CurtisR Posted January 4, 2015 Report Posted January 4, 2015 Greetings All, I haven't been "on" in a while but just received my koto katana back from Mr. John Tirado, Sayashi. He did an amazing job...used 10 yr. old wood with a very subtly "Tiger Stripe" pattern to it and a hor koiguchi. I posted pics of this mumei blade several months back, but here are a few better ones. I've been attempting kantai for the school at minimum, but will keep my guess(es) to myself until Shinsa in '16. Any geusses from the wise ones here are welcomed, of course :-). Curtis R. Quote
Brian Posted January 4, 2015 Report Posted January 4, 2015 Nice job! And I still like this sword a lot and think it is a great shinsa candidate. Wouldn't be surprised if it does come back as shinshinto, but that wouldn't worry me either. Then again, it does have a fairly prominent hada which points away from shinshinto...so ..... Brian 1 Quote
Kronos Posted January 4, 2015 Report Posted January 4, 2015 Would I be right in assuming this has mokume hada and nioi-deki, hard to tell from the pics. What is the nagasa? Quote
Marius Posted January 4, 2015 Report Posted January 4, 2015 Curtis, Your pics of the blade are highly compressed jpegs and pixelated. I'd love to see the hada and hamon but in these pics they are not visible. I still think/feel it is a shinto/shinshinto. Better pics would give us more food for discussion 1 Quote
cabowen Posted January 4, 2015 Report Posted January 4, 2015 Looks good Curtis... I may have missed it, but what is the length of the blade and the length of the nakago? 1 Quote
CurtisR Posted January 4, 2015 Author Report Posted January 4, 2015 Sorry all - I should have put this in.... Nagaza is 65.2cm / Nakago = 18cm I did receive the following from a gent who's held many fine swords, so it's encouraging: "Jigane is very good and controlled...skillful. The ji-nie is bright, abundant and beautiful! A difficult trait to produce. There is fine Chikei....Chikei is a trait only found in good blades. Overall Tsugata is pleasing and well balanced, even as O-suriage. The transition to nakago is well done and balanced...a characteristyic of the blade as well as defining skill of the smith who shortened it. Good blades don't go to poor smiths for this kind of work. Boshi is well balanced and shows skill...original polish is well done and shitaji shows skill." This gentleman suggests (after haing it in-hand for a bit) that the shape, steel quality, hardnes and workmanship are all pointing to koto. I'll take higher res photos (cool deal that we ca now upload larger images!) and will post them soon ~~ Hoping this helps? Curtis R. Quote
cabowen Posted January 4, 2015 Report Posted January 4, 2015 To be o-suriage, this sword would have had an original nagasa of over 86 cm or roughly 33 inches. That is a very big sword. Quote
Kronos Posted January 4, 2015 Report Posted January 4, 2015 Going out on a limb my gut instinct was O-suriage, Oei-Bizen or just before of one of the non-mainline schools, maybe Kozori or Omiya. After having a longer look it's maybe late Koto but I'd still say Koto Bizen. But then again I'm in no place to judge so take my opinion with a grain of salt. It'll priobably turn out to be Takada 1 Quote
nagamaki - Franco Posted February 2, 2015 Report Posted February 2, 2015 I've been attempting kantai for the school at minimum, but will keep my guess(es) to myself until Shinsa in '16. You may wish to consider having a 'window' put in (interesting sword) by a polisher like Jimmy Hayashi as there is still plenty of time, which would give the shinsa team a clear view as well as giving yourself and/or the next owner a look of how this sword would appear in full polish. Quote
Jamie Posted February 3, 2015 Report Posted February 3, 2015 Nice sword. I'm curious why you'd have shirasaya made before its polished. Quote
Jean Posted February 3, 2015 Report Posted February 3, 2015 To avoid any unvoluntary scratches on the new polish during the process.... Quote
Jamie Posted February 3, 2015 Report Posted February 3, 2015 I understand Jean. What I was asking is, why the shirasaya was made prior to new polish. Looks like a nice shirasaya but another will need to be made when/if the sword is polished. Quote
Jean Posted February 3, 2015 Report Posted February 3, 2015 Probabilities are at 99%, unless very thick/deep flaws have to be mended or the habaki changed. You do not change a shirasaya because a blade is polished otherwise it will mean the polisher has removed a lot of steel which is very rare. You change it if is very old, soaked with oil... And always before polish. I can have all my swords polished, they won't need another shirasaya. Quote
nagamaki - Franco Posted February 4, 2015 Report Posted February 4, 2015 The polisher should be consulted ahead of time as to how much metal may need to be removed in the new polish. The shirasaya is not the only consideration here, how tight the habaki will fit after polish needs to be assessed. If a new habaki is needed you're also looking at another new shirasaya. And just because a sword doesn't appear to have problems before polish it doesn't mean the current polish is not in need of foundation corrections. Quote
cabowen Posted February 4, 2015 Report Posted February 4, 2015 Usually the shirasaya can be adjusted to fit a new habaki, but I agree with Franco in that it is hard to tell how much steel will need to be removed and thus there is a chance that the old shirasaya will no longer fit properly. In a well made shirasaya, the blade is suppose to float inside with only the habaki touching. If the habaki changes to one of the same or larger size, the koiguchi can be adjusted to fit. It is usually best to avoid all this issues by doing the work in the correct order. Sometimes things don't work out that way... Quote
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