Advice sought on rehabbing damascus

[stringer]

This is my wife's 180 mm Gyuto. She bought it on a whim from Japanese Knife Company about 7 or 8 years ago. It's Damascus stainless clad vg10. It gets used every day for home cooking. It has been sharpened regularly and thinned a little every sharpening session. The Damascus pattern is faded and uneven due to thinning. I would like to make it pop again. I understand the first step will be sanding through a progression to even it out. And then some kind of etching process. What works best for stainless Damascus pattern weld cladding? What can I do safely in my apartment?
Here's some pics of what we're dealing with. Thanks in advance for any tips or pointers.

 

[vicv]

As you said I would use sandpaper to get an even finish. Ferric chloride is what to use to etch it. It's water soluble and safe. Rince with Windex (contains ammonia which is an alkaline and neutralizes the acid). Try 30 seconds first and see how it looks. Then go progressively longer until you reach your desired finish

 

[stringer]

Thanks. I'll give it a shot when I get a chance.

 

[vicv]

No problem. It can be worrisome to use the acid wondering if you'll ruin the finish. The such isn't very deep and is easily sanded out of you don't like the results

 

[galvaude]

On the sandpaper part, use a tight progression and soft backing.

 

[vicv]

Also don't be afraid to drop to a lower grit if it's taking too long at the start. Alternate direction when changing grits. Eg. 240 grit go spine to edge. When going to 320 grit go heel to tip. Back and forth. I find it helps to use wet and dry and use it wet. By the time you get to 800 you'll have a very nice finish

 

[stringer]

I just wanted to update this thread. I finally got around to doing this project. Special thanks to everyone who offered assistance and especially to @Dave Martell . I found an old thread of his describing how to do this process in detail. Here's the finished results.








It's not super distinctive, but it is stainless clad stainless. It's much better anyways. My wife will like it.

 

[ian]

Did you do what was indicated above? Sandpaper and then ferric chloride?

I remember trying to rehab a shun before selling it a couple years ago, with limited success, but I never had anything more acidic than lemon juice to work with.

In other news, I just advertised free sharpening on my local (Jamaica Plain, MA) "everything free" Facebook group, and got 50 responses in 10 hrs, including from some people with Shuns. Maybe some of them will want a refinish. Think it'll take about 5 years to get through everyone, though, what with my day job and all.

 

[stringer]

I did 400-600-1500 grit sandpaper.
I washed it with soap and water. And then I washed it with acetone. I poured a little bit of vinegar into a glass mixing bowl. Added an equal amount of ferric chloride. And then, using nitrile gloves, a mask, and eye protection, I brushed the mixture onto the blade with a paper towel. Put a thin film, let it sit, apply some more. I did that about every 30 seconds for ten minutes or so. Then I rinsed it off with water thoroughly. Then I went back to the 1500 sandpaper because the finish after the acid is very grabby. Then I put a new edge bevel on it and oiled it with mineral oil. Here's Dave's thread.

https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/threads/damascus-knives-re-etchng.6474/#post-108100

Let me know if you need help sharpening. We could have a play date.

 

[ian]

Cool. Just ordered some ferric chloride in case the situation arises. Any excuse to buy inexpensive knife-related stuff is a good excuse.

Sounds fun! It'd certainly be cool to get together at some point. As is, the sharpening will be in the little bits of time I have in between taking care of my kid, but I'll hit you up when my schedule opens up a bit.

 

[RDalman]

Ime, ferric doesn't do much on stainless. Here's damasteels rec on etching. Hot phosphorous acid, nasty stuff but gets it done.

 

[stringer]

Ime, ferric doesn't do much on stainless. Here's damasteels rec on etching. Hot phosphorous acid, nasty stuff but gets it done.

Looks like fun. My landlord probably wouldn't approve. I'm happy with the results I got. It looks much better than before. The stainless cladding isn't very reactive. And even more annoying, the VG10 is awesomely reactive and then you have to get rid of most it because the etchant ruins the edge but then sharpening polishes out the etch. Life is complicated.

 

[RDalman]

Looks like fun. My landlord probably wouldn't approve. I'm happy with the results I got. It looks much better than before. The stainless cladding isn't very reactive. And even more annoying, the VG10 is awesomely reactive and then you have to get rid of most it because the etchant ruins the edge but then sharpening ruins polishes out the etch. Life is complicated.

Yea I agree really you got out a pretty good look. It is a bit of a hassle with the muriatic. I make a big waterbath outdoors and heat with a electric grill lighter, acid in a spaghetti container that takes up to like a 280 edged kitchen knife. Masking the edge off is necessary too imo with the kitchen knives, and it can be quite the hassle in itself.

 

[ian]

Edit: post deleted due to stupidity.

The moral is that I also found VG-10 to be super reactive with an etching job I did on a shun. In the future, I will take greater care with the taping off the core, and will make sure none of etch gets near the core at all. As is, there’s a fair bit of core darkness near the lamination line that is hard enough to remove that I’m worrying about destroying the look on the cladding.

@stringer, did you have similar problems?

 

[Donald Roe]

This is my wife's 180 mm Gyuto. She bought it on a whim from Japanese Knife Company about 7 or 8 years ago. It's Damascus stainless clad vg10. It gets used every day for home cooking. It has been sharpened regularly and thinned a little every sharpening session. The Damascus pattern is faded and uneven due to thinning. I would like to make it pop again. I understand the first step will be sanding through a progression to even it out. And then some kind of etching process. What works best for stainless Damascus pattern weld cladding? What can I do safely in my apartment?
Here's some pics of what we're dealing with. Thanks in advance for any tips or pointers.


View attachment 48459

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If you want that real pop and contrast of the layers with a decent profound relief you need to use muriatic acid.... really nasty stuff and can’t be used indoors and vapors will corrode many materials but it works if everything is taped up that you don’t want touched

 

[ian]

Not sure I understand why one must use muriatic.

In the etch I just did with ferric chloride, the contrast between the bands was much more pronounced than in the OOTB finish on a Shun, and I was even diluting with vinegar as in stringer’s post. I ended up taking off most of the etch with sandpaper, but that was because it looked kind of ragged near the core, as I hadn’t been careful enough when taping the edge. But it certainly wasn’t lacking in contrast.

 

[stringer]

Edit: post deleted due to stupidity.

The moral is that I also found VG-10 to be super reactive with an etching job I did on a shun. In the future, I will take greater care with the taping off the core, and will make sure none of etch gets near the core at all. As is, there’s a fair bit of core darkness near the lamination line that is hard enough to remove that I’m worrying about destroying the look on the cladding.

@stringer, did you have similar problems?

Yes. I made no effort to mask the core. The VG-10 turned a wonderful shade of black. Then I resharpened. It polished right back up. The top half of the core near the lamination line is still dark. It doesn't bother me. And next time I thin the edge it will be gone.

The core has also been revealed on the spine

And the weld lines show by the bolster (which I also made no effort to mask)

Stuff to work on next time. The knife isn't going anywhere. My wife is very attached to it. It's her first good knife, a souvenir from our trip to London, and she's used to it and uses it for everything. It's actually the only Damascus I own so my quart (950mL) of ferric chloride will probably last a while. I think I used about a tablespoon (15mL).