Mystery spots

[Goldy]

G'day all,

 

I have a few pics of some mystery spots on a recently NTHK pinked Hizen blade. These 'spots' occur on one side only in the monouchi area. Now to me they seem too light for sumigane and most references I've read show a dark patch of irregular shape with a lightish boundary, not the other way around as in these.

 

I was starting to think of air bubbles during the yakire or as one expert mentioned maybe some spittle rust spots polished out. I'd appreciate some educated opinions please.

 

Thanks,

 

 

 

 

[Henry Wilson]

Could it be old beaded oil stains?

[Mark]

i agree with Henry that it is not something "in" the steel but is something "on" the steel (meaning something has happened to the surface). It may be old oil but i think it could be old stains, maybe they are "spi spots" that someone cleaned and removed any active rust but left the stains, or maybe moisture condensed on the steel and was later cleaned. You should have a good polisher look at it and advise you.

[pcfarrar]

Presumably you have tried using uchiko to remove them?

 

Out of interest why was it pinked?

[Ted Tenold]

Their equal appearance and character in both the yakiba and the ji suggests some form of lightly etched pattern on the surface and not metallurgical activity.

[Goldy]

G'day Guys,

 

Yeah, I've tried uchiko with no result. Ted, in a strange sort of way it is a little heartening to hear you say that. Hopefully they are not some sort of 'ware' and might disappear with a light polish by a qualified togishi. I've been considering sending it to Japan for a polish. The blade is still in very good condition with no shintetsu showing through but with Hizen blades this is obviously a risk.

 

It was pinked by the NTHK as gimei but also attributed as a later Hizen smith and worth preserving. They also said that it lacked in the hataraki area, the jigane seemed weak and the hamon was a little too narrow. I'm not sure what it was about the mei that they didn't like. Who am I to argue with the Imperial household togishi?

 

Anyway, it's a beautiful Hizen-to and was described by one western Hizen expert as absolutely fantastic.

 

If anyone comes up with anymore please let me know, feel free to pass this post around to your learned friends as I'd really like to know if anyone has seen anything like it before and how it occurs.

 

Thanks again,

[Mark Green]

I'm with the other guys, I feel these will polish out with a new polish.

Always best to see what the polisher says. But,

I'll bet that all go away.

Mark

[Ted Tenold]

These look like water spots. Water can cause etching rather quickly depending on the concentration of disolved solids it contains. Municipal water supply can have a rather large concentration of calcium salts which can cause this light etching that looks very similar to the spittle marks you mentioned. Once the surface is etched, there's little chance that uchiko will remove them. It's just not abrasive enough.

 

I think it's safe to say these aren't metallurgical issues. They do remind me of a Showato I saw a long time ago with a rather peculiar yakiba. There were numerous round spots inside the yakiba. There was no doubt they were a product of the heat treating because they were nioi with brightness just less than that of the habuchi. They looked like perfectly round yo. Very strange. The only conclusion I could come to was that bubbles formed on the surface during the quench each one forming a small semi-insulator that affected martinsitic formations. They were different looking than your pictures show though and they were only in the yakiba so I don't think this is the same thing.