Faded Mei

[CurtisR]

Hello all ~

 

This mei is giving me problems...I know the last character is "this", and am guessing the next (from bottom) is "Made by" but cannot see enough definition. Any possible guesses? It is in Gunto mounts, but appears to be a reasonably older blade.

Also, has anyone experienced this type of "fading" to mei?

 

Many thanks in advance,

 

Curtis R.

[CurtisR]

Might help if I posted the mei, yes? Apologies ~~

[John A Stuart]

満鐡鍛造之 Is this Kazuyuki (or Michiyuki) kitau wo kore?? John

[Nobody]

満鐡 (Mantetsu) - South Manchuria Railway

[John A Stuart]

Mantetsu, of course; I should have read that right. Thanks Koichi san. John

[CurtisR]

Thank you John & Moriyama-san...I can find no record of the smith Mantetsu, but am guessing it was forged during the Sino-Japanese war perhaps (based on the reference to the Manchuria Railway)? I still struggle with the Radicals in Kanji but practice, practice, practice .

 

The sword is nicely balanced and appears to be traditionally forged, based on the file marks of the nakago.

 

Best Regards,

 

Curtis R.

[David Flynn]

Mantetsu, Manchurian steel. produced in a railroad factory in Manchuria.

[CurtisR]

Thank you David - I just found the smith listing for him...Showa era smith but seems to be nice work, even though not Tamehagane. I believe the mei on this blade was "lightly" inscribed vs. other examples I found on NMB. I went ahead and made an Oshigata (to add to my collection) in case I see it again.

 

Cheers,

 

Curtis R.

[Nobody]

Mantetsu, Manchurian steel. produced in a railroad factory in Manchuria.

That is not correct. 満鐡 (Mantetsu) is an abbreviation for 南満州鐡道 (Minami Manshu Tetsudo - The South Manchuria Railway Co., Ltd.). 鐡 (tetsu) in the name does not mean steel, but railway (鐡道 - Tetsudo).

 

Ref. http://www.h4.dion.ne.jp/~t-ohmura/gunto_114.htm

[David Flynn]

Apologies.

[leo]

This article about Mantetsu, Moriyama San is referring to, I still find most impressive (Even though I have read it before). Same goes for the other information on this site.

 

Must have been an interesting task for these scientists and engineers to create a new generation of blades combinig the quality of old blades with the more modern demands such as higher resistance against brittleness, bending and the possibility of an industrial output. I wonder if such effective blades based on the same construction could still be mass produced today(for a reasonable price :D ).

 

The mei and the Tan-stamp on Davids blade seem to be identical to the the tang at the very right in the article, so I guess this was made after 1943. Would be interesting to see the blade and its quality of manufacture.

 

Best,

[leo]

Sorry,

I meant Curtis blade, not Davids!

[ROKUJURO]

Gentlemen,

 

the article about the production background of MANTETSU blades is valuable, but some detail problems arise not only from the obvious difficulties of translation.

 

It says: ......Dr. Kazuharu Kusaka of South Manchuria Railway Central Research Institute did electric steel manufacture of the sponge iron (rich iron ore from a Manchuria), and he succeeded in manufacture of the good steel near malleable iron......

 

Well, I would like to add that sponge iron is NOT 'rich iron ore'. Obviously, Dr. KUSAKA had a good quality iron ore source there and was able to produce raw steel. As this cannot be forged, they used probably electric energy in a second process to remove the surplus carbon content from the steel to make it malleable. This is generally a modern standard process of steel production, and depending on the purity of the iron results in good quality steel.

 

Our modern steel production differs from that in that we use to add large quantities of scrap steel to the process, resulting in the production of alloyed raw steel with partly unpredictable properties. This material cannot be purified after the process.

 

If I understand the article correctly, the purity and good quality of the base material and the process, designed to produce high quality tool steel, made all of the difference.