Legibility of kanji on kurouchi finishes

[demosthenes]

A purely aesthetic question. I've noticed a lot of variability in how legible the kanji appears on knives with KU finishes. Even across the same maker, sometimes the kanji really pops, while other times it is barely visible.

Do you think this variability is due to
1) changes in the depth of the kanji engraving, where sometimes more steel is exposed
2) a second step after the kanji is engraved where the KU finish is chiseled away around the kanji to provide more legibility
3) a figment of my imagination, just variations in lighting
4) something else

Curious to hear your thoughts!

 

[Lurkernomore]

It depends on the Kurouchi, the chisel angle and the depth of the engraving. Kurouchi done with blueing solutions won’t flake off, the kanji won’t pop. If the engraving is shallow the perimeter won’t flake off and the kanji will look dark. The same goes for chisels with acute angles. If you use a chisel with a relatively blunt angle somewhere north of 90 degrees and use some force the metal displaced by the chisel will build up to the left and right of the chiseled line and make the kurouchi flake off, revealing dark silver outlines of the kanji.

That’s about the gist of it as far as my experiences go.

 

[demosthenes]

Very helpful, thank you for the explanation!