lacquered and painted gunto scabbard

[Bruno]

Hi everyone!

 

I have made some researshes on gunto scabbards. As everybody know, some are painted and some are lacquered(urushi, ishime).

 

I found out that generaly, iron scabbard are painted and wooden scabbards are lacquered.

 

Is anyboby know if iron gunto scabbards were also, sometimes, lacquered (urushi, ishime, or standard lacquered)as wooden ones?

 

Do you have example(pics) of such lacquered iron gunto scabbards?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Bruno

[loiner1965]

http://www.h4.dion.ne.jp/~t-ohmura/gunto_002.htm

look on here mate as it will tell you everything you need to know about gunto

[Bruno]

Thanks Steve

 

http://www.h4.dion.ne.jp/

 

Yes I do know already this nice website. In fact it is the only source that say that iron scabards Type 3 Gunto have semi gloss uneven coating(ishime). Every sources I checked told the contrary: Type 3 iron scabbards are painted and Type 3 wooden scabbards are semi gloss uneven coating.

 

Furthermore and as my english is not perfect, about the Type 98 they seems to make a difference between semi/gloss coating and lacquer semi/gloss coating.

Is semi/gloss coating is like paint? is it lacquer?

 

Well, to say that I do not really know if every iron scabbards are painting or could have been lacquered also.

 

If a connoisseur could help me I will be gratefull.

 

Bruno

[george trotter]

Hi bruno,

I think you will find that in anything to do with Japanese swords and fittings, anything is possible. With gunto fittings there were so many shops supplying fittings, lacquer, special koi-guchi and ishi-dzuki that you will always find one set that is just "against the rules", simply because the officer was able to order what he wanted. As a general obsevation I have seen:

Type 98 with wood scabbard covered with urushi,

also covered with same (like navy),

also with thin, good quality green/brown lacquer (or was it paint)...metal ishidzuki was long patent number flange type (special order).

I have also seen unpainted wood with metal fittings...just a leather combat cover.

 

I don't remember having seen iron/aluminium type 98 with lacquer...(but there might be some).

The rough texture paint on iron scabbards is actually (in many cases) tiny drops of paint spattered over the top of a smooth base coat of paint...this gives a "rough" texture and a low "sheen"...it is not urushi. Some iron 98 types are very high sheen smooth paint (looks like lacquer), I'm guessing, but think these were HQ staff officers who never went in the field so had fancy fittings.

Regards,

George.

[Bruno]

Thank you George!

 

That is what I was thinking too!

 

In fact, iron scabbards were never lacquered even if in some cases it looks like they were. Maybe because iron/aluminium is not a good support for lacquer, and wood is better support?

 

I am asking that because I was thinking about restaurating an aluminium Gunto scabbard with a nice ishime or urushi lacquer instead of the damaged paint it has now. But I do not want to make something it has never been done before in Japanese shops supplying fittings during ww2.

 

I'll be happy to have your opinion on that George.

 

Best regards

 

Bruno

[Jacques]

Hi,

 

http://www.h4.dion.ne.jp/~t-ohmura/gunto_008.htm

[george trotter]

Bruno,

This site posted by Jacques is all the information you need on scabbards and colour/lacquer etc....very good information.

George.

[Bruno]

George

 

Yes this website is very interesting. But I do not really understand(lack of english skills) if the iron/aluminium scabbards of the Type 94 and 98 showed on this website, who look like glossy aspects or semi glossy aspects are lacquered or painted. I can not the difference.

 

Thanks

 

Bruno

[george trotter]

Hi Bruno,

I suppose again, there are always exceptions, but in my obsevations over many years I have not seen lacquer on iron/aluminium scabbards. The high sheen and low sheen covering has always been paint type.

George.