NOS Ishido Hideo Left-Handed Honyaki 330mm Yanagiba

[Chips]

with gratitude for a forum friend here, knowing that im a southpaw, tipped me off about a Yahoo.jp auction for a unique knife, I"m now the proud owner of this stunning, old (how old?) new old stock Ishido Hideo honyaki yanagiba . I had to wait patiently for about 7 weeks after winning the auction, my sister in law, living in Japan, did the bid by proxy for me and my wife brought it home after a visit with her sister.

I already own a Yoshikazu Ikeda 300mm honyaki yanagiba, that will now get used, and I'll likely keep this untouched. Im considering having the Ishido Hideo polished, but I don't want to detract from the value or if there's historical significance but id love to see if a hamon can be brought out of it.

 

[ethompson]

Can you see any hamon on the ura? How straight is the blade? Can I get a spine shot? Who you trying to get to polish it?

I remember this one, seriously cool blade

 

[refcast]

Looks like honbadzuke was already done too on the blade road, from the errant scratches and higher grit than the rotating stone finish. Looks like ishido engraved it too, that font I've seen on his kanna and personally on a santoku of his I owned.

 

[Chips]

Can you see any hamon on the ura? How straight is the blade? Can I get a spine shot? Who you trying to get to polish it?

I remember this one, seriously cool blade

despite my best efforts, this is the best shot I could get of the spine. I'd need to drag out a tripod and maybe studio lighting to get anything better. it's as straight as I can visibly tell.

the ura doesn't show any hamon that I can see but the grain pattern of the final grinding is pretty strong and I'm not sure if its obscuring it.

 

[Chips]

Looks like honbadzuke was already done too on the blade road, from the errant scratches and higher grit than the rotating stone finish. Looks like ishido engraved it too, that font I've seen on his kanna and personally on a santoku of his I owned.

it feels razor sharp and pops hairs.

 

[refcast]

Yeah that's about the straightest yanagiba spine I've seen.

 

[ethompson]

Well if you want the kireha polished shoot me a DM - it’s one way to find a hamon. This is the kinda knife that interests me - nothin I do ever costs nothin

 

[Chips]

Well if you want the kireha polished shoot me a DM - it’s one way to find a hamon. This is the kinda knife that interests me - nothin I do ever costs nothin

tempting! any input on if it affects the historical nature of the knife or value?

Id rather have the whole thing polished instead of just the kireha if I were going down that road.

 

[ethompson]

Done well neither the history of value of the knife should be negatively affected IMO. If you’re going to have someone tackle the hira too, recall that it’s necessarily involves altering the character and crispness of the kanji to some degree. That’s something in this instance that might be deemed less desirable. But again, if the polish is well done probably not a value detractor.

 

[Chips]

any guess approximately how old it may be?

 

[refcast]

All I can guess is the box style and Sakai wreath logo -- new knife boxes don't have that. So not in the 2000s. . . Probably something like+/- 1980s maybe

 

[Chips]

a choil shot from my cellphone on the day I got it.