It was a good idea to look down the saya with a flashlight, but I couldn't see anything except the ho wood. And when I tapped the saya onto some paper, nothing at all came out except some cat hair (not tremendously unusual as my wife has eight very hairy Maine Coon cats). Hmm...would you call it a dust bunny or dust kitty...
? And as my koiguchi is wood, I can't see how that would dent the metal mune, especially on one side.
Tim, I'm really trying to find any sign that the chrome is bubbling or something similar, but I'm just not seeing that. No sign of chrome plating at all, really. I'd love to find out exactly how they manufacture zinc-beryllium blades, BTW. From a metallurgy standpoint, it's not a very hard alloy - which is why they can't be sharpened - but I haven't been able to find any info on how shiny it is without plating.
Oh, & I did ask Maeda-Sensei about my iaito, who had no ideas at all.
Okay, since I have a 13-foot tsunami bearing down on me out here in Hawaii, I think I'll focus my energies on how to re-anchor my boat 
!
Ken Goldstein
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Judo Kodansha/MJER Iaido Kodansha/Jodo Oku-iri
Fencing Master/NRA Instructor
"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it'll annoy enough people to be worth the effort."