|
18th March 2005, 11:37 AM
|
#12 |
|
Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: comfortably at home, USA
Posts: 432
|
"In regards to using corrosion to date a blade, it might be worth mentioning,
that it is the accepted method of dating Japanese blades through the examination of the corrosion on the tang. I think a lot of study as been put into this over the years and one can start seeing trends in the depth of corrosion, color of corrosion, etc. and match this to dated tangs to get an "eye" for dating an unsigned blade. Barring new technology that can somehow date the metal of the blade, studying a blades tang seems to be an accepted method of dating. Thoughts?" ---------- The type of rust, extent of rust and color of rust is used as an aid in dating Japanese swords. However, everyone realizes that it can be "faked". In Nihonto circles it is bad to ever clean the tang of a sword since it is used in dating. The basic guidelines (just that - guidelines) are in order of recent to oldest: red rust, brown rust, rough black rust, smooth black rust. Again though I must mention, as has been said, it is just one aspect of dating the sword and is not considered absolute by any means. Other things considered are shape, prominence of hada (grain in the folding process), style of hamon (temperline), among others. None of these are absolute and any or all can be replicated by modern smiths. That why we have shinsa (judging) by a group of Japanese experts and even then errors are sometimes made. Interesting thread. I wish there was a simple, fool proof method of dating blades of any culture. It would sure simplify things. How about all the "bronze age" fakes on the market? Rich S ------------------------------------------------------------ Richard Stein, PhD alchemyst@yahoo.com The Japanese Sword Index http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/nihonto.htm ------------------------------------------------------------ |
|
|
| Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
| Display Modes | |
|
|
Threaded Mode