Putting kasumi on Y Tanaka Damascus and wondering about etch depth

[DiceOfLife]

Like the title says. Putting a kasumi on a tanaka damascus and even with coarse grit paper and stone I can't break through the etch. May leave it if too difficult but I was wondering if anyone has any experience with how deep these etches tend to be?

 

[JPAU]

@Blumbo

 

[Blumbo]

Send some pics!!

 

[DiceOfLife]

Send some pics!!

Here's some. The side with fresh grinding is the recent work with low grit paper/fingerstone and the side with patina went from low grit to 1k with 0000 steel wool. The other side had that too but I recently tried to rework it to break through the damascus. Total work time was probably a couple hours already sadly enough.

I finally got some silicone carbide for the kasumi which I may just go with the 220 .

 

[jedy617]

I mean even with no etch you will probably be able to see the layers, that's just how dama is. Why make dama non dama?

 

[DiceOfLife]

I mean even with no etch you will probably be able to see the layers, that's just how dama is. Why make dama non dama?

Really? I figured once I break through the etch and put a kasumi on it would basically blend together.

Tbh I love the knife but the way the patina from the iron cladding has worked with the damascus doesn't look that great to me, so I was hoping to be able to work something closer to the tetsujin that I have, which I really like the way it looks.

 

[jedy617]

Really? I figured once I break through the etch and put a kasumi on it would basically blend together.

Tbh I love the knife but the way the patina from the iron cladding has worked with the damascus doesn't look that great to me, so I was hoping to be able to work something closer to the tetsujin that I have, which I really like the way it looks.

Fair enough

I mean I am able to see banding on a honyaki in the satin on my togashi, Damascus has the layers physically folded in there throughout all of the iron, there will be more of you get through a layer. I do think you should be able to get to a certain point where after you get a patina the Damascus might be harder to notice though

 

[Blumbo]

Really? I figured once I break through the etch and put a kasumi on it would basically blend together.

Tbh I love the knife but the way the patina from the iron cladding has worked with the damascus doesn't look that great to me, so I was hoping to be able to work something closer to the tetsujin that I have, which I really like the way it looks.

Different layers in a damascus knife can either be brought out by etching or polishing with certain abrasives (kasumi) because each layer either interacts with the etchant or the abrasives differentially. Even patina is like a natural “etchant” in the sense that it’s just another flavor of some ferric oxide in reaction to food instead of acid. Because each layer of a Damascus knife just has different properties it’s hard to do a of fully blended “kasumi”. The kasumi is simply confined to the softer layers of steel where the harder (usually more chromium riddled) layers remain bright. You can put a full “migaki” on it just by sanding away either the ferric oxides or the differentially polished layers but that doesn’t sound like what you’re looking for.

 

[M1k3]

Have you tried stopping with a sandpaper finish in the 400-800 grit range? Should leave a satin finish, which should help disguise some of the pattern.

 

[DiceOfLife]

Have you tried stopping with a sandpaper finish in the 400-800 grit range? Should leave a satin finish, which should help disguise some of the pattern.

I tried that initially, well I went to 1k fingerstone. It helped hide the damascus until the patina popped back up.

 

[DiceOfLife]

Different layers in a damascus knife can either be brought out by etching or polishing with certain abrasives (kasumi) because each layer either interacts with the etchant or the abrasives differentially. Even patina is like a natural “etchant” in the sense that it’s just another flavor of some ferric oxide in reaction to food instead of acid. Because each layer of a Damascus knife just has different properties it’s hard to do a of fully blended “kasumi”. The kasumi is simply confined to the softer layers of steel where the harder (usually more chromium riddled) layers remain bright. You can put a full “migaki” on it just by sanding away either the ferric oxides or the differentially polished layers but that doesn’t sound like what you’re looking for.

Thanks! This is really helpful in understanding how the damascus is formed.