Hi, new member with some questions

[Nihonto Chicken]

It is said that the first thousand dollars you spend on Nihonto is best paid for books. Perhaps an overstatement in amount, but a few hundred dollars is reasonable and appropriate.

 

As far as the blade in the photos, it has not been simply "overpolished", it has been SANDED! Sandpaper and similar Western style grits are very hard and sharp, and as they cut the metal, they also burnish it, resulting in a mirror-like surface that obscures the activity, such as the hamon. This blade needs to be treated to a lot of uchiko, which may reveal some of whatever activity might exist (won't eliminate the scratches, but may still "lift the mirror veil" from the hataraki). Worse than obscuring the activity, the doofus who sanded this sword ROUNDED THE SHINOGI (the ridgelines on the sides of the blade)!!! This is about the worst thing that one can easily do with sandpaper. In order to bring the shinogi back to a sharp ridge, an incredible amount of metal needs to be removed from both faces, many times the amount of metal that was removed in rounding the shinogi in the first place. Run away from this blade.

 

Buy, read and assimilate books, and go to some shows before dropping any large green on Nihonto. JMHO.

[doug e lewis]

i also am a newbie, though i have been studying nihonto for many years, buying books, going to a sayashi friends house when he has a good sword for me to learn from (picking his brain when he is in the mood to share), and other than a katana i rescued, and which my sayashi friend thinks may be a tired bundle sword from ca. 1560 of the Uda school, it will not take another polish.

i have not tried to purchase a sword. YET! i am following advise and saving to get something of good quality that i really like. this Token Kai in San Francisco will be my 1st show!

 

IMHO start with Dr. Stein's web site -- read it all twice -- then get the books recommended starting with Connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords. in it will be samples of mei by many smiths. it may show the difference in the mei on your sword and the real smith's mei. but as the vets on this site will tell you, the only way to learn is to hold one, then another, then another, in your hand. there are several sword clubs in Germany, i think

 

good luck in your new hobby -- it is lots of fun, and work, but mostly fun

doug e