Lareon

This is a very good guess, very close in quality and refinement. Different school but right area, think more Osaka den mainstream. Close to the right level of refinement but stylistically leans away from kyoto

67.5cm suriage sori: 0.45cm moto-haba 2.88cm Tokubetsu Hozon

exactly the right period there is a close connection for sure. Different school and different area.

let me know if i've compressed these a little too much, i've tried to keep detail in the blade. i'll start with these and add more photos as we go

Hey Guys, Was going to post a few photos of one of my latest blades and see how close to the smith people could get from photos alone. I've taken a few today but am happy to take more. I'll leave precise measurements off for now

Berlin samurai museum is great

Why do you feel that way? It's never even crossed my mind, what are you doing that makes you think you'd be banned? Lol

I agree with an additional tier. That has no extra benefits just supporting the forum. Ok you are just feeding off the gold members that are willing to pay more but I think many would. Banner ads don't bother me. With the sword photos sharing etc. i know a lot wouldn't this is normal but I think enough would. I really enjoy it and sharing what I have for open discussion.

Probably got the timings on the search about right then if it's only a little annoying and could lead to a member upgrading. @Brian the thought of the private clubs is something I'm not super keen on. I wonder what information I would miss simply by being in the UK. It's already restricted enough here :p Over the years I learnt an awful lot just from watching conversations play out by people who have spent decades recording serial numbers or are arguing over a mei and the angle of a chisel stroke. Having this locked away by region is something I would feel sad about. So since Im Shooting this one down I'll think of some gold features. High Resolution Gallery for kantei, oshigata or Mei? With community / moderation (perhaps only papered examples). Only available to gold members and only swords owned by members. Think Hawley but with a small selection of high quality images per smith. This would also invite debate. We're not reinventing shinsa but storing for research. Gold members only. Or a new tier (platinum) I suggest this because the way I research usually requires a lot of trawling or the web or books. We're not replacing the knowledge of people like Markus or Hawley but adding to our combined knowledge with examples maybe not seen before. Obviously a lot of people don't like to share what they have as in all collections but I would very much like this resource. I've sent private messages to many people asking for images of their ko-gassan Mei for example as it is my main field of study. Gold members, 1 month sticky on for sale page to keep listing at the top? Unsure on this one as volume of sales isn't high so there isn't a big turn around. More controversial but - a limited number of posts on the translation forum for non gold members. I've seen a lot of people clearly using the translation section to get info for their sales elsewhere. Which is fine but a contribution would be welcome for something that Is enabling your business. This wouldn't restrict those few coming to seek help but would mean people who are using the forum for gain have a small contribution to the knowledge they receive. Say 20 posts (not topics) per year. Probably enough for someone to get translation on one to two swords max if they've got a hand me down or are just starting etc. A small perk - how many years of gold you've purchased since joining. Could be tiered like the current ranking system. If I think of more I'll add them.

Same with me, to be honest the incentives on the membership plan i don't even think about. I only subscribe to support the forum which has been invaluable to me over the years, one of my daily websites

Jon, where do you shoot? Bisley?

Exactly this, the activity, hada and presence of crystalline structures is where you can identify. I guess the easiest way to say it is, this is the study of blades not signatures.

The dark peaks in the Hamon to me indicate an oil quench. hard to tell with the photos, any indication of a hada? although it's in poor polish sometimes that's hard to tell. It can be hard to tell at first but once you know you can tell, turn it in the light and if it looks ...solid? it's most likely oil, the hard peaks are sure signs, sometimes you get a shadow line too underneath. Water quenched feel more "airy" and bright. You get almost a glow out of the hamon Best way i can describe something that is half visual half feeling

Thank you. It would be interesting to see the spread of the different styles across the country and how they deviate. I guess that's a topic to read into at some point.

Interesting. I assumed it was a common pattern for the Osaka guns. If not then it is a happy coincidence. And yes relieved as my constant fear is to damage or do harm in some way to them. Now that I am pretty certain it's just a layer of dirt/gunk it's nice to bring out some of the inherent beauty in it. The biggest problem is now where to keep my ever growing Armoury

There is still quite a lot of the stubborn substance on there but slowly and carefully it is coming up.

I won't be touching the stock or the inlays on that. I will leave it with it's natural patina and aging but the barrel is coming up quite nicely. I probably won't go much further than this. Then I'll give the iron some oil leave that for a bit then put some renaissance wax on it to keep it protected since it's undergone a mild polish.

You can see the lowest part of the photo where I have only partially cleaned it. The difference between the exposed silver and covered silver.

So I took a small area under the stock of the barrel and spent a while working out what the coating is. It wasn't urushi in the end but it was some kind of coating for sure. It comes off a dark dirt brown. Anyway I decided to get a mild abrasive polish (brasso and silvo) A very small amount of effort removed the top coating of whatever filth was on it. The silver inlays which were so discoloured I thought were brass! Are now visible. There's some pitting here and there and I've only worked on a small area but it is now becoming beautiful again.

I did wonder this. The small bit I removed was slightly gunky but the dry section came off like a shellac. I've decided to leave it be. A fair bit of patina on the inlays to the point they have turned green. The nihonto collector in me is adverse to doing anything to it really but it's definitely not being shown in it's best light.

Surprisingly. White spirit / mineral spirit / paint thinner had no effect on it. Same with isopropyl. Seems to only be removed with abrasion.

I might take another look today and remove some from a less visible area and see how it looks. Don't wish to damage it in any way. So will start soft. A small soak of Oil didn't loosen it. Nor did warm water or isopropyl. It does come off with abrasion and is soft enough to press a toothpick into. I'll test around the edge of the gun where it sits under the stock. Will have to think how I deal with the areas around the inlays as the metal will be soft and easily damaged. Nothing acidic either or it will affect the inlay. I'll try some mineral spirits to see if it lifts. If it's too onerous I'll leave it. If not I'll clean it up then protect with some oil / renaissance wax

Here is a comparison to one of my other ones, very similar when it comes to decoration, my previous is much nicer but you can see the difference in the metal and the inlay is almost invisible in the new one

I picked up another Tanegashima. Spent the last few hours removing the pins from the stock. They were copper or brass and deformed heavily. Quite a bit of rust under the barrel but there is a mei. It looks to be an Osaka variation. Poppy flower muzzle. Kabuto inlay by the pan cover. Wave motifs inlaid with silver or copper. The strange thing is. It feels or looks like there's some kind of black coating over the barrel. The colour of the silver is affected and the inlay. I gave it a very gentle clean but it didn't come off. Once I've removed the barrel I see that it stops under the stock. I tested a small section and it comes off with little to no effort and feels gunky. Im unsure if it should be there or not and don't want to damage it. I wondered if it was some kind of protective lacquer. I'll post photos of the whole thing further in this thread but just want to get opinions on this black coating I've included a shot of a chopstick that I used to remove a small section of it under the barrel. At first I thought it was black paint and someone had blacked the barrel, then I thought it was blisters in the metal. Now I'm unsure what it is. You can see the cracks in the substance in these photos. It's definitely been applied on purpose