Many of the Japanese antique swords have kept their pristine quality through the hundreds of years if they received proper care. The traditional techniques of polishing and care are really the best way to go. Usage of the wrong chemical abrasives and unskilled technique will shorten the lifespan of your swords and cause damage. Proper care and maintenance is necessary to keep the value and beauty of these swords alive.
Polishing of the sword must be done by an expert. These experts spend years in training to acquire their talents. Pick an expert that has confidence in his work. You must realize that you possess a part of Japanese history and culture that you must preserve.
The expert specialist in polishing Japanese swords (or some like to call them samurai swords) is called the togishi. It takes many years of study to accomplish the art of togi (polishing). The trained togishi will never try to vary from the intent of the original swordsmith. His intention is to keep the sword close to it's original form so that it is appreciated by future generations. An unskilled polisher can ruin the sword's blade and devalue it by thousands of dollars. A sword once valued at $20,000 was devalued to $2,000 because the owner wanted to save money by hiring someone who was unskilled. I wouldn't want to take the risk. If you have a newly forged sword you have more room for correcting errors in polishing because more metal is there. But as an antique sword collector the metal has been worn over the years and more care needs to be taken.
The togi starts by giving the sword a thorough diagnosis. He studies the sword and the blade to determine how to eliminate the flaws and rust while still preserving the blade's qualities and beauty. His job also requires him to have knowledge of the difference between the variety of swords and blades in the different time periods of Japanese culture. For instance, a sword forged in the Kamakura period would have differenct characteristics from the Muromachi perio
d. An experienced togishi would recognize this in his first analysis. If he did not I would not use this particular togishi.
The actual polishing is done with a variety of stones. The goal of the polisher is to restore the blade to it's highest standard taking into consideration how much rust is involved and what the general condition is. The togishi starts with an abrasive, coarse stone called the iyoto stone. The marks left by the iyoto stone are then removed by the nagurado stone. This process is done in about 7 or 8 stages with each stone being more refined and less abrasive. In the final stage of polishing, a whitish color is produces by methods of application to the edge.
At this point your antique swords will rust easily because the process has allowed water to penetrate. The sword should be oiled two to three times a week for the first 2 to 3 months
or until the oil has replaced all of the water. After that, under normal circumstances oil the blade only once or twice a year.
These swords are intimately tied into the Japanese history as well as it's culture. Being one of the finest types of swords ever made they deserve your utmost care and respect. If you want to learn more about the care and maintenance or where to purchase go to this website about antique swords.
