Jump to content

Cookie4Monstah

Members
  • Posts

    50
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Cookie4Monstah

  1. On 12/14/2023 at 3:11 PM, HiramAbiff said:

    Thank you, brother!  Yes, I decided to take the risk and use it as a display.  The seller offered to submit each sword for NBTHK shinsa at around $250/sword, but I know they would not get papered.  

     

    Honestly, I had looked at a lot of worse swords on Ebay for around the same price, with fewer/blurry pictures, and although I definitely like these swords for display, I'm looking forward to studying the flaws as well.  I plan to do a lot more reading once they arrive and slowly learn as much as I can about them.  Eventually I will move on to purchasing a recently-papered Hozon, but by then I will know a lot more about smiths, schools, hamon, hada, etc., and know exactly what to look for.

     

    Thank you, everyone, for your input!


    Please reconsider the forgoing of the Shinsa as at $250 a sword is a very reasonable expense. Mumei is better than one fake or even two fake signatures. At least this way you might find out what school the smith that forged it was part of.

  2. Greetings everyone,

     

    Are there any traditionally trained polishers in the U.S. that are willing to take on work at this time? I am looking to do a touch up polished to a blade after I have a shirasaya made for it. Also does anyone have the contact info for the two more prominent U.S. based shirasaya makers. I don’t want to start the project without having such persons lined-up beforehand.

     

    I am also willing to deal with a broker that will send to Japan and back if necessary. 

     

    Thanks,

    Khalid

  3. Greetings Hiram Abiff,

     

    It seems as though you have not been murdered by three ruffians after all. Did you know that the emperor’s long lost sword is somewhere in the Swiss Alps hidden along with the long lost ark. For those confused already these are references to Freemasonry and the latest Indiana Jones movie featuring Harrison Ford. Anyways, that is a very economical paring of Daisho. The price(s) of Daisho parings vary tremendously according to several variables. I really like the maroon lacquer on the katana though. The image bellow is of a fifty mills coin attached to my key-fob. You might find it intriguing.
     

    Ahlan wa sahlan,

    Khalid

    IMG_0067.jpeg

    • Like 1
    • Love 1
    • Confused 2
  4. Hi Jimmy,

     

    Welcome to the forum. Could you kindly provide us with two measurements? One of the total sword length and one of the blade length. Did it also come with a saya? That looks to be a healthy blade in very good shape. The authenticity of the signature should be taken into consideration.

     

    Cheers,

    Khalid

    • Like 1
  5. Greetings everyone,

     

    If I were to garner some assistance I would be interested to get a sub-committee going for the “NBTHK-AB” to do image overlays of various nihonto. Two dimensional images for the two sides and a three dimensional digital cross section of historical and culturally significant nihonto. I can reach out to some contacts at MIT and see if any museums would be willing to lend a hand. Imaging being able to swivel a three dimensional rendering of your favorite nihonto with “virtual reality” joy-cons. We’ll have so many 12 year olds with “VR” join this forum it’ll be hysterical. Sadly I’m not twelve anymore. 


    Best,

    Khalid

  6. On 11/19/2023 at 3:54 AM, BIG said:

    Remember the BOND STREET RESULTS thread. Here is a pdf..

     

    _pdf


    Yo… This is actually “bad” bro… Finally some 22nd century R&D to drool over. I can’t wait to go see my buddies at “MIT” and ask them about doing 3D image overlays for nihonto. Saves me the trouble of having to actually dissect nihonto for kizu. I would love to be able to volunteer to do this service for the NBTHK-AB at sword shows. No more guess work with polishing… ever.

     

    Cheers to better days!

    Khalid

  7. 2 hours ago, b.hennick said:

    I think that the resolution of the electron microscope will be too high for you to get much relevant information. The most that I use is about 40X magnification and this is just to look at small areas of interest. 


    Hello,

     

    I was thinking of scanning and doing digital image overlays. That way the entire blade can be mapped from both sides. If I can get this to work I would be more than happy to share with you my findings. The idea is to get a digital map of the blade if you will and to be able to save it digitally for reference.

  8. Greetings everyone,

     

    I would like to ask you how to properly examine the forge quality of a blade? When blades are out of polish kizu can be hard to see with the eye. I would like to expand on this topic by asking what kind of electron microscopes can be used to really get a look at a blade. I find these artifacts to be much more intriguing than exotic microscopic organisms (upon closer examination). Not every blade is a good forge thus good forges are worth holding onto. I do love to see blades in fresh polish and pristine shirasaya though. More on that later.

     

    Sincerely,

    Khalid

    • Confused 1
  9. 5 hours ago, Geraint said:

    Dear Khalid.

     

    So what you are looking at is a Showato, by no means is this an ancestral blade so that's that out of the window. That is either misinformation or sales pitch.   Missing ito, same and menuki, easily done but at a cost, and do we assume that it has a saya?

     

    As Ed suggests not a lot more can be said from these photographs other than the blade appears to be in reasonable condition.

     

    Let us know how this turns out for you.

     

    All the best.

