The Blacksmith

In my very rusty kanji, I'd say it reads Kanesada, but if it is, then the Sada is poorly written.

There is at least one thread on battle damaged swords.......... Shin gunto with battle scars

Quite true! Ooops, I missed that little detail................

Is it perhaps a kuchi gane, not a fuchi next to the habaki?

If it helps any, here are the cropped and enlarged images that Alex posted.... Certainly looks Ok. I look forward to seeing images of the blade.

Obviously in this respect, a man after my own heart! Great selection! You can never have too many that is certain. I catalogued my arms and armour book collection, which was a great surprise, and a fun thing to do, and once done it is so easy to update when a new tome is added. Just a thought.

The saya on the katana may be genuine, but that looks like it is possibly the only bit that is?

I do not recall either a Sho stamp or a Seki stamp. though it was without doubt a high quality gendaito, presumably made in an earler style for whatever reason. Of the two that I owned personally at the time, one as i mentioned was rather heavy and rather uninteresting, but the other which I think I may have pictures of was a beauty. Typical Seki WWII sugata, but with slight sunagashi in places, and several tobiyaki in the jigane, with yakidashi. This blade I think may most likely have been made by Kanezane personally. However, both had the kokuin.

When I had a small collection of armour, I got to know John Anderson who advised me on the restoration process, and he told me to clean laquer with a cotton bud and meths (rød sprit Sten!). It worked very well, and of course the meths simply evaporated off.

Thankyou Oliver, that's him! One of the blades that I had was a real stunner, and may well have been made by the man himself. The other one, though mounted in a sword with the Sakai mon, was clearly not of the same quality, and was very heavy in comparison. Bruce, similar to the one on the left, but even more cursive. It was actually quite difficult to read until one actually knew what it said, thanks to the Zane stamp. The shape of the nakago on the two that you show are quite different in shape to mine, or the one in question. A little more tapered than the one on the right, but not as tapered as that on the left, though perhaps, that is the slightly different nagle that it was photographed at that makes it appear more tapered. Thank you gents.

I mentioned in another post about a sword that I examined some years ago, which was signed Asano Kanezane. The blade, at first glance, appeared to be shinto, but when I read the mei, it was in fact dated November 1944! The actual mei was written in cursive kanji, looking like it was hand written , and it would have been difficult to read but for the hot stamp Zane kanji stamped in the end of the nakago. The hamon as I recall was notare, and the steel had a very white colour to it. I wondered if anybody has come across such a blade signed by Kanezane in this style before? I had two other swords at the time signed Kanezane, very different in style and quality, though I have read somewhere that some of his students occassionally signed his name on blades, which would partly account for the quality difference. The blade in question above, was an absolute beauty, and I had wondered if it was perhaps originally made as an offering, which again might account for the rather unusual style of the blade at such a late date. Any thoughts would be gratefully received. Unfortunately I do not have pictures of this blade.

Is it only the length that makes you think that it possibly isn't the original scabbard Brian?

Its not macramé that you thinking of is it Stephen? Because this isn't macramé.

I wouldn't let a togishi, trained or not, loose on this blade to be honest. These swords were totally machine made, so this blade could easily be gently machine polished without any real danger of damaging anything. Alternatively, I think that rough wire wool and Solvol Autosol (chrome polish), would work equally well here, and that is probably what I would use. Though I do have a machine polisher, the wire wool approach would preserve a little of the age patina here, which on this sword may not be inappropriate I feel. I must stress what Brian has already stated, that this type of sword, and ONLY this type of katana that could be treated this way!

Thank you Bruce. For a moment I though the old grey matter had totally screwed up....again!

Certainly salvageable! It is never going to be Juyo status, but it should clean up reasonably Ok. The saya is probably the worst bit, but a good soak in oil and a fine wire brush should show what we have left here. I would imagine that it will require new wooden inserts in the saya, but there again, given the relative good condition of the blade, maybe not. Personally, I would try and remove the tsuka. As Stephen has said, it will not have mei or anything on the nakago, so no point in taking it off for this reason, but if the sword is stripped, it will be much easier to get a more desirable finish on the fittings. Make sure that the screw is well oiled and that it has soaked in before trying to remove it, and quite possibly apply a hot iron bar to the screw before trying to loosen it. The hot bar wil cause the nut to expand a bit, and may loosen it slightly. This is always worth a try first before trying to unscrew a rusted bolt like this! Make sure that the locking catch is also well oiled, and that the oil has thoroughly penetrated before attempting to move the catch. otherwise you risk having it perhaps break right off! This would be a fun project to do, but it will never be a national treasure.

