Polishing finish definitions+photo examples thread

[Badgertooth]

These are same progression except finishing on the aoto.

Stunning! Love a good aoto finish.

 

[TheLimpWhisk]

Anyone got examples of these kind of polishing finishes on none wide bevel knives, thats what i've never really wrapped my head around.

 

[Badgertooth]

Option one, do the whole blade face



Option 2

Ride up a little and see what the knifemaker has given you ito grind

 

[dwalker]

Here is my first attempt with questionable quality uchi fingerstones. I had two different pieces to chose from and tried each on opposite sides. I definately need more practice and perhaps better quality stones. Progression was a sandpaper polish up to 1500 and then the fingerstones.

 

[Badgertooth]

Loving the profile on that, is it from Tsubaya? Try the uchi mud on the finest micromesh pad. You'll lose some contrast but gain a bit of uniformity.

 

[dwalker]

Loving the profile on that, is it from Tsubaya? Try the uchi mud on the finest micromesh pad. You'll lose some contrast but gain a bit of uniformity.

It is a Takumi Ikeda. Very thin, KS profile. Thanks for the tip with the micromesh, I will give it a go. Where do you source your uchi fingerstones?

 

[Badgertooth]

I'm still chipping away at one little block gifted to me by Watanabe. I also made some from a stone that broke on me.. they do a job before I hit the uchi

 

[Choppin]

Option one, do the whole blade face



Option 2

Ride up a little and see what the knifemaker has given you ito grind

In Option 2, when sharpening a knife with convex grind - like I believe is the case with the Toyama - how exactly do you manage to polish the whole bevel on the stones? Do you start on a low-grit stone and try to completely flatten the bevel, or just lower the angle to ride it up a bit and see what happens? I imagine the later would result in low spots and an unevel polish... most of my knives are convex and I'm kinda lost here...

 

[geoff_nocon]

What i did with my kato in the last page i layed it flat on the stone on a 1k to remove flat spots and the vertical grind marks. The low spots took a bit of time but disnt want to go any lower with the grit so that i remove minimal metal as possible and that i maintain the geometry.

 

[TheLimpWhisk]

Option one, do the whole blade face



Option 2

Ride up a little and see what the knifemaker has given you ito grind

With option 1 are you doing the whole blade with stones? Also does this differ with knives that have a concave grind?

 

[Badgertooth]

With option 1 are you doing the whole blade with stones? Also does this differ with knives that have a concave grind?

No, I'm actually deeply impressed that Geoff has managed that with stones. I laid a Kato flat on the stones and it didn't end so well. I use sandpaper, and fingerstones. A fairly long, maddening process that will make you hate scratches. The Shigefusa has am S grind and you risk losing that if you lay it flat on a stone

or just lower the angle to ride it up a bit and see what happens? I imagine the later would result in low spots and an unevel polish... most of my knives are convex and I'm kinda lost here...

Exactly this. You can see the polish is a little bit all over the show on that Toyama,but there's a certain honest charm to it. I could spend the time and sand back to crisper delineation between the polished blade face and bevel and I could hit the lows with finger stones on the bevel.

 

[geoff_nocon]

BTW only removed low spots on the core steel. It is essential to get a completely flat bevel on the core steel area to get a mirror polish on the 8k. On the cladding i didnt want to to remove any unnecessary metal. I just i applied pressure on areas i wanted to hit and remove the vertical grindmarks which was surprisingly easy on a 1k compared to using sandpapper which i tried on the otherside and was getting no where on a 400 grit sandpaper.. It soesnt have to be completely uniform. Ill be using fingerstones anyway and that will even out the finish on the cladding

 

[Choppin]

Exactly this. You can see the polish is a little bit all over the show on that Toyama,but there's a certain honest charm to it. I could spend the time and sand back to crisper delineation between the polished blade face and bevel and I could hit the lows with finger stones on the bevel.

Thank's, I love the effect you got there. Do you remember what progression of stones you used?

Also, do you feel the geometry is altered in that process (i.e. you lose some of the convexity)? Or is the metal removed so little that it doesn't have that effect?

 

[Yoni Lang]

Thought I'd throw one on here :doublethumbsup:
Gesshin Hide Kensaki Yanagiba polished with a Naniwa Snow White 8k. I'm not too crazy with how it sharpens on this stone. Stone definitely cuts better and doesn't get "hung up" if I soak it but I'm not too fond of soaking higher grit stones as it definitely has led to some small hairline cracks. I also have gotten more even of a finish with lower grit stones. That being said, the stone definitely does it's job as far as polishing away any previous stones scratches and works wonders if I'm putting a koba on a knife.

Here's a Masamoto KS Gyuto reference for a knife with no set bevel/shinogi

 

[Doug8066]

Finish with a Naniwa 10,000 superstone (the soft green one).
This gives an amazing shiny metallic polish.