Daso Posted June 9, 2016 Report Posted June 9, 2016 Hello All, So far I have bee the restrained buyer of pieces with good guidance from you all, but on a night time online auction house stupid move bought this likely Hunk of Junk for a few dollars and was curious if anyone could see from the pictures whether it's a poorly cast paperweight or at the very least try to recoup a few $$ on Ebay and it's just a real piece of rusty junk an if so, do I just say Tosho Tsuba? If it's cast junk, Ill just use it as a fishing weight for Fluke . I am prepared to be slightly ridiculed, but I took a chance for $50 (not on ebay). Didn't look nearly this rusty on website either. Pardon the waste of space on the website too. Quote
vajo Posted June 9, 2016 Report Posted June 9, 2016 Clean it with a weak tooth brush, soap and warm water. Dry it. And Oil it and it looks better 1 Quote
Daso Posted June 9, 2016 Author Report Posted June 9, 2016 Clean it with a weak tooth brush, soap and warm water. Dry it. And Oil it and it looks better Thanks, if i cant get them to take it back, I'll try that. What kind of oil? Quote
tokashikibob Posted June 10, 2016 Report Posted June 10, 2016 The guy who made it would think it's worth much more than a 50 1 Quote
Ford Hallam Posted June 10, 2016 Report Posted June 10, 2016 Modern amateur work, imo. Made from badly corroded mild steel sheet...done something like this myself many years ago. Kozuka hitsu is not a convincing shape and the other side is utterly inappropriate in terms of awareness that at some point a further piercing may be required. Genuine period pieces tend to exhibit an recognition of function that is lacking here. 1 Quote
Daso Posted June 10, 2016 Author Report Posted June 10, 2016 Modern amateur work, imo. Made from badly corroded mild steel sheet...done something like this myself many years ago.Kozuka hitsu is not a convincing shape and the other side is utterly inappropriate in terms of awareness that at some point a further piercing may be required. Genuine period pieces tend to exhibit an recognition of function that is lacking here. Ford, thanks. Last time I do something like that Thank god I listened to everyones advice on my bigger purchases. Small and low cost lapse of judgement. I'll use it as a counterweight for my Fluke fishing rig It took me a few minutes to understand what you meant by other piercings as well. I never thought about that and it makes complete sense. Was it common to make piercings after the fact? Quote
kissakai Posted June 10, 2016 Report Posted June 10, 2016 Assuming you can't return the 'tsuba' and as it has no merit you could get it ground down File out the kozuka hitsu to the correct shape File all other edges to sharpen then up Heat it up and drop it in oil to give a bluish colour You then have a modern but better made tsuba that may not hurt your eyes! About a month ago I bought a tachi three piece tsuba that looked OK in the images - a nice colour etc When it arrived it was crap but I kept it as in my opinion it was my fault After a couple of weeks I thought I'd ask the seller if I could return it as I believed the images were enhanced The seller agreed straight away to accept the return and also refund my shipping A lucky result Grev UK Quote
kissakai Posted June 10, 2016 Report Posted June 10, 2016 I just came across this vid about bluing I is also about hardening and tempering so 'bluing' starts after 7 mins This is a professional but ideas can be copied Grev UK Quote
ROKUJURO Posted June 10, 2016 Report Posted June 10, 2016 Grev,heating up a piece of iron and cooling/quenching it in oil will end up with a black TSUBA. Grinding/polishing it to a metallically clean surface and heating it up to ca. 280°C will result in a dark blue blue. I would not want neither of it for one of my TSUBA..The item in question may not be great, but if the (not so proud) owner is patient enough, he may just brush the active rust away and let time and frequent handling do the rest for something like a patina. This process can be enhanced by exposing the TSUBA to the climate (but not to rain) and wiping it regularly with a dry cotton textile. At least this is my experience. Quote
Daso Posted June 10, 2016 Author Report Posted June 10, 2016 Thank you all, Auction credited me 50% of purchase back so I will hang it on my terrace as a windchime (without the chiming part) or find some odd thing to do with it. Grev, I like your idea, but it might be a dangerous endeavor in a Manhattan apartment with a 6 year old wondering what I'm doing and wanting to get in on the hot oil and metal experiment . Ilearned my mni lesson and got a bit back, so I'm ok. No more unknown online auction house Tsuba for me (for a bit at least) 1 Quote
Stephen Posted June 10, 2016 Report Posted June 10, 2016 one idea for them if you buy the F/Cards ill slip in a blank coster 1 Quote
Daso Posted June 10, 2016 Author Report Posted June 10, 2016 one idea for them tsubacoster.jpg if you buy the F/Cards ill slip in a blank coster I never thought of drink coaster. ???? Quote
Daso Posted June 14, 2016 Author Report Posted June 14, 2016 one idea for them tsubacoster.jpg if you buy the F/Cards ill slip in a blank coster Thanks to Stephen, my junk Tsuba now has a useful purpose Quote
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