Type 95 Brass-colored Tsuka - A Discovery!

[Bruce Pennington]

We have all seen numerous Type 95s with brass-colored tsukas. Most are fakes and have many other signs proving them to be so. But I have a Nagoya side-latch that I KNOW is legit, yet the tsuka has that yellowish, brassish tint to it.

Well, I was examining another guy's 95 on the facebook page that has this tint too, but everything else looks pretty good. In the discussion I was asked for some pics of my Nagoya. WELL ... after taking some pics and seeing some close-ups, I realized that where the surfaces get rubbed or contacted a lot, the yellowish coloring is rubbed off and it is clear the handle is real aluminum!

So, something along the way has caused the surface to yellow - possibly a chemical reation to the original paint-job? possible oxidation for an aluminum type that yellows this way?

It has made me more cautious, now, to jump to conclusions about other 95s just because of the brassish color to a tsuka. There must be other indications about fakery before I'll label somebody's 95 as a fake.

[Nick Komiya]

What you discovered is simply the brown/gold surface layer of Almite. Since 1923, the Japanese had been using Almite instead of aluminum, as aluminum corroded too quickly. It was all explained here in post 17 nearly 3 years ago.

The cooking pot below shows the typical Almite color. Unless aluminum was in this color, it was not accepted as decent quality in the 1930s.

[Bruce Pennington]

Nick - thanks for the link! I tend to only read posts about swords, so your discussion about the canteen wasn't on my radar, but clearly had vital info that I needed.

So, Steve (Shamsy) pointed out that he's only seen this coloration on early 95s. This seems to fit your discussion about the army oposing the renewal of the patent in 1939. Is it your opinion that the army dropped using the Almiite to speed up production, due to the gunto shortage? It would explain the fact that later gunto don't seem to have the anodized color.

[Nick Komiya]

You should read more widely to know the industrial culture you are dealing with. Ever since the discussions on the Type 3 sword, I have noticed that the sword collector community in particular, seem consistently to miss the forest of history for a particular tree. Your tree is only a branch in the forest of the industrial landscape of those times. Thus by not reading about coins or about commemorative medals , for instance, you blindsight yourself to critical background also to sword collectors.

We all know they did not use Almite by 1944, as the supply channel was lost, but beyond that, nothing much can come from vagueness such as "early 95s".

[DaveR]

The problem with Shin-Gunto is that us collectors come from two different directions, via Nihonto and via WW2 militaria collecting. Research is hampered by original documentation being in a language that Gunto collectors for the most part cannot read, and those who can read it are for the most part banned from owning them. Don't get me started on about the Nihonto purists, who regard non traditional blades (Showato) as an abomination. This is of course why I follow the posts here with enthusiasm, being damn near the only place that brings the two strands together. Many thanks to Mr Komiya for his research, and his generosity in sharing it.

[Nick Komiya]

Even if you read Japanese, the problem is that you will not be able to read about Almite or about reduction engraving machines in a sword book, as even in Japan, sword collectors tend to have funnel vision, in the same way Ohmura-san demonstrated his total ignorance of army protocols for weapons launches in the type 3 myth. In contrast, general militaria collectors maintain a broader interface with the war economy and technological development.

As evident in the navy gunto story, even the fathers of the traditionally made WW2 gunto, regarded their product with much skepticism and doubt as to whether the modern smiths were really up to the task of reviving a quickly fading art. So from that viewpoint, it is quite understandable that many can only see things like the Type 95 as just a long bayonet or abomination of a sword.

But why get upset over it, as hobbies are about finding different values in things that other people regard as junk or even filth as in the case of anything with a swastika on it. Like the postman, they just need to keep a distance comfortable to us and we won't need to bite and all will be OK.