Honyaki polishing projects - A portfolio of my WIP

[KasumiJLA]

One of my favorite moments when polishing a honyaki blade is when the mirror is completed. It's so much effort and time that you have to enjoy the moment before etching! I'm now currently at 4k and the next step is FeCl3 bath.

When everything is finished this blade will be available on the BST as our third collaboration between me and @MSicardCutlery. Can't wait to show you the final results because that hamon shape is really awesome and it's gonna be a blast to play with the contrast and coloring of this steel.

 

[KasumiJLA]

Making the handle today for this lovely gyuto and I told myself that with the beautiful contrast I was going to have on the steel, I had to go dark, simple and elegant! So I choose ebony, African blackwood and starfruit burl for the ring.



Steel has a super interesting banding and obviously that's what I want to highlight with my polish. Here the video is with daylight. I still have to bring the mirror pearlite back up to 14k and then refine the martensite so that everything is uniform.

 

[KasumiJLA]

This project is a little different but I put it here because it still requires the same type of polishing as a honyaki blade. I have the chance to polish my first wootz blade, courtesy of @Tekkz ! Thanks again man for choosing me

I will do a classic progression up to the mirror effect to obtain a uniform surface in order to have a perfect canvas for etching. I'm becoming more and more of a fan of banding and I think I'm going to have fun with this one. I will first open the pores with an etch of FeCl3 and then it will be only with citric/ascorbic acid. From what I have experienced with other honyaki blades I will have to do at least 25 cycles and more to really highlight the detail in the steel. This is going to be the longest and most painful part

Below is an example of the same blade, but polished in a different way/technique. This knife is w2 steel and the amount of detail I was able to get is pretty intense. So I'm very curious to see what happens with this Sujihiki from Timo (Hardent Knives)

 

[Tekkz]

This project is a little different but I put it here because it still requires the same type of polishing as a honyaki blade. I have the chance to polish my first wootz blade, courtesy of @Tekkz ! Thanks again man for choosing me

I will do a classic progression up to the mirror effect to obtain a uniform surface in order to have a perfect canvas for etching. I'm becoming more and more of a fan of banding and I think I'm going to have fun with this one. I will first open the pores with an etch of FeCl3 and then it will be only with citric/ascorbic acid. From what I have experienced with other honyaki blades I will have to do at least 25 cycles and more to really highlight the detail in the steel. This is going to be the longest and most painful part

Below is an example of the same blade, but polished in a different way/technique. This knife is w2 steel and the amount of detail I was able to get is pretty intense. So I'm very curious to see what happens with this Sujihiki from Timo (Hardent Knives)

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Really excited to see what you can do with it. Have fun!!

 

[KasumiJLA]

I have never seen a patina as blue and uniform as this after an etch! It's really interesting and I'm learning lots of things. If I succeed in achieving what I have in mind, I think it will be magnificent!

 

[KasumiJLA]

Here's a little story and a summary of the last week.

I'm lucky to have a friend/collaborator who likes challenges and trying new things. @MSicardCutlery had the idea of wanting to manipulate the alloy banding in the steel in order to obtain something a little more organic with a pattern that is close to what we can see in wootz. I say close, because wootz is so magical and unique and can't be replicate. But you got the idea!

52100 steel is the one that could be ideal for this and that's exactly what Matt chose. Matt produced two 220mm x 54mm gyuto and then sent me the blades. I had already accentuated the banding in other knives before but it's a gap that I have in my polishing and I could finally have fun working on this aspect. But I didn't know I was going to have so much difficulty with this project...

To make a long story short, I spent more than 30 hours doing different tests to highlight the banding. Nothing worked the way I wanted it to and the more tests I did, the more painful it became. I did 12 resets, which involved going back to 1k sandpaper and redoing the mirror finish before continuing with my etch again. It was brutal!

