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Veli

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Posts posted by Veli

  5. Self-made Habaki

    in General Nihonto Related Discussion

    Posted

    I have a koshirae project going on, where I plan to build a low-cost koshirae for a blade with a hagiri, so that I can have a nice display piece with little value that I can use in lectures, and let also less experienced people handle it. Well, I realised that I did not have a habaki for the blade - probably lost it somewhere. Anyway, the original habaki was a battered plain copper one, so no big loss.

     

    Being on holiday, I decided to give it a try and make one myself, although I had serious doubts about succeeding. So I bought some 2 mm thick silver plate, special brazing materials, a torch, watched a couple of youtube videos and started. I want to emphasize that I would not do this on a valuable blade; hammering a silver plate around the nakago is a little scary business. Why I decided to use 925 silver instead of copper? Well, it is more ductile, looks better, and the material cost me only 45 Euros. The first brazing trial was a total failure, but then I tried Bergeon 5337 brazing rods with flux core and then things started to go smoothly. 

     

    I finished the project today, pics attached. Well, it is not perfect but does the job. Actually, I was rather happy with the result, since this project was more a learning experience than anything else. 

     

    post-638-0-52163700-1420371867_thumb.jpgpost-638-0-46282800-1420371898_thumb.jpgpost-638-0-59057900-1420371919_thumb.jpg

    • Like 3

  9. Strange kinsuji

    in Nihonto

    Posted

    Thank you all, and special thanks to Darcy for excellent additional pics and enlightening explanation of nijuba. Should you wish, I can later provide a full set of photos of the blade as well as the NBTHK attribution, but I need to wait until the latter half of January before I can publish the pictures.

     

    BR, Veli

  10. Strange kinsuji

    in Nihonto

    Posted

    I encountered a blade with bright, long kinsuji running outside of the hamon. I thought I'd share a picture, since this was something I hadn't seen before. Kinsuji inside the hamon, yes, but so clearly outside... no. Any educational comments?

     

    post-1060-14196955999455_thumb.jpg

     

    BR, Veli

  11. Recent shipping issues

    in General Nihonto Related Discussion

    Posted

    EMS out of Japan seems to be ok as long as there is a direct flight to the destination country. USPS works to Japan.

     

    EMS out of Japan is ok as long as there is a direct flight to the destination country, operated by a carrier that happens to have a freight contract with EMS on that specific route - as I bitterly learned...

     

    BR, Veli

  13. Recent shipping issues

    in General Nihonto Related Discussion

    Posted

    Dear friends,

     

    There has been a lot of alarming news lately about problems with shipping swords via Fedex and EMS. Thus I propose this topic for sharing information about shipping failures as well as successful cases, but since this trouble seemed to escalate in late October 2014, let us discuss only recent issues, i.e. November 2014 and later. Real cases only, please, no hearsay...

     

     

    My own case: I Bought a katana at DTI on November 1st. I told the dealer that I never had any issues with EMS shipments from Tokyo to Helsinki, so he tried to ship the blade via EMS. But they told him they cannot ship because there is no direct flight connection between Tokyo and Helsinki. First I thought this was just a mistake because both JAL and Finnair fly directly from Tokyo to Helsinki. But unfortunately EMS Japan has a contract with SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) only for shipments to Finland, and SAS flies via Stockholm. So EMS Japan cannot use JAL or Finnair on Helsinki route, although they have contracts with JAL on other routes. Then our backup plan, Fedex, backfired too because they categorically refuse to transport weapons... Luckily one of the Finnish collectors is in Japan and will bring the katana for me as checked luggage.

     

    So, no nihonto shipping between Japan and Finland any more, except as checked luggage, which seems to work without problems on Finnair and JAL flights.

     

    Veli

  17. Study piece with a fatal flaw

    in Nihonto

    Posted

    Hi Paul,

     

    Thank you for your insightful comments!

     

    I would like to keep my mind open about the age and maker of the blade until I find examples of similar workmanship. That said, I am inclined to think this is an older blade: The hada and hamon show signs of several polishes; the hagiri looks battle-inflicted (some bending was associated with the hagiri); someone has tried to polish the hagiri out a long time ago, but without success; the patina of the O-suriage nakago looks much older than shinshinto; and the workmanship looks wild and organic, giving a koto impression rather than shinshinto. The original nagasa looks a bit on the long side for this to be a Keicho Shinto blade, although the sugata would match that idea. I do not think the sugata resembles a typical late Muromachi or Shinto sugata.

     

    About this blade belonging to the Uda school… an idea worth considering! However, the mihaba is wide, the sori is shallow, and the shinogi is low, so not sure if this matches with a typical Uda Daito.

     

    BR, Veli

  18. Study piece with a fatal flaw

    in Nihonto

    Posted

    Thanks a lot Darcy, Hojoji Kunimitsu did not come to my mind when looking for examples of the same kind of workmanship. There are clearly some similarities in the Hamon outline.

     

    One of the most distinct and peculiar characteristics of my battle-damaged blade are clusters of Ara-Nie scattered on the Ji, and on some places also on the Shinogi-Ji.

     

    post-1060-1419692794498_thumb.jpg

     

    Any ideas where I might find examples of similar Ara-Nie formations?

     

    BR,

     

    Veli

  19. Study piece with a fatal flaw

    in Nihonto

    Posted

    I recently purchased an interesting blade which unfortunately had a hagiri. Luckily the seller was an honest person and we swiftly agreed upon a fair price reduction. The hagiri was very hard to spot, so no blame to anyone, no harm done.

     

    Despite the hagiri, I find the workmanship quite unique, and would like to hear your opinions and observations. The blade is not worth much, so the discussion can flow free and relaxed 8)

     

    Most of the pictures have a link to a high-resolution image, so please try clicking on them.

     

    The pictures can be found here:

    http://nihontofinland.com/25

    If you prefer, the photos can be freely uploaded on the NMB pages, but due to their size, I decided to start by providing a link.

     

    Veli

  21. recent acquisitions....

    in Nihonto

    Posted

    Wow, I cannot see anything that would directly speak against the Tadayoshi being Shoshin... there are some aspects in the mei that are not the most typical but still seem to be within the documented variations. Let's hope for the best ( in spite of myself being guilty of the deadly sin #6 :Drool: )

     

    Veli

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