Four questions about a tanto blade

[sc72]

 I have 4 questions about a tanto blade that I have coming up.

-Is it a metal defect on the hada these areas or "island" areas?

-Is it different from kizu strictly speaking?

-What kind of hada is it? Maybe itame hada?
-near the mekugi-ana hole (on the nagako) there is a repair can you tell me something about it? Is it old, modern, considered a serious defect? 

https://tinypic.host/image/IMG-7708.3EIJp2

 

https://tinypic.host/image/IMG-7707.3EIrwx

 

Thanks

[Alex A]

Be good to see the hamachi,.

[Robert S]

The area near the mekugi-ana is hard to see at this resolution - you'd probably need to provide some higher resolution photos.

[sc72]

I'll have to wait when the blade comes to me

[sc72]

it could be Chikei or Jifu ...spotted steel in jihada?

[sc72]

When the tanto arrives I will provide better photos and of the point under habachi,

but for now looking at the books I think it could be SHINTETSU or Shingane. What leaves me perplexed is that even if the blade had too many polishes the tanto (unlike the longer blades) it seems to me that they did not have different metals inside but were all made of the same metal ... in that case it would be more difficult to discover a different metal inside, but I can't find any other explanation

[Lewis B]

Doesn't look like Shintetsu to me. That said some smiths did use higher quality, folded and forged steel for the shingane, and this may be what you're seeing.

[sc72]

thanks for the reply but so you think it's not a defect of the blade? also I bought it for edo but I have the doubt that it's koto

[Jacques]

O itame fairly hadatachi 

[sc72]

could be it koto?

[Jacques]

Maybe or not..

[sc72]

thank you for your time

[Lewis B]

43 minutes ago, sc72 said:

could be it koto?

Need to see more of the blade. Sugata and nakago shape might provide an answer.

[sc72]

When it arrives I will post photos, it should arrive within 10 days

[sc72]

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-First of all the habachi is so tight on the blade that it was impossible to remove it or simply move it on the nagako, I partly widened it without ruining the blade but it does not slide (only one cm) because if you see the part towards the nagako it is too tight ... I do not think it hides frauds, but you can see the two "steps" (Mune-machi ha-machi) between nagako and blade. -the blade has a "cutting edge line" that is difficult to guess but in some photos you can see a little. It must be a very polished blade.

-The saya (wood) has a final metal part that I do not know if it is recent or antique.

- you can see the mekugi-ana restored, I don't know if recently or in the past

Let me know your opinion about possible age (edo or koto?) and the activities on the island-shaped metal (both sides of the blade)

 

[sc72]

[sc72]

...those that are white threads on the blade are all hairs and not kizu

[lonely panet]

Im gonna say its core steel. On a  mass sue mino seki tanto 

[sc72]

thanks for your opinion

[2devnul]

10 hours ago, lonely panet said:

Im gonna say its core steel. On a  mass sue mino seki tanto 

 

I agree, looks like blade was polished to the 'ground'/core. 

 

As for the age still not sure. We are missing good Sugata (overall blade shape, with Nakago, best without Habaki) pictures. 

[sabiji]

A complete photo of the entire blade and nagako would be essential to evaluate the sugata.

It is difficult to draw conclusions from photos of small sections alone.

It could be a sue-koto blade. Finding tanto in a reasonably healthy condition is not so easy. If the nakago is ubu, but the blade seems to have lost some material through polishing, there may be difficulties with the habaki and the material thickness of the nakago.

For me, the “hada anomalies” are possibly due to unclean or too cold welds, and thus simply rough weld seams. Within the “weld seam islands” there are no structural changes or color differences caused by material with different carbon content, i.e. Shingane. That's why it doesn't look like tsukare to me.

The little bit of Nioiguchi that I can recognize looks very Shimari and looks like very compressed Nioi. The hada also looks quite dense. That's not really typical of sue mino, even though it can be common: Kanabo, Sue Mihara, Bungo...you'd have to see more for that.

The repair of the nakago ana is not unusual. This is often done with copper or sometimes with iron. It's hard to tell from the photos what kind of material it is. It looks a bit like lead.