melanie

Stephen, is that your sign-off? If so, goodbye, and thank you so much!

The file marks on the tang are very similar, except without the signature. The blade, though, isn't quite as shiny and doesn't have as defined a grain. I do note quite a bit of rust on the tang - are you sure it's stainless? I am wondering if magnets would stick so well to mine if it was stainless - it is a very tight hold... but again, I am no expert. I do know from doing more research last night that different grades of stainless have different magnetic properties. I am wondering, though, if mine would be much more shiny if it were stainless, for the simple fact that it has been so well cared-for over the years. Opinion? I'd love to go ahead and get it listed, but I don't want to list it wrong and get less than what it is worth, or claim it is something that it is not. So I imagine a little more research is in line for me. I don't mind, though - this is kind of fun.

I started my count on the left - from left to right. And from the top down. I am honestly thinking it isn't anything - just a random mark on the tang. So do you think the blade is stainless with something else in it that makes it magnetic, or do you think it is another material? And do you think it was hand or machine forged? Thanks so much for taking the time with this. I have been researching this thing for weeks and was at my wits' end as to where or how this blade was made. A gentleman who wanted it said he thought it was worth more than he could pay and recommended I find a forum - glad I found this one

Ok - here is my amateur attempt at interpreting this blade, since I can see it face-on. I looked up this link, http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/terms/terms.htm and interpreted accordingly, so here goes: Boshi - OMARU style Mune - IHORI Hada - MASAME or MUJI (I can see straight grains all the way up and down the sword that are hard to see, but are there) Hamon - SUGU Hataraki - this was the most difficult, but based on what is visible in the spots where I know there are no prints, I would make a guess of Ko-Nie/Ji-Nie or even possibly (but less likely) Chikei And the shape of the circle most closely resembles the one on your page, row 4 column 4, but it doesn't have the symbol in the middle of it - it is just the outside circle with a bit missing at the top and the bottom (or maybe you would say the sides, looking at it correctly). Am I even close?

Another attempt at blade pics - are these better? I can see dust particles on it really close up. Should we clean the blade to remove prints? If so, what should we use? Thanks!

Not sure if it matters, but my fridge magnets (the super strong kind) stick tightly to the tang. I was afraid to nick the shiny part of the blade, so I didn't try it on that part, but my regular, weaker fridge magnets stick to the shiny part of the blade as well as they do the fridge. Does that help with figuring out the blade material?

There is rust on both sides of the hole and inside it, and also at the very tip of the tang. There are also some tiny spots of rust up closer to the hilt, but could these have come from the fittings? It has been in near pristine climate conditions since he brought it back - they took good care of their things - and then, since it's been here, it's been in a climate controlled room in our house. I have no idea - does stainless ever rust? The areas of rust are in places where moisture could have accumulated (peg hole where wood was inserted, etc). Also, am wondering - was anyone able to decide what the little Japanese symbol before the numbers on the fittings stands for? And is the circle just a scratch mark, or is it an attempt at a symbol? If you click on the attachment that says "little circle 3" and zoom it in, you can see the circle very well. Thanks so much.

Ok - most recent attempt at pic of that little circle - I have four of them here - maybe one of these will be clear? Thanks!

No, there is nothing inside of the circle. And the circle itself is very, very faint, which is why I cannot tell whether it is a mark or a scratch. It is not a perfect circle, but just a tad oval in shape. I tried to get a better picture of it, but it is so faint, that that is the best I can do. It almost looks like it could have been scratched in by a pin, it is so thin. Don't know if that helps any... :-/

We inherited this along with the Kai Gunto I have posted from my husband's uncle. He brought them both back from WWII. Just wondering what in the world this is. My husband loves it, because the handle appears to be made of some kind of a tusk, and the art-work on it is interesting. The blade is rather beat up, which makes us wonder if it was some kind of a work machete, and we aren't sure if the tassle has any meaning (?) Thanks!

Just a couple more pics.

A few more blade pics. For some reason, some pics look yellow, but the blade isn't yellow (?). What does it mean if it isn't stainless steel?

My last post doesn't appear to have loaded the full view, so I will do it again here.

Here are a few more photos with my camera, including a full view of the entire sword and the other side of the fittings. I tried to get a close-up of the nick, but it is honestly so small I am having a really hard time getting it to focus in on it. The scanner seems to do the best with it, so maybe you can make it out by zooming in. Oh, and the yellow sticker - that came from whoever settled his estate and then passed the sword on to my husband. I have removed it in the full-view pic.

John - the markings you are looking at are numbers, and they are clear when not in a photo - obviously 324. That is the same number on each of the fittings as well. The fittings seem to be in really nice condition, but I am no expert. Some numbers are hard to see because of rust on the parts of the fittings that actually fit up against each other. There is no visible rust when it is assembled, but definitely some spots on the insides of the fittings. The blade itself is beautiful. It does have one very tiny fleck on the edge that looks like a chip, not at all deep, and I don't think even a millimeter long. It is VERY sharp - we have to be really careful with it - and it doesn't appear to have been resharpened, in other words, no weird or rough spots on the edge of the blade - very clean. Again, I'll borrow a better camera and take some nice pics of the rest of the sword, including a close-up of the fleck on the edge of the blade. Oh, one more question: was anybody able to make out what that symbol is before the numbers on all the fittings? The closest thing I could find on all the different intepretation sites was the symbol that stands for "big" or the letter "o." Thanks so much!