Best / easiest way to restore kitaeji

Like a lot of you are saying Shigesufas are beautiful knives but on the performance side they need a bit of a help. I have one gyuto that is really nice but is significantly falls behind in cutting performance to my Watanabe and Kato.

It is finally time to thin in.

This is not an issue in itself but obviously after thinning it I will have to deal with restoring the kitaeji. Since I do not have all different fingerstones required for this I would like to take some alternative route.

I think I remember one post where somebody was explaining that the best/easiest way is to use sanding paper and after last progression use fingerstones that give pretty good result. But I am not quite sure if I remember this correctly.

Based on the fact that I have some Uchigomori fingestones I am hoping that this would work.

What do you say? Or perhaps you have some other suggestions?

Nobody able to help?

A bit unconventional, but get some silicone carbide powder in grits from 90 through to 600. Cut some balsa strip the size of the top two joints of your middle finger. Spritz the blade with a little water, sprinkle with silicone carbide and work in one direction with one balsa pad per grit. That'll do the heavy lifting with a much shallower scarce pattern than sandpaper and it's so much easier to control the motion with a grippable piece of balsa than a piece of sandpaper. Then when it's all smoothed out go over it with fingerstones. I'm experimenting but I found soft Aiiwatani followed by uchi works nicely.

That said.. scrubbies and sandpaper would also work. Here is a Red Orca that had the **** thinned out of it restored with scrubbies and SP

I second what Badger said.
I really suck at using fingerstones - for some reason - but I know the MO works [emoji106]
- Kim

Ferric Chloride is not as scary as it sounds. With a little hand sanding, a FC bath then a buff it will look as good as new. Where do you live?

Thanks for the tips. I will just try the sanding paper method and see. If all other things fail I will try etching, but I do not think I will need to.

When I was etching my Miyabi I was using sulfuric acid instead of Ferric Chloride as I do not know where to source Ferric Chloride in Belgium. Sulphuric acid also worked but I next time I will try FC just to see the difference. If I can get it of course...
Any tips where to get this in EU?

BTW Badger: this is very nice result on your knife :thumbsup:

Do they have amazon there?

Would hydrochloric acid work?

Any acid will work... you are just etching the materials. Which react differently... the only question is the strength and speed with which they etc.

Ive used a progression of grits from 1000, 3000, 5000 naniwa pros, 8000 snow white, then hit it with fingerstones. I dont think kitaeji is etched.

You'll probably want to finish the sand paper profession with fingerstones, I don't think SP alone would give the contrast between layers. I've used dust from uchigumori with a bit of water and a cloth since I didn't want to waste it, but have also heard that kitaeji doesn't look good when etched, although that may be a matter of personal preference.

A cabinet if you can find one

cheflivengood said:

Do they have amazon there?

Click to expand...

Not directly but in Germany or France. But when searching they do not deliver it to Belgium. In any case I will not etch my Shig but will try polishing.


I was reading a lot of old posts and I think I will just try the sandpaper route and then finish it with Uchigomori fingestones. If results are not OK I will try to use some dust that I have from some other stones.

You could try first: sand paper 220 grit at 45° to the axis of the length of the blade and then alway more parallel to the axis of the length of the blade until 1000-1200 and then parrallel all the way long until 3000.
Then Steel wool 000 and 0000 with car polish until mirror and then fingerstones. Try first with a classical Hazuya fingerstone, I think a not too hard one should work if you have many.
When you are happy with the result you can polish a bit with cotton for a kind of porcelain surface.
It is a very personal taste but I find that etching is a bit of a cheat (easy way) and doesn't look very natural, like too much make up or silicon boobs.

I've used worn-out sand paper and synthetic stone mud with success.

I will try something similar to Badgertooth's method the next time. Maybe I can find some balsa or basswood in my man cave... :running:

Quick and dirty on a kasumi

https://youtu.be/i0DBsbN8AHI

Looking up kitaeji I stumbled upon Hide's export Kitaeji Maintenance 1. It shows different polishes with pics.

Badgertooth said:

Quick and dirty on a kasumi

https://youtu.be/i0DBsbN8AHI

Click to expand...

Hi Badgertooth, is the white/yellowish block you used on the non-bevel part balsa strip you were talking about in your previous post? What grid of the powder did you use for that polish? Thanks. :doublethumbsup:

Yes, that is the balsa strip. And you might be able to catch a quick glimpse of the "400" I wrote on it which helps me keep track of grits without contamination. So that was 400 grit silicone carbide