Opinions on blade quality

[DaveM4P99]

Just wondering if anyone could give their opinions on this blade...shape / symmetry / kissaka / hamon / hada etc.

 

I took a few photos of the hada as well...I know a blade can't really be judged just by photos...but I am hoping they came out good enough to form at least some opinions on the quality.

 

There are about 7 or 8 very very tiny little pit marks...almost invisible unless you take a well-lit, close up macro photo.

 

Thanks for any thoughts! -Dave

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-Dave

[drbvac]

Looks pretty nice from here - mind I am a long piece away - do you have any closer pictures of the nakago - it looks old but it also looks like it has varnish or oil on it.

 

Any signature - measurements ?

 

Is it for sale or do you already have it >

[cabowen]

Looks like a David Hofhine polish.

 

Blade, at least what we can see, looks decent.

[Loco Al]

Hard to tell from the photos (camera lenses may tend to distort things a bit), but sword looks relatively short. Possibly a wakizashi. Good polish. Hamon is relatively straight (suguha, tending towards notare). Chu-kissaki. Again, hard to tell from the photos, but nakago looks well rusted and possibly pitted. Need better photos of nakago. Hada, possibly itame or konuka.

 

Guessing Edo period wakizashi.

 

Hard to see much in the way of "pit marks". Possibly just a few small kitae-ware, which are really not considered a big deal. That's about the extent of my limited knowledge.

 

Alan

[DaveM4P99]

Thanks for the replies so far.

 

Yes Chris, you may remember this blade from my past posts...just figured I would get some more opinions on the quality of the blade / polish.

 

Nakago is pretty badly pitted but has no active rust anymore...still enough to ID it as 3rd generation Tegarayama Ujishige. 1780s Harema Province smith. Nobody famous.

 

 

The mei reads (or so I am told) Banshu Tegarayama Fujiwara Ujishige. The very top character is visible, as well as what you see in this photo...but the very bottom character is all but pitted away.

 

Length of cutting edge is 23.5 inches. So a long wakizashi.

[Gabriel L]

Déjà vu…

 

Sword looks nice. Nothing standout, nice shape, some nie, sedate hamon, compact hada. Maybe the hada is a little rough-looking in places in the mune, and is that shintetsu I see in one image or something else? Ko-shinogi line is a little wonky, shinogi looks a little soft in some of the photos for an in-polish blade. Nakago is in bad shape. But all in all it seems decent. Certainly a nice thing to have found and restored, if not the easiest thing to find a buyer for.