Cloudy with a chance of soot!

[Spartancrest]

I just got this very cheap tanto guard - basically no one else wanted it. The condition as advertised was pretty bad but I do like a challenge. I can easily presume that anyone seeing the auction would think it was a cheap Chinese copy but in hand you can feel that it isn't. Somewhere in the past someone though it a good idea to blacken it with candle soot(?) or something else, perhaps making it look like iron. 

I have spent hours cleaning the soot off. Whatever it is, it has the consistency of tar in spots. I finally resorted to citric acid [from the pantry] this seems to have worked well. [Another method I found on-line was to use lemon and salt but I was out of lemons!] I fully expect the guard will darken up over time but won't attempt to 'hasten' it along. There is ishime over the entire surface, other than the seppa-dai and the cloud carvings extend over the mimi on both sides as well as top and bottom. When freshly cleaned it had a distinctly 'pink' tinge to the colour  but has within a few hours started to darken to an olive bronze. Anyone got an idea what the metal is Shibuichi, Suaka, Sentoku or Yamagane?

I now appreciate the difficulty some people have in getting clear images - mine are not too sharp.

 

[BjornLundin]

Looks, similar to the shibuishi that I have made (light pink). Do you see any "silver" traces in the metal?  You could try to stain it and compare the color or measure weight/volume ratio. From the color it looks be something like 70-80% Cu to some other metal.

 

My shibuishi, with 25% ish silver/ 75% Cu + a bit of gold and tin, hasnt really darken for months.

 

Shakudo, only tried small % of gold but the look is more or less similar to shibuishi (non-stained). Why is gold so expensive.

 

As always my limited knowledge and experience is to be taken in to account

 

 

Best B

[Spartancrest]

Thanks Bjorn, I suppose almost all alloys vary a little in colour. Whichever alloy it is, it has continued to darken slightly and only in a few hours 8 > 10 hrs.

I left it on a windowsill all day in the hot sun and that side is distinctly darker than the other, so there must be some chemical reaction to sunlight or U.V.

Does metal develop sunburn?  I do hope it doesn't get melanoma and go back to black again! [unless it turns out to be Shakudo]

[Infinite_Wisdumb]

the ana look weird on this to me @Spartancrest agree?

[Spartancrest]

Jesse, frankly hitsu-ana always seem weird on a tanto to me. You mean the different sizes?  From having it in hand I can see the cloud carving going slightly down into the hitsu and nothing but the ishime either side of them so I think they were done that way originally and not cut in later or enlarged. Why the two sizes - no idea. Maybe a way to tell which side to mount? I can't help noticing the tagane-ato one side neat and precise the other a bit more forceful deep and heavy. You don't usually see punch marks both sides but it does happen. I am not too concerned, it cost less than a Chinese fake and I am sure it isn't.

[Geraint]

Regarding the hitsu ana, tnto are quite often provided with a failry normal sized kozuka and then a diminutive kogai or umbari.  Perhaps thta's what 's going on here.

 

All the best.

[Spartancrest]

Thanks Geraint, you may have solved two questions for me. I bought a gama-hada kogai several years back and when it arrived I was surprised at how small it was - I assumed it was made for a boys koshirae, but it would fit a tanto very well.

[Infinite_Wisdumb]

4 hours ago, Spartancrest said:

Thanks Geraint, you may have solved two questions for me. I bought a gama-hada kogai several years back and when it arrived I was surprised at how small it was - I assumed it was made for a boys koshirae, but it would fit a tanto very well.

its a toothpick Dale, not a kogai

[Spartancrest]

Practical use for an antique - thanks Jesse!