Maintaining original scratch pattern when sharpening a yanagiba?

[nexus1935]

My yanagiba needed sharpening, so I watched several videos on Youtube to start. They all show a similar method in sharpening the wide bevel with a 45 degree approach angle, which made sense since I pretty much hold that angle for sharpening the right side of all my double-bevel knives. Following Jon's video, I sharpened along the shinogi line first, and then at the edge to form the burr, but I still saw some of the original scratch marks from the factory which are parallel to the edge.

Once I was finished, it was as sharp as I needed. However, the scratch pattern on the wide bevel was very messy. Most yanagiba's I've seen have the scratch pattern parallel to the edge, but then the 45 degree approach angle is changing that scratch pattern. That made my wonder, is it possible to maintain the parallel scratch pattern as most new yanagiba's have? Or you pretty much sacrifice that pattern once you need to sharpen the knife?

Some pics illustrating the scratch pattern on new yanagibas being parallel to the edge:

 

[nakiriknaifuwaifu]

$0.02: It's possible, but not practical in my opinion.

The only way you would be able to maintain the scratch pattern is if the knife was moving strictly parallel relative to the abrasive to result in the stock scratch pattern. So either you use sandpaper (or finger stones I guess, but the stock finish looks too coarse) and a guide to finish that way, or you move it up and down a whetstone. Both of those options sound tedious to me. Manually making a perfectly vertical scratch pattern is difficult, so it will always be uneven.

IMO, if you're using the knife then you should be polishing on a whetstone as intended, and then blending the bevels to make a hamaguri profile. The latter is difficult with just sandpaper, too.

Since its a yanagiba, if I were you I would just up the polish to a fine kasumi until no scratches remain

 

[Kippington]

Most yanagiba's I've seen have the scratch pattern parallel to the edge

That finish you're after is done at the factory with a block of wood, some abrasive powder slurry, and a jig that has the same curve as the blade:

 

[nexus1935]

That finish you're after is done at the factory with a block of wood, some abrasive powder slurry, and a jig that has the same curve as the blade:

Very cool to see that, thanks for sharing!

 

[nexus1935]

$0.02: It's possible, but not practical in my opinion.

The only way you would be able to maintain the scratch pattern is if the knife was moving strictly parallel relative to the abrasive to result in the stock scratch pattern. So either you use sandpaper (or finger stones I guess, but the stock finish looks too coarse) and a guide to finish that way, or you move it up and down a whetstone. Both of those options sound tedious to me. Manually making a perfectly vertical scratch pattern is difficult, so it will always be uneven.

IMO, if you're using the knife then you should be polishing on a whetstone as intended, and then blending the bevels to make a hamaguri profile. The latter is difficult with just sandpaper, too.

Since its a yanagiba, if I were you I would just up the polish to a fine kasumi until no scratches remain

Yeah trying to recreate the parallel scratch pattern sounds far too advanced for my beginner skills.

Think I'll attempt the kasumi pattern, sounds like a fun project and there are a lot of threads about it to learn from!

 

[adam92]

You won't be able to keep original finish as they using big wheel whetstone, different from our normal whetstone. Unless you're sharpening parallel, for me not worth the because time consuming. Which is nonsense if you gonna use the knife regularly. Different story if you gonna put in the drawer...

There's some video of Nutmeg, in the video have some skill you can use for reference, work well for me.

 

[zitangy]

I use sandpaper to clean us scratches and with mud from 1000 grit stone for a kasumi finish. I do like the 2K grit wa powder for a grey even finish.. hides the "factory lines..


not much skill required