The small stamp looks to be Na, which IIRC. which I read somewhere was thought to be a Nagoya stamp?

@PNSSHOGUN Thank you for that John. That is very helpful. I had wondered since the Plimpton book is so much bigger.

I think I have to go with Kikuhide too. The first inscription, the date, of course reads. Showa Ju hachi nen ju ichi gatsu. Back when I was collecting Japanese swords, unfortunately, too many years back now, I was given the same advice by two authorities, that reading Japanese names etc. was not as difficult as one might at first think, you simply have to want to do it! So I spent hundreds of hours reading and copying the kanji from Alfred Dobrée's book, Japanese Sword Blades. It was time very well spent, and was immensely rewarding.

I for one certainly need to read more. I have a several hundred books on arms and armour, but unfortunately, my Japanese library following a fire , is woefully scant now. On one forum I am a member of, one of the members has a terrific signature: 'Before you start collecting, spend your first $1000 on books.' How true that is! I wish more would be collectors heeded that sound advice. By the way, I am not talking about this post either, there are lots of sword and bayonet collectors who would benefit from having, and reading, a good selection of books! On the subject of Japanese sword books, I have a copy of Dawson that I am thinking of buying, but I also wondered about Plimpton's Swords of the Emperor. Which of these two tomes is really the better in members opinions please? Knowing me, as a book collector anyway, I will probably eventually end up with both at some point, but where to start? Thank you in advance.

Regarding papers, as has been said, they are not always what they seem............... Back in 1982, I bought an absolutely stunning wakizashi blade at the Bowden sale at Christies, London. I bought it because I liked it, it was absolutely massive with O kissaki, which I love, and it was in perfect condition in shirasaya. Perfect! The mei was Tsuta Echizen no Kami Sukehiro, and the date was Enpo gonen. Even to my uneducated eye it didn't look like SukeHiro's work. But I was spellbound by the beautiful blade, so no problem anyway. The blade did come with an orikami by Hakusui Inami, stating that it was by SukeHiro with its supposed value etc.. Inami evidently signed a whole batch of papers for Sir Frank Bowden, including in the same sale a supposed MasaMune! However, on the orikami, he cleverly didnt affix his seal, effectively meaning that they were not signed, and therefore invalid. All the above didn't matter to me as I fell in love with the blade itself, not the supposed smith. The papers were dated 1968 IIRC.

This was a very simple sword to repair and re wire, a Danish NCO's 1910 pattern. The wires look as though they are loose and uneven, but this is an optical illusion, they are tight and straight. Really difficult grips are rapier and small sword grips with multiple wires, possibly of different metals, and with wire 'turks head' knots on the end, and these can take days to wire! And after... The biggest problem is keeping the tension even and tight. This is easiest done in a lathe (Not swirched on!!!!). Medieval swords can also be a pain, as some of these grips can be eight or ten inches long!

Spot on I think Mark!

Well as a professional metal worker, I do have access to all sorts of materials, or know where I can usually source them, so I guess I am lucky in that respect. In this particular case, it looks as though the wire is simply loose and not broken, so personally, I would try and re wire it using the original wire, which is certainly not as easy as using new wire, but can with care, often be done. It is interesting to hear different people's thoughts on this subject. Restoration vs conservation is a bit of an emotive subject. Personally, I am firmly in the 'we are only temporary custodians' camp, and thus we have a duty to look after these items and then pass them on in the same, or better, condition than we received them.

Nice An interesting conundrum here, and one that I'd certainly be interested to hear members thoughts on please...... If, all the wire is present, would you re wrap it, or, if all the wire is not present, would collectors here replace it, or simply leave the sword as it is? Every collector has their own ideas as to what is acceptable, or desirable, so I'd be interested to find other collectors views please. Apologies to @montrealfan1986 for asking this here, but think it would be interesting to know. By the way, have you acquired this sword?