher carbon steels. You do still need to temper. All of this technology was driven by necessity. Tamahagane by its very nature has MORE impurities than modern steel. The whole reason for folding the steel is to remove the impurities! You literally do not have to fold modern steel unless you just want to make the blade more traditional looking or prettier. It costs a little more and is entirely unnecessary. I paid extra because i was making something pretty with a hitatsura hamon( the one i just ordered not this one i pictured. ) You cannot fold L6 i am told for any price, they just wont do it. The sulfur in l6 bainite is what makes L6 bainite. Plus a little magnesium i think. Its an alloy and everything in that alloy is supposed to be there. For that matter all steel is an iron/carbon alloy. And to agree with you on one thing YES you’re entirely paying for artistic value. What i am describing is the difference between a ferari and an armored humvee. Yeah the ferari is super nice, very expensive, pretty with all the bells and whistles. Its super exclusive and you need to get in the waiting list for a new one. Who doesnt want a ferari if they had the chance? If you slam the ferari into the armored humvee you’re going to need a new ferari and the armored humvee is gonna keep on trucking. All modern nihinto are works of art to be cherished and appreciated, but if you want something to abuse you definitely dont want to buy that ferari unless you just have that kind of money. Ive already been admonished about this conversation and I honestly appreciate the fact that youre even listening to me and having this discussion. Please dont take me as being rude or derisive. You asked so Im trying to explain my point. Im not buying a crap fake like the ones you see here from time to time made to cheat someone, and thats the only reason i felt the need to say what I did that started this whole conversation between us. It is just a plain cold fact that modern steel and technology can produce a more durable sword than traditional nihonto smithing methods. If you have a problem understanding this i dont know how to better explain what is a simple truth. Your gonna have to buy a high quality modern sword and find out for yourself. @DoTanuki yokai To disagree with this is to disagree with SCIENCE.
  20. Karusk

    Real or Fake?

    To the topic:he has absolutely let this up for auction three separate times. I have won it twice at 550 dollars. He has not honored the auction both times and its up AGAIN. Its fake. It would cost me about 400-500 bucks or maybe less depending on the steel I chose/folding/hamon. @DoTanuki yokai https://www.ebay.com/itm/Japanese-Style-Hiradukuri-Sword-17/174685425739?hash=item28ac10104b:g:Q3UAAOSwRihgKyuT im not crazy!🤪🥳
  21. @BrianIts very depressing to see all my attaboys go out the window with one or two oh shits. Like what’s happening in that other thread because i said i dare the man to test their tamahagane like i test my modern material katana. The guy called my idea outrageous crap. I just wanted to show my custom modern swords are not crap. What i am having made will be an outstanding reproduction. I also care enough for Nihonto that i asked the smith to sign and date it in Chinese so that no one will ever use it to cheat someone after im long gone and its still around. I could have saved myself 20 bucks and had it done mumei. I wouldnt have even brought the custom im having made up if it didn’t directly relate to the thread. Im having it made because the seller of that obvious fake wont let me have it now that ive won it twice for what it would cost me to make. Im trying to point out the guy is clearly having a custom made darkening the nakago and is trying to flip it to uninformed buyers. Its completely relevant to the thread. Its very frustrating. You say the number doesn’t mean anything then why have a downvote take one away. Sounds like a stick to me. You say its not a competition but there is literally a won the day competition i have been seeing on peoples profile. Ive spent alot of effort listing my collection and retaking pictures when people are interested in teaching or giving me their opinions and it’s depressing to see that go away just because someone doesn’t like what i said. @Bruce i have been a silent participant here for years. Ive stayed out of the conversation for a very long time out of respect and the knowledge i knew I did not have yet. I know all of you guys very well, though you do not know me yet. I have the utmost respect for you and brian. I have tried to keep everything i say well informed and relevant to the discussion thread. I’ve been trying to carry myself like a samurai. Ive been polite, I’ve defended my position and i have bowed to the shogun. Please stop downvoting my posts.
  22. Karusk

    Real or Fake?

    Im already in the doghouse so i may as well answer you. I wouldn’t dare do this with any of my Nihonto. Thats L6 bainite toolsteel. Nihonto very often have a softer core. The whole intent of the folding and tempering process is to take higher and lower quality available steel and make a better sword with lower quality available material. I guarantee if you did what i am doing in these photos with any true Nihonto they would most definitely end up staying bent.Or snapping. Im stepping on this and bending it severely. I guess you cant tell but the side of that is touching the floor in the photo i am stepping on, with the tsuka on the bedframe. IPLEASE. DO NOT DO THIS WITH A NIHONTO BLADE. you will ruin it. It is widely accepted that modern steels are far superior to tamahagane. You just cant compare the shape retention and flexibility of modern steel to folded tamahagane. Steel with a number as low as 1065 will retain its shape when bent to a nearly 90 degree angle. I have a 1075 claymore i can bend into a crescent shape. Its straight as the day it was made. I would have bent this one further in the picture you can see the curve of, but i was unable to and take the picture as well. The reason we hold Japanese swords smiths in such high regard is that previous to modern steels they were able to make the finest blades on the planet with the very lowest quality iron. European sword makers never even developed hamon technology because they had booku amounts of iron to chose from whereas Japanese smiths have to make their tamahagane from iron sand found in rivers. They just stoped at the fold and quench. This is not just my opinion. Its fact. I answered your second paragraph on the next page. Please guys leave me alone he asked.
  23. Thank you Bugyotsuji. I will take your advice to heart. Senpai keeps hitting me with a stick🤣
×
×
  • Create New...