naginata blade please help

[Roland_M]

Originally Posted by weapons 27

I hope to save this blade by polishing it ???

My guess is Japanese Naginata and Koto-era, which means it was made before 1600.

One good alternative to a full polishing is a window. The prize for such a 1"-window in the surface is around 100$/€. I know a Togishi in Germany for that purpose.

I would say, this blade is worth a polishing, but I cannot see how deep the corrosion is. The problem is, that the outer layer of steel (Hada) is often only a few tenths of a Millimeter wide. If the outer layer is polished through, the inner core becomes visible and this core is often made of ugly low quality steel.

I can see, that someone grinded the Nakago (tang), that is absoltely forbidden and reduces the value of the blade significantly.


Roland

p.s. Ariel, yes collecting Nihonto is a great risk. Until now, I bought four blades. One is junk, the other three pieces are of great quality. Unless you are willing to pay 8.000-10.000$ or more for a blade, it is always a gamble . Me was lucky enough to win a Wakizashi from famous Tadayoshi 3d for a very reasonable prize. If you see such a blade, you become an addict! And I really like their signatures on blades: "Hizen Kuni Ju Mutsu No Kami Tadayoshi" that is a name! He was a living treasure already during his lifetime. And if you hold one of his blades, you know why!

[ariel]

Roland,
Not being even an amateur Nihonto collector I accept your dating this naginata to the Koto era.

Otherwise, we are in complete agreement.
See my post #9.

I think that with heavy rust and abundant deep pitting this blade has lost its
value for a serious collector. Full polishing, IMHO,will likely result in exactly what you are describing: complete or at the very least significant loss of Hada.

I appreciate and respect your collection interest in Nihonto and am happy that you were able to restore some valuable examples to perfection. I just think this is not the case with this blade.


My inclination would be to leave it alone. Oiling it to prevent further damage and respecting its age and hard life.

Long ago I bought a sword at a Gun and Knife Show for a maximum I could afford then :$25. It was in a fire and retempered, the blade lost a lot of its width and thickness from repeated sharpenings and polishing, the Yakiba was no more than 2-3 mm wide and soft steel was showing.
But it was signed, and several “serious” Nihonto buffs told me that the smith was Kanesada first generation, dating it to ~ 15-16 century ( if I remember correctly).

From the”serious collector” perch it was not worth even what I paid for it:-) And that was what I was told repeatedly : hopeless sword that was long dead.

But for me this sword was important: many generations of warriors knew something about this blade, brought it back to life many times over and kept it despite its obvious flaws. They just did not want to see it die. It had some special historical value. We cannot recall it, but generations of samurai did.

And that is why I keep it, despite not collecting Nihonto.

[mross]

I think "would not paper" is a better choice of words than "worthless". However I agree with Ariel, from a Nihonto standpoint they are pretty much the same.

[shayde78]

Originally Posted by ariel

But for me this sword was important: many generations of warriors knew something about this blade, brought it back to life many times over and kept it despite its obvious flaws. They just did not want to see it die. It had some special historical value. We cannot recall it, but generations of samurai did.

And that is why I keep it, despite not collecting Nihonto.

THIS echoes my own sentiments so well. Thank for articulating so perfectly, Ariel.