I have been removing patina from Nakagawa x Myojin Sujihiki blue #1 damascus sakimaru sujihiki 390 mm. At first the kasumi (sand blasted?) and damascus polished off as I tried high grit sand paper (1000-3000 grit). Then I tried uchigumori powder and finger stones. That returned nice contrast within the damascus cladding and between cladding and hagane. Then I tried to polish hagane to mirror with Shapton glass #6000 soft stone and result was excellent. I know I don't ever get perfect with mirror polish, but I want to go beyond that Shapton #6000. What would you recommend, if I would not want to go yet to natural stones? I have considered three options, Shapton Glass #10 000 hard or soft or Shapton Kuromaku #12 000. What would you recommend? Any other recommendations, options or advices?
Mirror polishing suggestions
- Thread starter ile74
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I really like the SS (super stone) series from Naniwa especially for this application. I got them all from 3k to 12k. You can even skip the 8k and go from 6k to 12k without problems.
That being said, these stones are really soft and personally I hate sharpening knives with them. But to make steel shiny, I love it! These stones will glaze in record time and that's what I like. If you use water continuously during your polishing to remove the slurry you will have a magnificent result.
At 12k you'll have something really nice and crisp but nothing compared to diamond paste tho. Small tiny scratches will be perceptible to the eye. But hey, perfection with mirror finish is somehow almost impossible
That being said, these stones are really soft and personally I hate sharpening knives with them. But to make steel shiny, I love it! These stones will glaze in record time and that's what I like. If you use water continuously during your polishing to remove the slurry you will have a magnificent result.
At 12k you'll have something really nice and crisp but nothing compared to diamond paste tho. Small tiny scratches will be perceptible to the eye. But hey, perfection with mirror finish is somehow almost impossible
Ignorant question here: When is glazing an advantage?
Do you soak the Naniwa SS stones, or do you use them splash-and-go?
There's no ignorant questions man! When the stone glaze it cut less, polish more. Same when using a natural stone. You can bring a mid grit natsuya to reveal more details with glazing for example. That's why slurry, water, pressure, glazing management is an important thing with polishing.
When I'm polishing a wide bevel I always use a stream of continuous water on the surface to avoid slurry and I'm using more pressure, especially on the hagane. This way I'm sure I won't make a "kasumi" by letting that slurry working on the jigane and creating a misty finish.
I don't know if my SS's are "different", but they actually bend when they get wet. Mine need 5-10 min soak to they stop changing shape. I flatten while wet, but it turns concave/convex as it dries. Your results may vary.
Thanks for great answers and thanks for @Qapla' activating this thread.
I'm beginner in polishing, tried with uchigumori powder and got nice results at bringing contrast to damascus pattern. I tried jito fingerstones after uchigumori powder and that brought even more contrast. I think it is jito, yellow, fine and hard stone. I didn't use lot of water so it burnished but also brought black fine swarf and deepened dark colour in damascus. To me it's even better than new. Is that correct use of jito for damascus? I have also hato fingerstones, grey, softer and release much more easily material. Is it worth using hato?
Current condition of the knife. It was without any contrast in damascus as I cleaned it with #1500-3000 sandpaper and hagane was "kasumi" without any mirroring. Now I have #6000 mirror and some scratches left (original and made by me), but they can be removed with #6000 stone, just take some more time and focused work. I am quite happy with damascus contrast now.
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Do you mean 5000 to 12k? A 6000 is not in the catalog I have.
Indeed, my bad! I have the 3k, 5k, 8k, 12k. But you can combine different stone.
I think he meant OP going from his current Shapton Glass 6k directly to a Naniwa SS 12k.
I just got my best mirror fish using a 10K stone from my 1"x2" Tear Drop Slip Stone Set - Naniwa Chosera.
I got all 8 small stones from 400 - 10K. What I learned is flat stone, light pressure and lots of swarf removal
really helps. Now, I just have to duplicate the results using my JNats.
This is what I used.
https://jendeindustries.com/1x2-slip-stone-sets-naniwa-chosera.html
I got all 8 small stones from 400 - 10K. What I learned is flat stone, light pressure and lots of swarf removal
really helps. Now, I just have to duplicate the results using my JNats.
This is what I used.
https://jendeindustries.com/1x2-slip-stone-sets-naniwa-chosera.html
Thank you. I was wondering if I could make fingerstones from SG6000 and this is answer.
