Hi David,
Re: drawing blood, you and I both! Sliced my thumb deep a couple days ago on a tanto I was remounting in koshirae after photographing it. I always look at such acts of carelessness as a sign that I am supposed to keep the blade that draws my blood... a blood sacrifice, if you will.
I've cut- tested several contemporary and vintage hunting knives I've sharpened - more as a test of the blade steel and my weak sharpening skills - but never an antique blade or a blade of considerable value. I
have however needlessly destroyed more than my share of 2-liter bottles with things that go 'bang.'
Anyway, regarding the sword... I am looking forward to seeing photos of the nakago. The patina seems to indicate some real age, as does the presence of three mekugi ana... a puzzle as of yet unsolved, IMO.
Have you reached out to Rich yet? He indicates on his website the late-war, a.k.a., "desparation" swords were invariably of poor quality. Scroll down to
"End-of-War" Hilts for his description of the type I believe your sword to be.
However, as has been said, the nakago seems to indicate otherwise.
I did photograph the shinogi on my koto waki, and found that the play of light can result in a photograph in which the shinogi looses a little of that "crispness" of definition so apparent with the naked eye. However, in most of the photos, it looked laser-straight. Here's two photos:
The first is of the shinogi on the aforementioned tanto that nearly took my thumb in tribute. The second is of my koto waki (ignore the idiot marks left by a previous owner's attempt to polish the sword). See how crisp the shinogi appears? Anyway, I look forward to seeing pics of the nakago.
BTW, Rick is right - you guys
do pay a metric f#@&-ton for Coca-Cola!
Please tell me at least that's a 3-liter bottle!