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ethompson said:
Also using finger-stones don’t make a polish any less good or worthy - they should be a tool in any polisher’s kit
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For me it's my most favourite part. I make myself a good pour over, I choose a new album to discover and I start rubbing. +1 if I do this in the morning without anyone while watching the sun rise.
 
The before
 

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Back at it again. Setting my sights a bit lower this time. It’s definitely more satisfying working on something better aligned with my skill level.

Here’s a Joel Black fresh off a nsk oburo 400. Not too happy about the shinogi line at the heel creeping up but it was already like that when I got it from JB. Objective here was to thin behind the edge, clean up the shinogi line, erase some lingering scratches.

View attachment IMG_0217.jpeg
 
Bico Doce said:
Back at it again. Setting my sights a bit lower this time. It’s definitely more satisfying working on something better aligned with my skill level.

Here’s a Joel Black fresh off a nsk oburo 400. Not too happy about the shinogi line at the heel creeping up but it was already like that when I got it from JB. Objective here was to thin behind the edge, clean up the shinogi line, erase some lingering scratches.

View attachment 313625
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Looking clean!
 
Rough polish by me
Belongs to @ethompson.

White steel Damascus double wrought iron gyuto

220mm edge
235mm machi to tip
172g
49mm tall
0.9mm 1cm from tip
4mm heel

Thinned then 320 cerax fingerstones then uchigumori fingerstones. Coarse fingerstone is good for geometry fine tuning, but easy to cut myself hah. Need to resharpen.

Double wrought iron -- low and medium carbon, the medium carbon cladding has figuring, coarser grain like banding, and oxide inclusions. Not sure if technically the medium carbon iron is wrought, but the figuring is a lot like wrought. It hazes up darker than the core steel, and abrades more easily, so I assume a lower carbon content. The soft iron is the softest I've ever sharpened -- softer than mosaku iron

Righty bias, great archetypical white steel, aggression and refinement, not too abradable, low grit marks still there. Handle glued on, I don't want to break it because it's a nice handle, so grind marks near neck still there. Needs more time with coarse fingerstones. There were low spots that were taking long to get out on a bench stone, so I used coarse fingerstones instead as a compromise. Swordsmith style kanji

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Joel Black apexultra/dammy clad. This is probably my best attempt yet. I spent a lot time on the 400 stone trying to dial in the geometry and even out the grind perpendicular/parallel to the edge while maintaining convexity. There were some massive overgrinds that were corrected still one left at the very tip on the right side.

Working with a lower bevel certainly is easier but I also found not having as much real estate for your finger placement a challenge at times - I rolled the shinogi a few times when my finger slipped.

I feel like I’m finally finding a stone lineup that is working well for me. Progression was nsk 200, nsk 400, chosera 800, nsk 1500, chosera 3k, narutaki iromono, soft uchi, shobu suita from @edthompson (don’t sleep on these when he has them in stock, super easy to use).

I may test the bevels against a nakayama kiita but I’m not sure if there is too much more to reveal in this dammy cladding.

 
Bico Doce said:
Joel Black apexultra/dammy clad. This is probably my best attempt yet. I spent a lot time on the 400 stone trying to dial in the geometry and even out the grind perpendicular/parallel to the edge while maintaining convexity. There were some massive overgrinds that were corrected still one left at the very tip on the right side.

Working with a lower bevel certainly is easier but I also found not having as much real estate for your finger placement a challenge at times - I rolled the shinogi a few times when my finger slipped.

I feel like I’m finally finding a stone lineup that is working well for me. Progression was nsk 200, nsk 400, chosera 800, nsk 1500, chosera 3k, narutaki iromono, soft uchi, shobu suita from @edthompson (don’t sleep on these when he has them in stock, super easy to use).

I may test the bevels against a nakayama kiita but I’m not sure if there is too much more to reveal in this dammy cladding.

View attachment 315623
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Shinogi is looking crispy - nice work
 
Last post on this JB. Messing around with a nakayama kiita tomae . I think I’m just going to leave it here. I hope the new owner enjoys it.



 
Mirror polish with 1500 grit sandpaper and really cheap 5 micron dianond paste. This is my first time polishing a honyaki like this, and the first knife I've made. As you can see, some more buffing needs to be done, but I'm not sure how to do so without going insane.

@KasumiJLA I am convinced you are made of magic.
 
