Favorite Finds – My Old Sword

by Grady Smith

Around 2002, I noticed an old sword on display at a local flea market in Granbury, Texas. The owner said her husband picked it up somewhere, and she just used it to hang on the wall to generate interest in some militaria she had for sale. She wasn’t sure she actually wanted to sell it.

The old sword had seen a lot of use. The blade was brown from rust and was slightly bent in the middle.

After voicing my interest in buying the sword, she finally said she would let me have it for $50 on the condition if I sold it for a lot of money, she didn’t want to know about it!

I bought it and took it home. I cleaned the sword, removing any rust that was on it. I also carefully wrapped the blade in a towel and straightened it in a vice.

I discovered that it was a Japanese NCO saber. Since mine looked like it went through a war, I figured some GI brought it back from WWII as a souvenir.