     

    Geriant,

     

    I have come to the realization that “purchasing” and “learning” do not correlate to one another. More often than not that is learned the hard way. I broke even on my first restoration and was not happy with the blade after all the kizu in it became very apparent upon polishing. They really detracted from the beauty of an elegant hamon in a visually obtrusive manner. I was intrigued by this blade because of the way it was represented. I wouldn’t take the risk on pursuing this one. There are many diamonds in the rough in the wild still. I stumbled into this one yesterday I look forward to sharing more details in the future.

     

    Best,

    Khalid

     

     

    IMG_0034.jpeg

  10. Greetings,

     

    I wanted to start a conversation about daisho swords from a historical standpoint. The samurai carried daisho for numerous reasons. Today the daisho remains as a symbol of a warrior class that once was. Can we discuss how the daisho came into existence, and what qualities are found in a "true" daisho pairing? I have done a little reading on the daisho from a classical sense. Now I am interested in hearing from the gurus on this forum. I am interested in purchasing a daisho paring for myself to display (with literature) at some point. Please feel free to message me directly as well.

     

    My best,

    Khalid

  11. Greetings everyone,

     

    A few days ago I received a couple swords back from a veteran "Togishi" (Moses Becerra). We had a frank conversation about the swords. I got the impression that the two swords are not worth waiting on, and the cost of restoration is painful (a two year wait and $120 an inch to polish). I did go through a full blown restoration with him on my first sword. I was fortunate enough to be able to sell it afterwards and barely break-even on funds (he brokered the sale). Is there someone that you can recommend to handle the restoration of these two other swords that is more "forgiving" when it comes to terms and conditions regarding services rendered. I understand he's very busy and has very wealthy clients. The swords are not much to look at at this time, but I went ahead and uploaded two photos of them anyways.

     

    Your feedback is appreciated,

    Khalid

    DDB90CC6-8318-4699-9C8B-DDE05809DD09.jpeg

    EB2DF035-923B-4C34-AA42-485FF0BF3024.jpeg

    • Like 1
  12. Greetings everyone,

     

    I would like to start this post by acknowledging the enormous wealth of knowledge found here on this forum. As someone relatively new to the world of "nihonto" there is much to be learned and discovered. Here in the United States there is a massive untapped reserve of "nihonto" that is attributed to the sword edict imposed on Imperial Japan at the end of the 2nd World War. With that being noted I'd like to ask my fellow enthusiasts in the U.S. to please share any noteworthy experience(s) and/or find(s) related to "nihonto" that they have come across domestically. It is important to recover these precious artifacts of history whenever possible. Especially from dusty shelves of pawn shops and disorganized gun-racks at gun shows where the are commonly found. One must acknowledge a reality that not every sword can be restored and papered but we can try our best to land a "big one" worthy of such an endeavor.

     

    The floor is now yours,

    Khalid

  13. 32 minutes ago, Mark S. said:

    What is it you would like to know beyond the description provided and the info on the THozon paper?

     

    Hi Mark,


    There are a few things:

    1) How desirable/rare are works by the school/smith that this sword came from?

    2) Would you invest in having Shirasaya made for this sword?

    3) Would you invest in a "touch up" art polish for this sword?

    4) Does it have enough potential to warrant submitting it for a Juyo token at some point?


    Any additional feedback is welcome as well.

     

    Best,

    Khalid



     

  14. Hi everyone,

     

    I have an exciting find to share with you. I'm not sure as to who may have made it yet but it was preserved by a forward thinking person. I would really like to have this cleaning and polished given it's age and condition. Should I bid for it? It could be my first "katana" ever. I can afford one restoration a year right now. 
     

    Thanks,

    Khalid

     

    https://clarkeny.com/auctions/?a=299&search=lot 301

  15. Greetings everyone,

     

    I would like share with you a mei on what is now a katana length sword. It seems like the there may be missing characters.  Can anyone discern what the remaining kanji say? Also, is there an app that can pick up on kanji? I don't have the required reference material (literature) yet to start drawing my own inferences on this matter. Any help would be appreciated.  

     

    Thanks,

    Khalid

     

    1BF5E3F5-FE52-4DAC-8F51-20DB22F73520.jpeg

    317C3747-C1C1-4730-AF23-2BA8FF065929.jpeg

  16. Thank you for your feedback everyone. I contacted AOI to see if they had any other daisho and was told that there is the only pair left in stock. I was not aware that true daisho paper on the same kanteisho.


    This is the pairing that is in stock at the moment.

     

    https://www.aoijapan.com/dai-sho-mumei-yamato-shizu-mumeiechizen-rai/ 

     

    I really liked the katana for the polish but feel like the wakizashi is rather underwhelming. They do come with matching fittings. I just wish that they could be sold separate, which may sound ridiculous considering the match of fittings. But any two swords can be matched together with fittings. Please feel free to chime in with your thoughts.

     

    Thanks,

    Khalid

  17. Greetings,

     

    I just took a few swords out of storage and noticed for the first time that the tang has been cut down at a diagonal angle on one of them. Was this a cut-down tachi? The blade has girth and is relatively heavy.

     

    More detailed information and photos can be provided.

     

    Thanks,

    Khalid

    F6B9A7ED-097A-49E5-B11E-9FFAD1F78C6C.png

    D6541D4D-B57C-42B4-9C43-80B3B675B65B.png

    7F161B04-0A62-4F3A-8119-D3E030DDB85D.png

×
×
  • Create New...