Recently bought Sword, new guy needs help

[Mag]

Hi Guys, I´m new here and this is my welcome posting on here. I´m from germany and new to Nihonto, all started with a ww2 gunto katana and now I´m more into the real stuff.

 

So, here we go!

 

The sword has a total length of 87,5cm, 66,8cm cutting edge. Width at habaki is 31mm and on the kissaki area 22mm. It was mounted in heavy Gunto mounts, metal saya with 2 holding loops. It sure is not the best condition but as a start up to get into this i think it was an ok investment. I´ve emailed Tony Norman on his thoughts about a polish of it and wait for his quote on this. It´s hard to take pic´s of details on the blade but there are shadows of the hamon visible in some places and some fukure in some spots.

 

What can the experts on here tell me about it? Unfortunately it´s shortened and a part of the mei is missing.

 

 

 

Thanks in advance and I hope I can learn a lot on here!

 

Magnus B.

[John A Stuart]

Bizen Kuni ju ... The blade picture shows little to comment upon. We already know it is suriage and may warrant further photos. John

[kunitaro]

The Signature says "Bizen (no) kuni ju o-" (cut off).

It looks like "Sue-Bizen" (late Muromachi period) Katana.

[Mag]

Thank you very much for the information! What type of pictures would be need to evaluate it a little further? I´ve managed to take a pic of what look to be the hamon maybe, unfortunately the blade is very dull.

 

The biggest problem at the moment seems to be that the blade is bend in several places and the question is if this can be solved so it can get polished and brought back to life?

 

Just let me know what type of pictures are needed and I´ll do my best!

 

Greetings, Magnus B.

[kunitaro]

It looks fine. see some Mokume-hada.

the signature is not looks Gimei.

It could get Hozon paper and become beautiful after fine polish.

 

Just need to check "Ha-gire" the crack on edge.

check if there is any crack on the cutting edge by magnifying glass.

If there is no crack all way of the blade. You can send it to the polisher,

Professional polisher will be able to fix it to straight, The restoration cost would be a bit more than its (market) value, but It can be back to life.

[John A Stuart]

With it being in so poor of a polish it hard to see if it has flaws or not. If you are near some Nihonto study group where they could see it up close, you might get a more refined opinion. I have had a bent sword restored by a polisher with no shinai, which is a possible result. John

[Mag]

Thanks for the kind words! Realy helps me a lot with the decision of keeping it and getting it polished and in shirasaya.

 

I have looked over the blade very carefully and could not see any hagire, but to be sure a polisher will need to check it out i think.

 

I was recommended to contact Tony Norman, but did not hear back yet from him. Is there another polisher in the EU that is known to be good for such a project?

 

I´m so excited to see this blade polished!

 

 

Greetings, Magnus B.

[Marius]

Just let me know what type of pictures are needed and I´ll do my best!

Magnus,

 

we need to see the whole sword, the boshi (that is the hamon in the kissahi or the point of the sword (kissaki). It would be good if you could take a picture of the back of the sword (mune) so that we can see part of the nakaho (tang) and part of the blade - this will show if the sword is healthy of polished down.

 

Also pictures of the hamon would be nice - you could try to take pics holding the sword against a light source (difficult). Examples here: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/hamonpatterns.html

 

Before you commit to a polish, keep in mind that there are risks involved. A bent blade must be fixed, which may result in hairline cracks (hagire) - a fatal flaw. A polish is expensive (very expensive).

 

I am not quite sure if there are qualified polishers in Europe - do not take any shortcuts or you might ruin the sword.

 

You might want to study a bit before doing anything with the sword. Do not rush, as a wrong decision will cost you a lot of money and might ruin the sword. Sometimes it is better to leave a sword as it is. Remember to apply a thin (very thin) coat of choji abura (clove-scented oil used for nihonto) or machine oil. Don't use gun oil or any vegetable oil. Here is a thread discussing proper oil:

http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/hamonpatterns.html

 

Buy some books (recommendations abound - viewtopic.php?f=9&t=15682&hilit=beginner+books+nihonto+nakahara)

 

Also, please read this very practical information here: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/hamonpatterns.html

 

Again, don't rush. Straightening a sword is serious business and must not be done by some amateur. Polishing is even more serious, and there are too many self-styled polisher who are prepared to ruin your sword and charge you big bucks for it.

 

One of the many discussions about polishers here: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6164&hilit=polishers+europe

 

Hope that helps.

[Mag]

Hi, thank you for the links and info!

 

About pictures of the hamon in the kissaki area, there is nothing to see in this condition as the kissaki is the worst point of the blade. For the thickness of the blade compared to the nakago, sure the blade is thinner, but not by much, so I think it was not polished very often but I´ll do a pic of this tomorrow.

 

 

Greetings, Magnus B.

 

 

Magnus,

 

we need to see the whole sword, the boshi (that is the hamon in the kissahi or the point of the sword (kissaki). It would be good if you could take a picture of the back of the sword (mune) so that we can see part of the nakaho (tang) and part of the blade - this will show if the sword is healthy of polished down.

 

Also pictures of the hamon would be nice - you could try to take pics holding the sword against a light source (difficult). Examples here: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/hamonpatterns.html

 

Before you commit to a polish, keep in mind that there are risks involved. A bent blade must be fixed, which may result in hairline cracks (hagire) - a fatal flaw. A polish is expensive (very expensive).

 

I am not quite sure if there are qualified polishers in Europe - do not take any shortcuts or you might ruin the sword.

 

You might want to study a bit before doing anything with the sword. Do not rush, as a wrong decision will cost you a lot of money and might ruin the sword. Sometimes it is better to leave a sword as it is. Remember to apply a thin (very thin) coat of choji abura (clove-scented oil used for nihonto) or machine oil. Don't use gun oil or any vegetable oil. Here is a thread discussing proper oil:

http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/hamonpatterns.html

 

Buy some books (recommendations abound - viewtopic.php?f=9&t=15682&hilit=beginner+books+nihonto+nakahara)

 

Also, please read this very practical information here: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/hamonpatterns.html

 

Again, don't rush. Straightening a sword is serious business and must not be done by some amateur. Polishing is even more serious, and there are too many self-styled polisher who are prepared to ruin your sword and charge you big bucks for it.

 

One of the many discussions about polishers here: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6164&hilit=polishers+europe

 

Hope that helps.

[Jean]

Mag,

 

The real question is: what do you want to do with it? The cost of polishing and a shirasaya exceed the value of resale.

 

There is no nengo (date) so it is at most an average blade forged at a time where thousand of blades were forged of which thousand ubu ones still exist .....

[uwe]

Magnus, where are you situated? There is a guy near Brilon doing quite nice work.

Uwe