willy_1

Thanks all for the information, what a community! This is exactly what I was hoping to get from more experienced folks and gives me a lot to think about. I failed to mention in the post, but my "local expert" is Ed Konno and Stephen Colton of Japanese Art Swords in Bellevue, WA: https://japaneseartswords.com/. Ed did an appraisal for both of the swords in my collection. Before the appraisal, I was operating under the assumption as @SteveM. The sword was already obviously beautiful enough for me to buy it. It has a rich history, and Ed agreed on the consensus for the maker attribution, but I'll have to ask him what made him agree. I did go to Ginza Seiyudo in person a number of years ago and saw this sword in person before buying it online back in the states (I also bought my tonto from them in person). They also seemed to strongly agree with the make attribution and I hope they wouldn't just say that for the sale (again, I hope). I also assumed the sword would've come with the best possible polish, and if it were worth sending for juyo consideration then Seiyudo would have done this already. It certainly wasn't priced at juyo. However, I'm learning quickly that even among experts in this field, opinions can contend. Ed was the one who suggested it might be juyo worthy after a polish, and I've been thinking about it for almost a year now. I'm at the point where I'd definitely like to attempt to get it polished again by a touken togishi. Juyo or not I intend to keep this sword in the end, I'm too attached to it. I'm willing to spend the time and money to know whether this sword has more to offer. All that said, if I reached out to a polisher, I'm assuming they would assess whether it's worth polishing or not, and whether it's safe to do so. I also imagine they would do their best to make that determination from photos, but I understand that can be challenging and in person evaluation likely has the final say. Not sure how these things usually go. I'm leaning towards reaching out to Andrew Ickeringill as he comes highly recommended by this community. I also like the idea of reaching out to Ginza Seiyudo again. One might wonder why I don't go through https://japaneseartswords.com/ to facilitate finding a polisher. Believe me I've tried, but Ed is an interesting guy. He basically told me a cryptic equivalent to "all in good time", and left me with no idea of when or how we would make this happen. It also takes a while to reach him, he very much operates on his own time. I may try to reach out one more time to see if he'd be able and willing to pull the trigger. Ed and Steve are a great resource and very knowledgable--I've learned a lot from them. Thanks again to everyone who commented, I greatly appreciate it!

Hello all, I am new to nmb and a novice collector, so please correct me on forum etiquette and such. I'm still reading up on many nihonto topics, and actively trying to find a top notch polisher to polish my very old katana. The problem I'm facing is that I only understand at a high level what I want to accomplish, and don't have a great idea of how to find a polisher that meets the needs. Can anyone advise on a general process or provide anecdotal experience? To provide further details on the sword in question, I'm looking to polish my Katana (tachi) Sa-Hiroyuki Mumei. I have detailed information on the sword in the link, but the nutshell version is that it was made circa 1350 as a tachi and shortened to a katana sometime after. The tempering, although exemplary, does not appear to be particularly special. However, I believe this banality to be due the polishing, which seems be hiding some of the work. I was suspicious because all of Sa-Hiroyuki's living works feature more active hamon, and are clearly stunning. You can see in the photos in my link the hamon appears to be notare, but unremarkably so. All descriptions of Sa-Hiroyuki's work I've found usually describe his hamons as exceptionally bright and clear. Additionally, the hamon may not even be notare! Looking closely at the grain patterns, I see very faint hints of a more hitatsura and/or choji pattern. I also found a record of these shortened Sa-Hiroyuki, tachi mumei swords which suggests they typically have a more active hamon (can be found in my link, also attached to post). I did have a local expert take a look and he agreed. He also mentioned it might be worth sending in for juyo consideration after a REALLY good polish. He suggested Yoshindo Takaiwa, but upon researching I found he is a living legend (and author of a popular polishing book) and I have no idea how to reach him. Short of him, I don't know how to identify a polisher who's expertise align with the needs of the polish. I'm willing to wait many years, I'm in no rush! I'm aware of some of the basics in different polishing styles, but I'm not even sure if I'm the one who needs to make the choice between, for instance, Sashikomi and Kesho. Any guidance, links, books, anecdotes, etc. are appreciated. I'd love to uncover the hidden historical art in this sword if there's any to uncover!