Photos of THE FEATHER FACTORY AND EQUIPMENT

I am sorry for the lack of elegance in posting these photos, pretty raw material. But the museum is really top notch, it is free to visit and the is even a salon you can use if you like to shave yourself in a barber shop setting. Visiting the museum you see that the Feather Co. also made surgical instruments, science tools of all sorts and I would imagine held many many patents. The orange chairs and desk were in a room with photos of the visit of the emperor which was undoubtly an important day for the owners and workers. The science is definately inhouse, these people know what they are doing. That round Zeiss microscope is about 3feet tall on its own and must weigh at least 800 pounds. I got-ta have one of those. And my photo trough the microscope eyepiece with the green illuminated scratch pattern, can anyone tell me more about the light source, or is it a filter? There are other photos of the museum on the Hones and the Razor forums. Anyone what to take a tour next year?

http://thejapanblade.com/images/featherscience.jpg

Here are more photos of the dinky little train station that is a special stop for the Feather Museum and the Homono (Blade) Makers Union Hall of Seki that is right across the street. The Museum is really spectacular the way it is set up and I could easily spend 3-4 hours there, and maybe more if I got the VIP treatment including going to the back rooms and handling stored and overstocked material. Also the staff is very courteous but I am also thinking that there is a staff/curator member who knows A LOT. Alx

http://thejapanblade.com/images/featherfactory.jpg

those are awesome, thanx!

Thanks for sharing the trip Alex!

Great pictures, great museum. Thank you for posting all these!

Very interesting, thank you.

Thanks for sharing.

These are superb pictures and quite descriptive. What especially stands out is how clean and spotless everything appears to be. Thank you for sharing them. Impressive, indeed.

Jeeze, I'm so jealous of that trip! Looks like you had a great experience. :-)

This sort of thread is always invaluable. Great photos and I love your enthusiasm!

Who knew? Thanks for such an interesting and well-documented post.

I wish I could say I spent more time at the Museum because there were some interactive displays to use and the science gallery I did not find until the last 10 minutes. But in all honesty what I would really like to do is go back there and get into their back room where they store the stones not being displayed and to maybe try out a few if possible. If someone was to organize a group tour there is a chance that with some advance notice the museum would provide some additional options to the main display rooms. The staff on hand was very gracious and Obie, yes the whole facility including the parking lot as you an see is as clean as a whistle. Right across the street there is the Homono or Blade Makers Union Hall and they also have displays and a shop with blades for sale but I suspect that most of what is for sale are knives. regards, Alx