Kanji Refinish Help

[Gran8man]

I am in the middle of dressing up my Aritsugu A Gyuto that had been to he'll and back. Just finished with 400 grit and realize that I will need to re-ink my kanji. What do you knife makers use? Any help will be appreciated.

 

[Marko Tsourkan]

I am in the middle of dressing up my Aritsugu A Gyuto that had been to he'll and back. Just finished with 400 grit and realize that I will need to re-ink my kanji. What do you knife makers use? Any help will be appreciated.

What's wrong with having Kanji off? Without kanji, would the knife be less valuable or useful to you?

 

[Gran8man]

The kanji is stamped in and I just want to make it look new again. The knife is just as useful polished or scratched. I thought if I was taking the time and making the effort to remove the scratches I would dress it all the way. I don't know what media to use to turn the stamped areas black again.

 

[Dave Martell]

Etch it?

 

[Gran8man]

What acid would you use and where do you get it?

 

[Avishar]

PCB Etchant from radio shack perhaps?

 

[Dave Martell]

PCB Etchant from radio shack perhaps?

That'd be my first choice but I realize that not every Radio Shack carries it these days.

 

[Vertigo]

Hmm... on a related note, anyone have ideas for restoring the dragon engraving on a Misono carbon? Since etching would darken the entire blade, my only idea is to coat the blade in wax and then scratch out the engraving with a toothpick, before applying the etchant. The design is pretty intricate though.

 

[StephanFowler]

no no no, don't go to PCB or you'll change the landscape of the blade.

if I want a REALLY bold mark I'll paint it with high quality black fingernail polish. but most commonly I will go at it with Casey's cold blueing solution from the gun cleaning section of walmart.

just dab it on with a Q-Tip and polish the flats back to your finished polish

 

[Gran8man]

Thanks Stephan. Blueing what a great and simple idea. I appreciate all the suggestions.

 

[Dave Martell]

Bluing eh?

 

[Pensacola Tiger]

I'm not sure cold blue is going to work well on an A-type semi-stainless blade. The fingernail polish may be your best bet, but you might want to look at this kit for blackening stainless steel:

http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/black.htm#stainless

 

[PierreRodrigue]

Blueing is one way to go for sure. Didn't think of fingernail polish, but have used epoxy dyed black. Dab it in the grooves, let it sit and start to cure, then wipe off the excess with a lintfree rag and some acetone, or laquor thinner.

 

[Jameson]

In regards to fingernail polish:

I use this in many of my hobbies and it is sort of a cure-all for things like Golf Club lettering, finishing fishing lures with either a topcoat, or a few coats on bare wood before sanding it for different paints on top (fishing lures mostly)

If applied properly it wont chip out, it is used in saltwater environments, dries completely and could sit submerged for hours with no ill effects. It soaks into the first level of most woods VERY well and hardens up to a rock hard epoxy feel. You can wipe away any standing on the surface of the wood with acetone and be left with a submerged sort of epoxy finish. Superglue (CA type) THIN such as ZapAgap will give an even better result on wood with lots of sanding and wiping involved, I wouldnt use it on the kanji though...

My ONLY suggestion is to use SALLY HANSEN HARD AS NAILS clearcoat as a topcoat or two or three (it is thin) over whatever other polish your using (I suggest sally hansen hard as nails for the undercoat). This is the one everyone on the popular leading message boards for golf/fishing like stripersonline.com or golfwrx.com I am speaking in this LAST paragraph about the kanji part...