My other blades.

[Nazar]

I decided to create this topic to share with you some of my other Japanese blades. Like Type 19 kyu-gunto, dirks and, maybe, Arisaka bayonets. I believe it wouldn't do any good to create separate topics for each of them or topics divided by types. The first thought was to name this topic "My lesser blades", yet that didn't sound right: even though these blades are of less monetary value than shin-gunto or kai-gunto, they are a significant part of Japanese military blades history and mean a lot to me. 

 

So I'll start with my latest acquisition,  the Type 19 dress kyu-gunto which became the second of this type in my collection. I was lucky enough to buy it locally for a reasonable price. I only received it yesterday, so here it is:

 

 

 

 

 

[Nazar]

This sword is quite different from my first Type 19 sword and curious (at least for me) for three things:

 

First, it may belong to the type addressed as "beefy sword" in Hamish @lonely panet topic here: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/13294-type-19-kyu-gunto-dress-swords-i-love-them/#findComment-140257

 

Yet to check if this is so, I have to compare it with my another one Type 19 sword. Alas, these days I spend away from my collection.

 

Also, to me its blade looks to be stuck in between the Japanese and Western styles. The blade with its 3/4 shallow and wide fuller strongly reminds those of  Western 19th century cavalry swords while kissaki seems to be close to those of Japanese swords. 

 

 

 

Second thing, there are two seppa between fuchi and guard. Having seppa is not unknown for Type 19 gunto, but it's quite rare. Two of them make it even rarer. 

 

Edited August 21 by Nazar

[Nazar]

And third thing. It's my first sword with a Mon. In this case it's Maru ni Mitsu Kashiwa Mon (three oak leaves in a circle) which according to the Internet is very common. During a lazy half hour search I was able to find like five cases of using this kamon on gunto with three of them present on this very board.  It's also known as  Maru ni Makino Kashiwa, however I am not sure if this sword has anything to do with the Makino clan. If one takes a closer look at this particular Kamon, one may notice that the midrib (the central vein of the lead) is depicted not by one, but by two lines. Yet such depiction is not unknown. 

 

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

This is an unusual blade for a dress sword.  I've only had 4 in-hand over the years (kept one) and was surprised at the variations, in size and in the finer details.  Apparently, there were lots of shops making these and consequently lots of variation.

[Conway]

@Nazar How thick is the mune? I have one with a similar style blade and also with an added seppa, but the blade is so thin almost to the point of being flimsy. 

[Nazar]

1 hour ago, Bruce Pennington said:

This is an unusual blade for a dress sword.  I've only had 4 in-hand over the years (kept one) and was surprised at the variations, in size and in the finer details.  Apparently, there were lots of shops making these and consequently lots of variation.

 

Indeed, there is a great variety of them. I was prepared for this fact as I have seen a few of them side by side some time ago. Luckily for me, that time price was so unreasonable that I walked away and was happy I didn't buy any.

 

 

53 minutes ago, Conway said:

@Nazar How thick is the mune? I have one with a similar style blade and also with an added seppa, but the blade is so thin almost to the point of being flimsy. 

 

Alas, my caliper is not with me at the moment. I have only an ordinary ruler to measure the mune. It seems that the mune is  around 4mm thick near the guard and around 3.5mm thick along the length of the fuller. Closer to the end of the fuller the mune gradually narrows and becomes 1mm thick along the unfullered part of the blade. I believe it in some measure copies design of service blades of Western style of that time.

 

 

[Nazar]

I returned to my collection for a few days. Checked the mune with a caliper. 4mm and 3.5mm are correct measurements. The zone of the mune from the end of the fuller end to kissaki varies from 1.5mm to 1.2mm 

 

And sure, I compared this Type 19 with my first one. The difference in dimensions may not be stunning, but it's quite significant. Here are some photos:

 

 

 

 

[Nazar]

Forgot to add a picture of handles in comparison. 

 

 

When it comes to the sword condition, I enjoy it immensely. The sword is far from being mint and pristine, yet there is no extensive damage for the chrome plating of the blade. The patina on brass parts  is priceless. And there are things that I could address, which is superb. 

 

I didn't know how many time I could spend on the sword, so I started with simpler things. I lightly cleaned the dirt from the brass parts using toothbrushes slightly wet with soapy water. In some places I used brushes wet with isopropyl. It was only light touches  with the goal to not to disturb the patina and remove only main depositions of dirt. Turned out, those dirty spots were hiding remnants of "gilding". Then I sorted the wire on the grip. It took longer as the wire got tangled and I had to figure out which coil was first, second and so on and so forth.  I worked using tools from my extended weapon cleaning kit. They look like the tools for dental work and have hooks of different configurations. I also made an improvised wooden micro spatula to straighten wire by chasing it along the grip. 

 

And talking about grip. It turned out that it has no leather wrapping. There is only wood, very nicely finished and lacquered.  I checked my other Type 19 and its grip is also just a laquered wood. It's quite a discovery for me. 

 

Here are some photos "Before and after":

 

 

 

 

 

[Nazar]

Few more photos...

 

 

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

Excellent result.  I always clean mine to remove dirt and grime.

[Conway]

8 hours ago, Nazar said:

Then I sorted the wire on the grip. It took longer as the wire got tangled and I had to figure out which coil was first, second and so on and so forth.  I worked using tools from my extended weapon cleaning kit. They look like the tools for dental work and have hooks of different configurations. I also made an improvised wooden micro spatula to straighten wire by chasing it along the grip. 

 

Did you re-align the wires without loosening the backstrap? The end result looks great!!

[Nazar]

13 hours ago, Bruce Pennington said:

Excellent result.  I always clean mine to remove dirt and grime.

 

Thank you, Bruce! I try to be gentle even with grim because in some cases it provides an additional visual effect to the piece, making its features more prominent. It's similar to oil washing and weathering that people do to make scale models more realistic, only in our case the artist is a time itself. 

 

5 hours ago, Conway said:

 

Did you re-align the wires without loosening the backstrap? The end result looks great!!

 

Thank you, Conway! Yes, I realigned it without taking off the backstrap. I believe the possible reason for it becoming loose is the shrinking of the wood. Once it got out of the groove it coiled and tangled. Luckily,  the wire wasn't broken and there were no overbents and suchlike things. The end of the wire seemed to be still securely fixed into the wooden grip too. So I put the wire back in the groove, straightened bent sections and slightly tightened it. In result there was only a small loose section at the rear. I S-shaped this section to provide tension and tucked under the backstrap.