Polishing Japanese swords

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roninrlm

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I have noticed so many questions about Japanese Swords. So I thought I would offer some tips from time to time.

About having a Blade polished. The two main questions are--

1. Do you have 6 months to a year to wait.
2. Do you have $3,000 to $6,000 to spend

Almost all swords need to be sent to Japan to be repolished. There are only a few people in the USA who can correctly polish a blade---NO Americans that I know of except Bob Benson. So if someone tells you he can repolish it for you----HE IS CRAZY. You can easily turn a $5,000 sword into a $500 sword that you can't give away.

The first step would be to have someone QUALIFIED to look at your blade and determine if it is even worth polishing. Next would be to submit it to a Shinsa to determine the quality and if it is signed---is the signature correct. I would say that 90% of all famous signatures are FAKE.

Also just because a sword is UNSIGNED does not mean it is not of value. There are no FAKE unsigned swords.

So just remember to add the cost of a polish to any sword you are thinking about buying that needs a polish. Most often you can buy a nice polished blade for half the price.

Ronin
 
Keith Larman and Ted Tenold are both Americans who can do a good job polishing, but you're absolutely right about the price and the waiting period.
 
The statement "Can do a good job" says it all. Who wants a "Good job" done on a $20,000 sword.

Of the two sword polishers you mentioned neither trained in Japan. Not saying that they "might" not be qualfied to repolish new blades. But a old and valuable Koto or Shinto blade I doubt they would polish it.

A japanese polisher will not change the shape,point,style of the blade. If you change any of these points the blade will NOT pass a Shinsa. Submit the blade to a Shinsa and go from there first.

The main point is that when buying a sword and thinking "I can just have it repolished" or the excuse to get you to buy it "You can have it repolished" is CRAZY. Most of the time you will have more money in the repolish than the sword is worth.

Also there are NO touch-up polishings.

Ronin
 
Sounds like a big hassle. I guess I'll just buy swords from some other country.
 
Yes, outrageous! Master polishers should be able to compete with bulk manufacturers when it comes to price. Who cares how many work hours it takes, or how much practice is necessary to master the art. Who cares about tradition, heritage, history and all that boring museum stuff? I mean why should anyone bother with the "hassle" when you can get robot/slave made rubbish really really cheap?

Now that I have seen the light maybe I should drop my prices to the level of....IKEA.
 
Glad i dont have the money to buy one or have one polished. sounds like a big headache for a wall hanger/safe queen.
 
Most of the time you will have more money in the repolish than the sword is worth.
Click to expand...

Yep

Having a proper polish done that doesn't alter the blade on an historic piece is a time consuming, painstaking process. It is therefore expensive.

On western pieces you don't dare to do this. On Japanese pieces the tradition of the blade is kept alive in a very few people.
 
I'll stick with a cheap but great Paul Chen Katana and not have to worry about it getting polished. I'd love to have a real Japanese made Katana someday, and a real one, not a war sword.
 
We're getting closer to art than weapons, in this discussion, I think. To each their own. Personally, a good polish is less important than a sharp edge and a strong grain in the steel.
 
An ancient sword is one that is a real weapon, but has become art and requires the care described.
 
I saw a documentary on sword making in Japan. The sword maker didn't polish or sharpen it, he sent it to an expert for that. The guy used all kinds of materials, including a piece of leather and finally his fingers with this face powder-like abrasive. Takes weeks or months to sharpen a new sword, not sure how long to redo it. I have a lot of respect for those guys, that was some tedious work! Way more involved than one would think, way more involved.

The sharpener was considered, the way I recall, to be on par with the sword maker, since a sword maker could make a great sword but still only be a "one body" sword due to a poor sharpener, when a good sword sharpened by a good sharpener could be a three body blade.

If you find an American sharpener, let me know. I've seen the kind of patience and perserverance they have and it doesn't look like something your typical American can do. It appears to be a martial art of its very own, seriously.

If I had a real sword or one worth money or whatever, I wouldn't dream of sending it to anyone but one of those guys.
 
Another indicator of the importance of sword polishing is seen in the fact that the apprenticeship is ten years. The apprenticeship for a sword smith is only five years.
 
interesting to see how things were done back then. But how much sharper will the blade be than with modern faster techniques? I respect the art, I just would imagine our new techniques which are probably based on the old ways maybe just as good if not better.
 
Well, yeah. If all you want to do is go out and sabre some peasants, the cutting record is held by a new made alloy steel blade.
But it has no style.
 
There are a very few makers here in the U.S. that the Japanese makers admire.
I own a sword made by one of them.
 
You might think, but it is related to the skill of the maker being good enough that regardless of the nationality/ethnicity of the maker that the Japanese swordsmith and appraisers cannot tell that it wasn't made by a maker in Japan. There are a few people here who are devoted enough that they studied in Japan under master swordsmiths there and who are equal in skill and who make swords that are indistinguishable from their Japanese counterparts. These are the folks that are respected and that respect is that they make pieces that are the same as the ones produced there in the same way they are produced there.
 
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