Why You Must Never Clean The Tang Of Your Samurai Sword
If you ever come into possession of an old samurai sword, even one which appears to have been lovingly looked after, you may well be mortified upon seeing the condition of the tang… most often the tang will be extremely rusty.
But, do not ever clean it!
I’m not telling you this out of some strange samurai superstition, but, out of an important fact: cleaning the tang will destroy the value of the sword.
You see, over many years, even though the blade itself may well be looked after, the tang should always be allowed to rust. On an extremely old sword, the color and age of the rust on the tang, along with any inscriptions are often the ultimate proof of the age and origin of the sword.
In fact, it is highly advised that you never attempt to polish up any part of a sword yourself, but take it to a highly reputable and respected sword specialist and have them do it for you. Absolutely never, ever take a sword to someone who doesn’t know exactly what they are doing – they may well ruin the sword by cleaning the blade improperly, and also cleaning the rust from the tang.