Got this raquin recently with a belt finish and i wanted to turn it into kasumi.
Not perfect yet, but I’m happy. Nearly no belt or rough stone scratches left. Although the finish could be a little more uniform. Also i let to much mud aggregate on the soft suita which roughed up the shinogi kurochi line.
This is not fresh of the stones but after oil and some test cuts. So you guys oil up the blades after polishing? Feel it gives some contrast but removes details?

Raquin polish
 
For a first time you're on the right path @Veitchii ! For what I can see you'll have to be tighter on your coarse grit progression to avoid big scratches. Play with different light sources to chase them away and erase them before going up with finer grit. It's not magic, it's just about taking the time and reading the scratch pattern carefully 🙂

Also the jump from sandpaper to diamond paste is tedious and will require more time to have something homogeneous. But once you erase every lines from sandpaper, it's a walk in the park! Cheap diamond paste will require more work too since the diamond concentration is very low. My usual progression is this with a blade in good shape:

- sandpaper 400
- sandpaper 600
- sandpaper 1k
- diamond paste 1.5k
- diamond paste 2k
- diamond paste 3k
- diamond paste 4k
- diamond paste 14k



And it's ok to aim for perfection but polishing by hand will always leave little flaw's appearing, especially on mirror finish.
 
KasumiJLA said:
For a first time you're on the right path @Veitchii ! For what I can see you'll have to be tighter on your coarse grit progression to avoid big scratches. Play with different light sources to chase them away and erase them before going up with finer grit. It's not magic, it's just about taking the time and reading the scratch pattern carefully 🙂

Also the jump from sandpaper to diamond paste is tedious and will require more time to have something homogeneous. But once you erase every lines from sandpaper, it's a walk in the park! Cheap diamond paste will require more work too since the diamond concentration is very low. My usual progression is this with a blade in good shape:

- sandpaper 400
- sandpaper 600
- sandpaper 1k
- diamond paste 1.5k
- diamond paste 2k
- diamond paste 3k
- diamond paste 4k
- diamond paste 14k

View attachment 316569

And it's ok to aim for perfection but polishing by hand will always leave little flaw's appearing, especially on mirror finish.
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Thank you for sharing. That looks excellent! Something I have been trying to figure out lately: what is the best way to protect the other side of the knife when sanding or polishing? What is your set up?
 
More_Gyutos said:
Thank you for sharing. That looks excellent! Something I have been trying to figure out lately: what is the best way to protect the other side of the knife when sanding or polishing? What is your set up?
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If there is a scratch on the other side of the blade made by the same grain size it is not difficult to erase. But when I change particle sizes I make sure to always clean my work space to avoid cross-contamination. I also change cotton pad and wash my hand frequently.

I never use tape or something else when I'm polishing. When I'm at 4k diamond paste I start to be more vigilant because the surface is already very mirror-like.

When I stop working on my project I wrap the blade in a Scott towel and place it on a magnetic bar so as not to snag it.
 
Check it out! Really happy with this being the first knife I made. The scratches in the video above were 1500 grit and came out pretty easily with some more buffing. Vivid mirror!


Edit: Also wanted to mention that theres a hamon in there but I don't think I made it well enough for it to etch nicely, so I'll take this win as-is for now.
 
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refcast said:
Rough polish by me
Belongs to @ethompson.

White steel Damascus double wrought iron gyuto

220mm edge
235mm machi to tip
172g
49mm tall
0.9mm 1cm from tip
4mm heel

Thinned then 320 cerax fingerstones then uchigumori fingerstones. Coarse fingerstone is good for geometry fine tuning, but easy to cut myself hah. Need to resharpen.

Double wrought iron -- low and medium carbon, the medium carbon cladding has figuring, coarser grain like banding, and oxide inclusions. Not sure if technically the medium carbon iron is wrought, but the figuring is a lot like wrought. It hazes up darker than the core steel, and abrades more easily, so I assume a lower carbon content. The soft iron is the softest I've ever sharpened -- softer than mosaku iron

Righty bias, great archetypical white steel, aggression and refinement, not too abradable, low grit marks still there. Handle glued on, I don't want to break it because it's a nice handle, so grind marks near neck still there. Needs more time with coarse fingerstones. There were low spots that were taking long to get out on a bench stone, so I used coarse fingerstones instead as a compromise. Swordsmith style kanji

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Who is the smith on this?
 
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