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Originally Posted by trenchwarfare
Don't do anything to the nakago. That rust, is considered patina on Japanese blades. It tells you the true age of the sword. Yours has some deep pitting. The nakago should be black, not gray. It has been cleaned. The only thing that is sometimes done, is to burnish the tang, with a piece of bone. This will only remove surface rust scale, so as to be able to read the signature.
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Red rust would be undesirable, the nakago should have an age related patina which is a form of oxidation that will not harm the underlying metal, red rust on the other hand is considered to be live and will continue to eat away at the metal underneath until it is stopped.