Sword Forum Bugei

Was wondering, how would one person start with polishing and mounting a sword, aside from just ordering parts and seeing what one could do, or is that the only way?

B Shaw

Short answer, apprentice under a well-established togishi.

Long answer, find - and plead your case to - a well established togishi who has a lot of work and is in need of assistance. Don't expect to get paid much if anything, and expect long hours, a long apprenticeship and a lot of slow progress.

Teaching yourself is not going to work very well unless you already have a well established understanding of the steels involved and of the geometry of a wide variety of blade styles and time periods.

Frankly, these are still the short answers, but I'm tired. I'll try to give better advice in the next couple of days.

will take what I can get thanks lol

B Shaw

There are a couple of books on the subject, but learning from a book isn't the best way to go. Ultimately Dimytri is right, an apprenticeship with a qualified togishi is your best bet.

Here's an alternative that may interest you. A smith named Michael Bell runs a swordsmithing school out of his forge. If you are not familiar with Mr. Bell, he is one of the best smiths in the USA IMHO. Right up there with Howard Clark. He has courses that teach almost everything involved in the start to finish production of a Japanese Sword. If I was in your shoes, that's probably where I would start. After the class, I'd get myself a couple of cheap blades and practice, practice, practice.

Here's a link to his 2010 class schedule: http://www.tomboyama.com/2009/11/18/2010-swordsmithing-school-course-schedule/

Thanks David ... I was trying to remember who it was that did these classes and for the life of me, Michael's name would just not pop into my head.

Glad to help out. I really want to take his class one of these days. Maybe for vacation in a year or two... It would be great stuff to learn.