mystery chisel with decorative forge line

djwong
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mystery chisel with decorative forge line

Wed Apr 27, 2016 5:58 pm

I picked up a chisel at auction that is quite interesting. Here are some photos...

Image Image
Image Image

The makers mark looks to be 鉄之助, which is "Tetsunosuke". This is confusing, as that name is famous as a saw maker Tetsunosuke Miyano. The higane is shaped somewhat like rip teeth on a saw. Could this chisel be some sort of commemorative item?

David
dmccurtis
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Re: mystery chisel with decorative forge line

Wed Apr 27, 2016 6:40 pm

Was that from Junji Sugita? He's had a few like that recently, described as 'midare-ba.' I can't speak to anything other than that, but I've seen enough of them now, from various makers, that I don't think it to necessarily be commemorative, just decorative. That's merely speculation, though.
djwong
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Re: mystery chisel with decorative forge line

Wed Apr 27, 2016 9:01 pm

Thanks for the clue! "Midare-ba" I think transcribes to 乱れ刃, which means a "not calm or turbulent blade". A quick Google search turned up a couple of other examples. Something for me to look into.

I don't know Junji Sugita, but if his collection is online, I would love to see his examples.
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Chris Hall
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Re: mystery chisel with decorative forge line

Wed Apr 27, 2016 9:34 pm

I've seen tools from Tasai with a corrugated forge weld line- their 'On' plane blade for example:
onkannna2.jpg
onkannna2.jpg (14.23 KiB) Viewed 5874 times
Sub-blade too:
onkannna3.jpg
onkannna3.jpg (16.96 KiB) Viewed 5874 times
I presume they grind the hagane to shape and then forge the jigane down onto it until it conforms. Looks neat, but really it's a decorative treatment and not much else.
dmccurtis
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Re: mystery chisel with decorative forge line

Thu Apr 28, 2016 12:51 am

Sugita-san runs an eBay store selling used Japanese tools. Here's an example of one such chisel he sold recently: 15mm midare-ba tataki nomi.
djwong
Deshi
Location: Cupertino, CA
Posts: 134
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2012 12:52 pm

Re: mystery chisel with decorative forge line

Thu Apr 28, 2016 1:08 am

Guess I was wrong in my speculation about my chisel. Leaves me wondering about the maker. Thanks for all the info.

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