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Post by stevengraham on Jan 24, 2024 23:48:41 GMT
I discovered something I am restoring Rusty the Katana's Tanto. The saya was destroyed so I am not to concerned about historical issues on the rebuild. Also the actual tanto blade was bent all to hell and back so not to concerned about historical issues there either. However, I was looking at the Koiguchi and (I dont know the name for it) the part that fits inside when that blade is in the saya. I notice to very intricate drawings or art work on the side of them. The question is do I clean them to see the art work better or leave them alone. The art work depicts a butterfly and a chrysanthemum. It is really cool. See attached photos.app.goo.gl/hrAUTu7WceCzhDMt7
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Post by larason2 on Jan 30, 2024 3:09:00 GMT
Yes, it is a sort of koiguchi (Jussi probably knows the name of the other half!)
They can be restored but it's not easy. What I would do is gently remove the existing patina with magnolia charcoal, then repolish with fine grit stones. Then, I would repatinate using rokusho/niage. It took me a long time to learn these techniques though, and the polishing in particular is very time consuming and tricky to learn. If you don't polish correctly, the patina will not come off properly, so as you're learning, you have to repolish and repatinate over and over until you get it right. Also, getting the rokusho solution right is not easy. It's tricky and expensive to get all the right ingredients and the right container to boil them in (must be copper or glass), and the right basket to hold them (usually copper or plastic). Then, oil, acid, or iron/tin of any kind will ruin the solution. So the piece must be scrupulously clean and immaculately polished, then you need some grated daikon radish to use as a holding solution before you put it in. So in view of all this, probably better to leave them as is.
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