cluckdaddy76 Posted March 28 Report Share Posted March 28 This is part of the collection I am trying to save; I doubt any of them have had any care for over twenty plus years now. I have a written notebook from the original collector. He would be well over one hundred years if he was still with us. The next couple caretakers were not so good and now I am here. This is what he has listed as the "newer" blade supposedly made around 1950 give or take a decade. The bad news is that this blade was used and played with for some years and not kept up. The middle pic is where I am trying to show the issue, there are some rust spots and some scratching in areas. There is also some light staining in a couple spots. As I am a novice, I do not even know if this is a traditionally forged Japanese sword and just want to make sure. If this is legit, how or what should I do to at least preserve it from getting worse? I have wiped down and have choji oil but have not read that I should really do much else. The shirasaya has been destroyed and all my other blades have that, so I guess I would want to get one made. Any thoughts and help greatly appreciated. I did not bother with signature (this piece is signed) as my focus right now is on saving what I think are some decent pieces in this collection. This blade is probably in the poorest condition of the eight with the exception of one wakizashi, but the person's notes stated that wakizashi was a "project blade" for various practice including sharpening and that one was not hard to pick out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Singer Posted March 28 Report Share Posted March 28 To be honest from the three photos I'm not seeing a sword that is in need of saving. The condition seems to be fairly good overall, and at minimum if the blade is oiled and maintained from this point forward and it should not degrade too much further. I would not typically think of doing a fresh polish based on these cosmetic issues, but you have not shown us the nakago so it isn't clear what we are seeing (and the photos are not in very good focus). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John C Posted March 28 Report Share Posted March 28 What Ray said...ditto. John C. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted March 28 Report Share Posted March 28 Hi as Ray said, we need some better pictures, show the whole of the nakago ( the tang) both sides..and a full length shot of the blade. from the very limited pictures this is a traditionally forged sword, as for is the blade recoverable…that’s nothing significant damage wise at all just oil and keep the blade..it does not look like it needs a polish and is fine…yes it’s irritating to have some scratches and a bit of light rust…but that slight irritation is not worth spending a ton of money on… finally don’t do any work yourself other than, clean the blade with 95% isopropyl then oil the blade…keep a cycle of oil, clean off, re oil until the rust has settled to black stable rust.. other than that keep the sword in its Shirasaya…in a nice controlled environment ( humidity around 50-60%) no dramatic changes in temp ( basically the sort of environment you would want to be in). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cluckdaddy76 Posted March 28 Author Report Share Posted March 28 Thanks for these quick responses. I am still playing around with the photography and will be posting much better pics soon. I did not mean a new polish; I just want to not let it get any worse than what I now have. I will update with new photos possibly after this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivkin Posted March 29 Report Share Posted March 29 It seems to be in ok polish and the spots can be addressed by a polisher individually. Jigane is nice and looks like shinshinto work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cluckdaddy76 Posted April 1 Author Report Share Posted April 1 I realize my title should have been, "How to Preserve and Prevent Further Damage". I will be posting more pics eventually. Thanks for the help so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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