Mark Green

Here is a pretty spiff vid. Mark G

Supposed to be out in full next month. Total War games, in all their forms, are the only computer games that I have played for 10+ years. The first Samurai version, had a few bugs, but all the others have been wonderful. I hope the AI is a bit better, in the combat mode. But I doubt it will. I've been looking very forward to this for years. Mark G

Both are. http://cgi.ebay.com/Edo-period-Japanese ... 3cb569bfa1 Mark G

It looks pretty old. 50s of 60s ? Mark G

Fake. Chinese.

I like this one It would make a nice tsuba design. I have a handful of old Chinese coins that my Dad brought back from China in thee 30's. He was told they were very old. I am interested, as to what to look for on the edges as well. First I'll have to find them. Mark G

Hi Gang, It seems strange, that the slide mechanism would be on a ridged pole. I would tend to believe that the slide came from another rig. The ridges would make it a bugger to use, and would be rubbed away in short order, if it would work at all. Oh, nevermind, I just saw that the lower part of the pole IS smooth DEH! The most 'period' rig I made, was using a split piece of bamboo, that was fitted to an oak pole,re- glued, and hemp tie-banded. It was very smooth, to operate correctly. It did heat up quite a bit with a lot of use. The metal rig would make and easy switch to any yari pole you picked up on the battle field. As long as you could slide it on, and the pole was smooth, you could rock-and-roll. Plus, it took some time to make. That is likely why they were not widely adapted. But in the hands of a specialized unit that was trained in their use, they would be as effective as an RPG. You could move up and blow a hole in the enemy line in short order. The blade does look very interesting... Mark

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Hi Piers, I love the tube-spear. Can you post some pics of the slide part of the pole. They can deliver great force, and penetration power. They were banned from our SCA combat due to that fact. Very dangerous! You could break peoples ribs,through armor, with a 3 in. padded tip. Mark G Pics of the blade would be great too

Hi Bruno, I took some pics of one of my cut down swords a while back. It looks like jacket, and core steel looking from the mune side of the new nakago. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7503&start=30

Hi Stu, That is a great start. Your new tsuba has a lot going on. It's nice shape. It has artwork, of mixed metal alloy inlay, and carving. The patina looks pretty good, and it looks to be fairly healthy. There are dozens of very informative sites on line to learn the basics of tsuba study. check them out, by checking the links above, and Google around a lot. When you have a basic idea of what people are speaking of here, you will be able to understand what is going on. Have fun. You can start by giving us the measurements of your new toy. Did Ludolf, say what he thought about your tsuba? Congrats on you new tsuba. Mark G

Me too??

The second one looks to be an ' Arkansaka tooth pick' Sorry, couldn't help myself. The first one, is a crazy combo of styles. Very cool looking though. And your right, it would make a great pole weapon. Mark G

I agree with Dr. Brian. Sucks, to think the guy may have buggered out, even worst, if he is that out of touch, due to health, accident, or murder. But, it sure as hell isn't Brian's, or the board fault. I'm sure everyone would make their contributions regardless of the prizes. Mark G

Wow Barry, From the pics, I would have said the rim was seperate. That is very sweet! Mariuszk, Akasaka, nice. I'm making a copy of that right now, with the mortar being a skull. Kind of a Python, year of the bunny/moon. Mark G

I agree with Guido, much younger. This tsuba, likely has a thousand copies out there through the ages. Very popular design. Mark G

Wow Barry, that is one dead sexy tsuba! Is that a shakudo rim? I don't have any rabbit tsuba (yet) But, I have some nice menuki.

Thank you Gilles, and Carlo, and all. I will pass on the info. Mark G

Great post Dirk!!!! If I had won a bid that looked like this, I would be talking to the seller before he got paid. If he ever got paid. And I would report all these findings to Ebay. To see if it worried them or not. I should hope Ebay will keep the bidding stats as close as they can. Have they now removed the time stamp from the report? I didn't see it above. Nice job! Mark G

Of Course, silly me. Thanks Eric.

Everything looks pretty normal on that sword. Very nice in fact. Mark G

Hi Gang, A gun dealer I know showed me this old "Chinese" sword that was looted from a Japanese museum just after the war. Any ideas? It sure looks Chinese to me, or Korean maybe. Thanks for any help.

The more I look at this sword, the more I agree with Dave. ??? Mark G

Argoth, It is very hard to tell from your pics. It does look platted in the new pics. Turn of you flash. Just have a few bright lights at other angles. The glare may be messing with us. Regardless, it is a wartime sword. Maybe not even made in Japan. There were smiths working in Manchuria, and maybe Korea as well. Not sure on yours. Try a few no flash pics for us. Mark G

I agree, It is a real sword that has been plated. I have seen a few of these. A polisher could remove the plating, but not sure it would be worth it for this one. Very likely not. Or it has been put on the buffing wheel to the point of removing file marks??? Need better pics of the whole blade. Mark G