Newbie Samurai Sword Questions

[Klesk]

I am not a newbie to knives or to BF in general, but this is my first post in this part of the forums.

I always wanted a sword to display, but I didn't want a cheap POS, nor could I afford a real vintage sword. I ended up with a Paul Chen/Hanwei Shinto Wakizashi, which is everything that I wanted. I particularly like the fittings, and the overal heft and balance of the sword.

I have seen the procedure for taking care of the blade, wiping it down with a soft cloth or rice paper, tapping the powder ball on the blade, polishing the blade and then putting on a light coat of oil. Since this sword will never be used, is all this necessary? Can I just wipe the blade down with a Tuf-Cloth and forget it? Or is there some benefit to polishing the blade regularly, like the finish improving over time?

If you feel that I should stick with the traditional methods of blade care, is there a good online source for the supplies? Thanks.

 

[ddean]

Renaissance Wax is often used by museums
to protect items in storage or display.

It's a microcrystaline wax in a hydrocarbon 'carrier'
which evaporates after application,
leaving only the wax coating.

Some people use more common hard waxes
( car / furniture / carnuba ).

Wax is better than oil for long-term storage / display.

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[Triton]

The traditional kit is just that, traditional. It isn't really necessary to simply maintain the sword in my opinion. There is more to it then that. The Chen products are distributed with rather low quality supplies as I understand it ant the uchiko (powder) may actually do more harm then good.