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Recent Damage to Blade :( - To Polish or Not to Polish


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Hi all, I am new here and wanted to get your input on a recent unfortunate event to my blade. I have what I think is a Bizen Koto Suriage Muromachi Period Katana that was recently subject to some unfortunate damage at the hands of someone who was making me a shirasaya :(. Long story short it got two chip/ dings in it on the Mune and Yakiba. I know that polishes can cost thousands of dollars but I truly love this blade and it means a lot to me. So I was hoping for your input on wether it is worth pursuing a polish or if you have any advice. Maybe also if you could give me some info on the blade that would help a ton! Thank you :) 

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Christian,

welcome to the NMB!

Normally, you would expect a SAYASHI to be very careful with blades! This is not so good, but he certainly is liable for the damage and has to pay for the costs of a repair. If he is a professional, he should have an insurance of some kind. 

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7 minutes ago, ROKUJURO said:

Christian,

welcome to the NMB!

Normally, you would expect a SAYASHI to be very careful with blades! This is not so good, but he certainly is liable for the damage and has to pay for the costs of a repair. If he is a professional, he should have an insurance of some kind. 

Rokujuro,

 

Thank you glad to have found this forum!

 

I assumed that he would be careful as well. I wish I posted here earlier but unfortunately I was struggling to even get my money back for the cost of the shirasaya so I am assuming he was not actually a professional.  I definitely messed up on that :/

 

 

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Id leave alone as well.  A togi can minimize the chip that would look like a small dip or wave. A full polish would remove too much steel.  The one on mune can be called a battle scar ;) it can be lived with.

 

Lovely blade btw.... accident do happen. Id have Woody look at it in hand as will have be done. 

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5 minutes ago, French nihonto said:

Welcome,
the person who did the shirasaya was "amateur", am I wrong?

Thank you!

 

He was suggested to me by a SoCal collector and he said that he had been doing them for many years. I also saw multiple recommendations on multiple forums. But I doubt he was an actual Sayashi, his prices are what I now understand as quite low so I believe that assumption is right. 

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4 minutes ago, French nihonto said:

The fact that it is damaged the blade shows a great level of amateurism, in addition to the damage on the blade the shirazaya can be bad, and could with the time damage the blade while using it.

 

I was wondering about this as well. I had this shirasaya made because the kosharae mountings and scabbard that I had are not in very good condition. I wanted to have the blade protected at least in the shirasaya. What are some ways or signs to tell if the shirasaya itself is of good enough quality? Thank you. 

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4 minutes ago, SAS said:

If the saya maker damaged the blade in the process of making the saya, it is unlikely that the saya is of good quality. I would not polish the blade at this point. Who are we discussing?

Thank you for the advice, that makes sense to me. I had it done by Mike Virgadamo. 

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If the blade was in a certain condition when it was given to a craftsman, it should be returned in the same condition, unless it was submitted for polish, in which case it should be in better condition afterwards. Personally, i would absorb the cost of repairs if this had happened in my shop; I would see it as the right thing to do.

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Back when i was having a lot of work done i used Mike 75% of the time.

Never a problem. You 100% sure it didnt get opened by carrier?

Practically same thing happened when i had high ins value.

If happen on Mike's watch i dont see him covering it up.

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1 hour ago, Christianc said:

 

Je m'interrogeais aussi à ce sujet. J'ai fait faire ce shirasaya parce que les montures et fourreau kosharae que j'avais ne sont pas en très bon état. Je voulais que la lame soit protégée au moins dans le shirasaya. Quels sont les moyens ou les signes de savoir si le shirasaya lui-même est de qualité suffisante ? Merci.

there is no real way to tell if it is good or not. Unless you really feel an unusual friction. 
but this craftsman has a good experience, which is a little reassuring

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2 hours ago, Stephen said:

Back when i was having a lot of work done i used Mike 75% of the time.

Never a problem. You 100% sure it didnt get opened by carrier?

Practically same thing happened when i had high ins value.

If happen on Mike's watch i dont see him covering it up.

Hi Stephen,

 

I also posted on another chain. I had heard good things as well. Unfortunately, this is my experience that was no so good. I also transported myself to and from in a heavily padded box. I do not think that he was trying to cover up I just think that he was being careless. 

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7 minutes ago, Stephen said:

Id still have Woody his take on repair if or what it would take. Cost wise Mike should step up.

 

Thank you for the advice I really appreciate it, I will reach out to Woody. Looking back I think that would be more fair, but we agreed to settle the matter with a refund so it wouldn't be fair on my part to change terms. You live and you learn I guess.

 

But from your experience his work is good to store my blade in? I just want to preserve the blade as well as I can going forward. 

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