Kiyoshi Kato refinishing - high polish Kasumi

[jklip13]

About a month ago in my college dorm room I started this project with low funds/low tech. I wanted to see if I could do it without buffing wheels or belts by substituting elbow-grease.
The knife is a 210mm Kiyoshi Kato gyuto that I bought several months ago from Tosho Knife Arts. It came with an excellent finish (very uniform) but I couln't stop thinking about a picture they put on instagram showing one that they did a custom polish on.
This was their picture of the refinishing they did in Japan
https://www.instagram.com/p/BGHNjAwAulK/
This was my knife as I received it from Tosho

the first thing I did was polish the choil using strips of emery paper from 120-220-600 and then buffing with a leather strip coated in chromium oxide rouge. (you can see the handle looking awful covered in protective tape)

I began on the flats by removing the vertical grind lines and replacing them horizontally with 400g wet/dry sandpaper, I then followed with 1000g paper in uniform even strokes.

I then went onto 3 micron diamond lapping paste on a worn-out 3m 12000g polishing pad followed by 0.5 micron paste.

The finish was good but had zero contrast between Ji and Ha
Next I used a natural stone powder on the same polishing pad. There was much more contrast, but still more to be desired

Finally I went to a Takashima fingerstone and contoured the edges of the cladding line
I'm happy with the polish, still a glossy mirror on the hagane with a milky dull haze on the soft steel

I dont think its quite as good as the finish in the picture I was trying to replicate but I'm not too far off.

 

[Matus]

Very interesting, thanks for sharing all the details and photos

 

[schanop]

That looks like so many hours of joyful labour. Great work.

 

[YG420]

Holy Ish nice work! Ive been playing with finishes on mu 210 as well and wanted to try a full mirror polish just for kicks. I get pretty good results making the core steel mirror polished by taking it up to a snow white and then hitting with fingerstones.

 

[JBroida]

start to finish, how many hours?

 

[jklip13]

start to finish, how many hours?

I don't really remember because I split it up in a bunch of sessions, if I had to guess I would say maybe 3-4, but I still have the right side of the knife to do.

 

[mikedtran]

This looks great and thanks for sharing. Can't wait to see the other side.

I also noticed my cladding near the tip comes up quite a bit, guessing a byproduct over a super thin tip to some extent.

 

[jklip13]

Yeah it's odd, I guess it's just the way it came out. The other side is much more regular.

 

[mikedtran]

The left side of my blade is high like that and the right side is normal. Maybe a quirk, I'll have to check my other Katos later

 

[YG420]

Ive noticed by looking at the choil that some of my katos and other knives have core steels that lean more to either side, maybe thats the cause of it?

 

[user 29468]

what is going on with the cladding ?

 

[Asteger]

I don't really remember because I split it up in a bunch of sessions, if I had to guess I would say maybe 3-4, but I still have the right side of the knife to do.

Fun stuff, though I hardly have the time these days. 3-4 hours sounds good. I'm sure I've spent the same time and it hasn't looked as good

 

[Hattorichop]

You need some one to iron your tshirts Jonathan :wink:

 

[aboynamedsuita]

My 210 workhorse is also thinner on one side (more core steel at the tip), except mine is the right (kanji) side. 210 Damascus gyuto seems more even but looking at the spine the cladding looks thicker on one side.

 

[jklip13]

You need some one to iron your tshirts Jonathan :wink:

You are absolutely right, I have no comeback. I was hoping no one would notice.

 

[aboynamedsuita]

You are absolutely right, I have no comeback. I was hoping no one would notice.

This is college life, no shame!

Back to the original topic… Have you lost part of the tip from polishing, not sure if you had to repair or not. I'm doing a monosteel knife and my tip has turned into a ~2mm blunt point

 

[jklip13]

The tip does look "tipped" in a bunch of the pictures but in real life the tip is pointy as ever. I think it's the lighting and the low quality pictures

 

[katana110]

210mm style！i think that it does have a great look！i li ke 240mm！

 

[mark76]

You have a lot of patience. Congrats with the results!

 

[jklip13]

Thank you, I hope the other side goes as well as the first did

 

[xantiema]

Would chromium oxide(0.3micron) powder provide the same mirror polish on the knife as the diamond paste(0.5micron) shown here? And would it be able to do this on vanadium steels as well? Polishing rate is not that important as it is just a hobby, so time invested is more for the joy of it.