My first Honyaki mirror polishing

[nntnam]

So I decided to polish my honyaki today. Just because I like mirror polishing and I don't like how the patina formed in the previous finish.

This is the knife when I first got it from the store. It is a Y. Ikeda white#3 honyaki. I think it was polished at about 600 grit and had a matte finish at above the hamon line.

The sanding started at 400 grit and finished at 10000 grit.
I must say the steel is so tough. I often enjoy polishing my knives but this is pure torture!!!

Anyway here is the result

As you can see, it's not perfect. There are a lots of short and disconnected horizontal lines. I'm not sure it's because of the steel or my polishing technique. Any idea?

The softer steel seems to have slightly darker shade. You can easily see this at some angle.

Next job is etching the hamon line. Any suggestion which acid to use? I have vinegar, lemon and FeCl.

 

[nntnam]

Acid etching - First attempt

I used vinegar mixing with FeCl. The ratio is probably Vinegar:FeCl 5:1. The liquid is then painted along the hamon line using a Q-tip.

 

[nntnam]

Acid etching - Second attempt

This time I just used heated vinegar mixed with a few drops of soap. Then rub the vinegar on the knife using a paper towel. The soap helps to prevent the droplets from forming on the knife. These droplets would cause an uneven and ugly patina on the knife surface.

The patina without the soap

The patina with the soap

The final step is to clean the patina with a metal polishing cream

I really like the result. The softer area is still mirror-polished while the harder area now has a kasumi-ish yet still mirror-ish finish. It's like a reversed hamon.

What do you guys think?

 

[big_adventure]

It looks pretty amazing!

 

[GBT-Splint]

Nice work, I hear everywhere that honyaki is a pain to get to a mirror polish.
What kind of metal polishing cream did you use ?

 

[Koop]

Very nice!

 

[nntnam]

It looks pretty amazing!

Very nice!

Thanks!

Nice work, I hear everywhere that honyaki is a pain to get to a mirror polish.
What kind of metal polishing cream did you use ?

Yeah, it's a PITA to polish as you have to deal with 61-65 HRC on the WHOLE knife.
I used the KOYO New Sunlight polishing cream for stainless steel. It works well enough. Took a couple of times to clean the patina off completely.

 

[M1k3]

@captaincaed

 

[Corradobrit1]

Wow nice work there.

 

[jedy617]

Looks great, was this done with sandpaper or stones? Not sure what method is usually used with mirror polishing.

 

[nntnam]

Wow nice work there.

Thanks!

Looks great, was this done with sandpaper or stones? Not sure what method is usually used with mirror polishing.

Hi, sorry I forgot to mention that. It was sandpaper.

 

[khashy]

So I decided to polish my honyaki today. Just because I like mirror polishing and I don't like how the patina formed in the previous finish.

This is the knife when I first got it from the store. It is a Y. Ikeda white#3 honyaki. I think it was polished at about 600 grit and had a matte finish at above the hamon line.

The sanding started at 400 grit and finished at 10000 grit.
I must say the steel is so tough. I often enjoy polishing my knives but this is pure torture!!!

Anyway here is the result

As you can see, it's not perfect. There are a lots of short and disconnected horizontal lines. I'm not sure it's because of the steel or my polishing technique. Any idea?

The softer steel seems to have slightly darker shade. You can easily see this at some angle.

Next job is etching the hamon line. Any suggestion which acid to use? I have vinegar, lemon and FeCl.

Awesome!!!

 

[Doffen]

Very nice work!
Do you use only sandpaper, or combined with stones?

 

[captaincaed]

@captaincaed

Oh no don't call me out! I just got happy with my satin finish and put an edge on that bad boy!
Even then, there's little scratches above the hamon. Just no way to avoid it.

But yeah really nice work, and nice use of a wetting agent to get good surface contact for your etchant.

I've got one in blue steel, wanna take it on? hehe

 

[Up_dog128]

It's beautiful. And that was an excellent post. The pic of the second etching attempt with soap, before the polishing cream, is pretty wild looking.