Oxalic, FeCl3, citric, ascorbic, coffee etch. With a cotton pad, submerging the blade, heating the blade before etching or treat the blade in a water bath at 100°C to set the etch. I did everything possible and experiment a lot. And I failed a lot too. It's so painful to see that the project is going in the right direction and then suddenly I had to start over again.

BUT! I finally arrived at a result that I'm starting to like. The banding is uniform and distributed entirely over the entire blade. This was, among other things, one of the biggest challenges. The blade still retains a nice reflection and that is something I definitely wanted to keep. This project is not finished at all. In fact, I have to do one last reset before doing the final polishing again. But at least this time I know how to do it and I can finally stop the research and development

A huge thank you to everyone I bothered in a mad rush for advice. It feels good to feel supported by colleagues! Thanks to @Blank Blades., @brooksie967, @ethompson, @DanielC and Joel Black for your precious advice and moral support. Love you guys!

 

[NickMinton]

Here's a little story and a summary of the last week.

I'm lucky to have a friend/collaborator who likes challenges and trying new things. @MSicardCutlery had the idea of wanting to manipulate the alloy banding in the steel in order to obtain something a little more organic with a pattern that is close to what we can see in wootz. I say close, because wootz is so magical and unique and can't be replicate. But you got the idea!

52100 steel is the one that could be ideal for this and that's exactly what Matt chose. Matt produced two 220mm x 54mm gyuto and then sent me the blades. I had already accentuated the banding in other knives before but it's a gap that I have in my polishing and I could finally have fun working on this aspect. But I didn't know I was going to have so much difficulty with this project...

To make a long story short, I spent more than 30 hours doing different tests to highlight the banding. Nothing worked the way I wanted it to and the more tests I did, the more painful it became. I did 12 resets, which involved going back to 1k sandpaper and redoing the mirror finish before continuing with my etch again. It was brutal!

Oxalic, FeCl3, citric, ascorbic, coffee etch. With a cotton pad, submerging the blade, heating the blade before etching or treat the blade in a water bath at 100°C to set the etch. I did everything possible and experiment a lot. And I failed a lot too. It's so painful to see that the project is going in the right direction and then suddenly I had to start over again.

BUT! I finally arrived at a result that I'm starting to like. The banding is uniform and distributed entirely over the entire blade. This was, among other things, one of the biggest challenges. The blade still retains a nice reflection and that is something I definitely wanted to keep. This project is not finished at all. In fact, I have to do one last reset before doing the final polishing again. But at least this time I know how to do it and I can finally stop the research and development

A huge thank you to everyone I bothered in a mad rush for advice. It feels good to feel supported by colleagues! Thanks to @Blank Blades., @brooksie967, @ethompson, @DanielC and Joel Black for your precious advice and moral support. Love you guys!

View attachment 317233

So what was the final trick / solution to the problem??

 

[MSicardCutlery]

So what was the final trick / solution to the problem??

Julien tears....several gallons of Julien tears.

 

[NickMinton]

Julien tears....several gallons of Julien tears.

Urine is acidic…..it was urine wasn’t it???

 

[Tekkz]

Here's a little story and a summary of the last week.

I'm lucky to have a friend/collaborator who likes challenges and trying new things. @MSicardCutlery had the idea of wanting to manipulate the alloy banding in the steel in order to obtain something a little more organic with a pattern that is close to what we can see in wootz. I say close, because wootz is so magical and unique and can't be replicate. But you got the idea!

52100 steel is the one that could be ideal for this and that's exactly what Matt chose. Matt produced two 220mm x 54mm gyuto and then sent me the blades. I had already accentuated the banding in other knives before but it's a gap that I have in my polishing and I could finally have fun working on this aspect. But I didn't know I was going to have so much difficulty with this project...

To make a long story short, I spent more than 30 hours doing different tests to highlight the banding. Nothing worked the way I wanted it to and the more tests I did, the more painful it became. I did 12 resets, which involved going back to 1k sandpaper and redoing the mirror finish before continuing with my etch again. It was brutal!

