jlmeadowsjr Posted November 11, 2013 Report Posted November 11, 2013 I'm posting this for a friend, beware. PLEASE HELP STOP SWORD FRAUD: Recently an amateur "sword restorer" from Harrisonburg, Virginia named Michael Antonio has taken dozens of pictures of my work and quotes from my website and re-posted them under his own name......... Obviously if he had any ability, skill or integrity he would be able to take his own pictures and he wouldn't have to steal from me. If you belong to a sword forum or message board, please do the sword community a favor and post some warnings about this guy. I hate to think of pictures of my work being used to victimize innocent people. Thanks, David Hofhine, Professional Japanese sword polishing and restoration services, Kensei LLC. Impeccable references. Top quality togishi services. http://www.swordpolisher.com
J Reid Posted November 11, 2013 Report Posted November 11, 2013 Annnnnnnddddd that was the end of Michael Antonio's short lived "career"...
kusunokimasahige Posted November 11, 2013 Report Posted November 11, 2013 As far as I can see his Facebook sword restoring pages have been taken down. His twitter is still operational, as is his personal Facebook page. He seems to be a re-enactor. KM
cabowen Posted November 11, 2013 Report Posted November 11, 2013 David Hofhine filed a complaint with Facebook and they removed his page. For now....
Stephen Posted November 11, 2013 Report Posted November 11, 2013 searching his name led to closed FB but not Twitter..and his auctons on ebay http://www.ebay.com/sch/gold-pin-man/m. ... 7675.l2562
kusunokimasahige Posted November 12, 2013 Report Posted November 12, 2013 Here you go : https://twitter.com/swordrestore not been used since 2012 .
Brian Posted November 12, 2013 Report Posted November 12, 2013 Ok, this isn't a witchunt. I was also going to post the warning, but mission accomplished so please only add to this if you have pertinent info to add. Brian
cabowen Posted November 21, 2013 Report Posted November 21, 2013 More info: From David Hofhine: "More on this Michael Antonio guy: He first contacted me by email on May 31, 2008 expressing interest in learning sword polishing and asking me for any info on good books or DVDs on the subject. By 2011 he had a website up claiming to have studied in Japan for 11 years. https://web.archive.org/web/20110504091003/http://swordrestoration.org/about/
Brian Posted November 27, 2013 Report Posted November 27, 2013 In the interests of openness and fairness, I have to mention that David isn't traditionally trained either. Although he does have many years of experience. But the point must be made, and people should check out the workmanship of anyone they are considering using, and perhaps look at examples of the work. Ask around the Nihonto community and see what others have to say. If your polisher is outside of Japan, be sure of who you are using. Ask if your polisher has a large stock of genuine Japanese stones (Many thousands of $'s worth) Does he know how to match each blade type with the required stones? Does he use acid? Does he know how to minimise flaws and keep lines perfectly straight and only remove the bare amount of materials? There is a lot involved in learning to polish. That's why it takes more than 5 years of full time training in Japan to qualify. You need a mentor, otherwise who is teaching you what is good and what is bad? Books and videos just won't cut it. Brian
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