 

[nntnam]

Very nice work!
Do you use only sandpaper, or combined with stones?

Thanks!
Only sandpaper, no stones

 

[Pie]

That looks incredible. Great work!

 

[nntnam]

I've just got this Ikeda Mizu-honyaki 240 in white#1. Considering that Ikeda-san has stopped water quenching since 2019, I feel pretty lucky!
It was mirror-polished when I received it. The level of polishing is amazing but the hamon was pretty...ugly so I decided to do some acid etching

Here are some before- and after pictures

Before

Patina building up during the hot vinegar bath

After a few rounds of vinegar bath and patina removal/polishing

Close-up of the mountain

I've tried to create a gradient toward the cutting edge by polishing the upper part of the mountain a little bit harder (more pressure). It's subtle but you can see it from the photos. Just wanted to make it look like Mt. Fuji when it's covered in snow.

 

[jedy617]

Awesome, did you do the same etching process as before? Wiping down the hamon with hot vinegar and soap with a paper towel? When you proceed with metal polish are you careful around the hamon or can you go over the entire thing and still have it visible?

Thanks!

 

[Justablacktee]

Really nice job on those honies !!

Thank you for sharing the whole adventure/process with us

 

[Runner_up]

Agree that it's a very nice job the OP did on polishing.

^^ But can we as a forum agree to never again call honyaki blades "honies" ?

 

[nntnam]

Awesome, did you do the same etching process as before? Wiping down the hamon with hot vinegar and soap with a paper towel? When you proceed with metal polish are you careful around the hamon or can you go over the entire thing and still have it visible?

Thanks!

Yes, it's the same as the other knife. And no, I don't need to be careful while polishing to protect the hamon. The properties of the steels would take care of everything.

Above the hamon is where the steel is softest, so it will be the first to be back to mirror-polished while the steel below the hamon is still cloudy.

Usually, I stop the polishing when the upper part becomes mirror-polished.

If I keep polishing, the lower part will become clear again and only the hamon lines will remain. Somehow the hamon lines get etched much deeper than the area surrounded it.

Really nice job on those honies !!

Thank you for sharing the whole adventure/process with us

Thanks! You're welcome!

 

[nntnam]

Agree that it's a very nice job the OP did on polishing.

^^ But can we as a forum agree to never again call honyaki blades "honies" ?

lol didn't notice that.
I thought he was calling me homie

 

[Justablacktee]

Agree that it's a very nice job the OP did on polishing.

^^ But can we as a forum agree to never again call honyaki blades "honies" ?

Hahaha agree ... sorry about that !

 

[BillHanna]

Nope. They're honies now. Sorry.

 

[phoka]

Look stunning! Great work and thanks for sharing!

 

[captaincaed]

****. Now I have to acid etch mine, because that is bonkers. Also Y.Ikeda. Do you think 10,000 was necessary, of could you have stopped sooner and had similar results?

 

[nntnam]

****. Now I have to acid etch mine, because that is bonkers. Also Y.Ikeda. Do you think 10,000 was necessary, of could you have stopped sooner and had similar results?

I didn't use any buffing compound so I think I need very fine sandpapers. If you're doing everything right, the surface should be close to a mirror at around 2500-3000. From that, you can choose to either keep sanding with sandpapers or use the green block (a buffing compound) to make it shiny.

 

[captaincaed]

I didn't use any buffing compound so I think I need very fine sandpapers. If you're doing everything right, the surface should be close to a mirror at around 2500-3000. From that, you can choose to either keep sanding with sandpapers or use the green block (a buffing compound) to make it shiny.

Thank you for the advice. I have paper up to 2500, so I may go that far, buff, and etch.

 

[nntnam]

Thank you for the advice. I have paper up to 2500, so I may go that far, buff, and etch.

Below 3000 is where I spent most of the sanding time anyway ^^