Oxalic, FeCl3, citric, ascorbic, coffee etch. With a cotton pad, submerging the blade, heating the blade before etching or treat the blade in a water bath at 100°C to set the etch. I did everything possible and experiment a lot. And I failed a lot too. It's so painful to see that the project is going in the right direction and then suddenly I had to start over again.

BUT! I finally arrived at a result that I'm starting to like. The banding is uniform and distributed entirely over the entire blade. This was, among other things, one of the biggest challenges. The blade still retains a nice reflection and that is something I definitely wanted to keep. This project is not finished at all. In fact, I have to do one last reset before doing the final polishing again. But at least this time I know how to do it and I can finally stop the research and development

A huge thank you to everyone I bothered in a mad rush for advice. It feels good to feel supported by colleagues! Thanks to @Blank Blades., @brooksie967, @ethompson, @DanielC and Joel Black for your precious advice and moral support. Love you guys!

View attachment 317233

You are a madman. Looks amazing.

 

[MSicardCutlery]

Urine is acidic…..it was urine wasn’t it???

I will neither confirm nor deny, but 100%

 

[KasumiJLA]

So what was the final trick / solution to the problem??

It's more about the loose abrasive than the etch itself. I used cerium oxide and it helped a lot with the process. It's still a lot of work and making everything homogeneous is the real challenge tho.

Julien tears....several gallons of Julien tears.

I cried as much as you who received a form to make a san mai inox apex ultra cleaver with an S grind

 

[MSicardCutlery]

I cried as much as you who received a form to make a san mai inox apex ultra cleaver with an S grind

Oh the humanity!

 

[refcast]

Yeah loose abrasives show grain really well, whereas etching shows banding outline in general, smears extremely fine detail when I tried it

 

[KasumiJLA]

I forgot to put in my portfolio the last project that was sold in the BST. The original post is here.

This knife is a source of pride for me in several aspects. First of all, this is Matt's first mizu honyaki that I have been able to polish and I know that for him it was a lot of work, failure and frustration. Whether it's Matt or some other smith, it's crazy how much we have to make a ton of mistakes before we end up with a final product that we like. This is one of the aspects that I really like about working with him, we always share the progress of our respective projects on both good days and bad days. We remain human and we progress together and I find that super cool.

This is the eighth honyaki blade that I have polished and I must admit that this one is by far my favorite creation. Making an etch and bringing out the different elements of the blade is not super complicated. Making everything homogeneous and well defined is the big challenge. On this blade I am really proud of the proportion of the milky white of the martensite while maintaining a beautiful mirror reflection. I was also able to keep the details of the banding without emphasizing only this aspect.

For the handle, I think I couldn't have chosen a better combination. You know when everything is working and the eyes are scanning everywhere instead of just focusing on one point that stands out too much. Polishing a blade brings out the beauty of the steel, but you must not neglect the big picture and keep everything visually balanced.

So this is it! I am currently working on polishing another gyuto honyaki (which is already sold though) keeping this latest creation in mind. The client is already super excited about the handle I created for him and I can't wait to show you the final result in a few days!

 

[DoYoon Kim]

I am currently working on polishing another gyuto honyaki (which is already sold though)

Is there now a dibs system for Msicard Honyaki's???????

 

[MSicardCutlery]

Is there now a dibs system for Msicard Honyaki's???????

It's a custom. A KS style honyaki with a Julien polish and handle

 

[KasumiJLA]

Is there now a dibs system for Msicard Honyaki's???????

I currently have in hand one other honyaki gyuto blade from Matt that I will polish and gonna hit the BST in maybe a month or so...if it's not claimed before!

It's rare that I say this but Matt needs to reduce the pace because I'm having trouble keeping up

 

[MSicardCutlery]

It's rare that I say this but Matt needs to reduce the pace because I'm having trouble keeping up

So cancel your vacation