Restoring a Kasumi Finish?

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Can you please just mention how much time you spent on this?
 
about 2-3 hours from start to finish, if i tried to make better more even scratch marks, cleaning up the line between the ji and ha, it would have taken longer.
 
Just thought I'd pop this on as a nod to this thread as just about everything I did to get the finish to where it is is gleaned from here. Not perfect, but not hopeless either.
Naniwa 220
Imanishi 400
Chosera 1K
Chosera 3K
Aoto
Takenoko 8K
Maruoyama shiro suita
Oohira renge suita
Medium and fine scourer 200 thru 1200 wet&dry
Uchigumori fingerstone with 20k aluminium oxide powder
Cotton balls with uchi and Shinden suita slurry


 
Badgertooth said:
Just thought I'd pop this on as a nod to this thread as just about everything I did to get the finish to where it is is gleaned from here. Not perfect, but not hopeless either.
Naniwa 220
Imanishi 400
Chosera 1K
Chosera 3K
Aoto
Takenoko 8K
Maruoyama shiro suita
Oohira renge suita
Medium and fine scourer 200 thru 1200 wet&dry
Uchigumori fingerstone with 20k aluminium oxide powder
Cotton balls with uchi and Shinden suita slurry
Click to expand...

Looks great!

Where did you source 20k aluminium oxide powder from?

Cheers,
Michael
 
Looks good to me. Hard to see things exactly in the photos, but it has to be a finer finish than the original, no?
 
Asteger said:
Looks good to me. Hard to see things exactly in the photos, but it has to be a finer finish than the original, no?
Click to expand...

Yes.... And no. There's one or two places where bad technique and figuring it out while I'm doing it lets the final finish down. My lines aren't as perfectly horizontal from heel to tip as OOTB. Also I'd like to better blend my thinning line with cladding which is visible in both photos. Tip is a little bit all over the show too. A luta continua.
 
Badgertooth said:
My lines aren't as perfectly horizontal from heel to tip as OOTB. Also I'd like to better blend my thinning line with cladding which is visible in both photos. Tip is a little bit all over the show too. A luta continua.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, that line aspect is the hardest - and they use some sort of contraption for it in the workshop that we'll never have, of course. As for the thinning 'shadow' (different texture, looks darker towards the edge in the photos) I know what you mean. Actually, I think they can look good this way too, but if you want to kill it you'll just have to polish it more toward the edge and wear away your efforts with your nice jnat finishers that you thought would endure. Use the sandpaper, fingerstones, etc, and polishing near the edge, and just use your finisher on the hagane and a bit above, like when the knife comes new.
 
looking good, but unless your redefining or changing/lengthening your bevel each time you sharpen you don't have to go lower then 1000 (or you're taking out some serious chips), and when polishing up just stick to polishing side of the spectrum (>4000) unless you have scratches that you need to go deeper for. I'd stick the 20k powder with a cotton pad/sponge/silk after the uchi instead of with because the uchi will darken the ji and the 20k will smooth it out and lighten it just a little. And use the uchi with some baking soda(makes it lighter) or its own slurry (makes it darker) and or both.

for me what I worry about is what works for me. my tip is really thin and my heel is really thick and my bevel line is nowhere near strait and I've learned to use that to my advantage rather then waste effort making aesthetics my priority.

Some of the most frustrating things for me is, even though your technique may be perfect the stone isn't too friendly with the knife and no matter then skill or effort you can get close but pulling the beauty of the metal depends of finding the stone that works with the knife, so I mainly stick mainly to getting that screaming sharp edge and like butter slice.

Nice pics, glad to see you(r) progress.
 
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Where would one source 20k Aluminum Oxide powder? I checked google / amazon / ebay and really must be failing?

Any thoughts on if there is a better powder for polishing than 20k Aluminum Oxide powder?
 
DDPslice said:
looking good, but unless your redefining or changing/lengthening your bevel each time you sharpen you don't have to go lower then 1000 (or you're taking out some serious chips), and when polishing up just stick to polishing side of the spectrum (>4000) unless you have scratches that you need to go deeper for. I'd stick the 20k powder with a cotton pad/sponge/silk after the uchi instead of with because the uchi will darken the ji and the 20k will smooth it out and lighten it just a little. And use the uchi with some baking soda(makes it lighter) or its own slurry (makes it darker) and or both.

for me what I worry about is what works for me. my tip is really thin and my heel is really thick and my bevel line is nowhere near strait and I've learned to use that to my advantage rather then waste effort making aesthetics my priority.

Some of the most frustrating things for me is, even though your technique may be perfect the stone isn't too friendly with the knife and no matter then skill or effort you can get close but pulling the beauty of the metal depends of finding the stone that works with the knife, so I mainly stick mainly to getting that screaming sharp edge and like butter slice.

Nice pics, glad to see you(r) progress.
Click to expand...

This was a great post, thank you. I was lengthening the bevel a bit to get past some hesitation it had in denser ingredients and when I was happy with the geometry I was terrified by the finish, thinking I'd thunderf*cked a perfectly good Shig. Hence a trip to the hardware for scrubbies and wet 'n dry. I think I will keep the uchi and WA separate as you mention and try applying the WA with a soft substrate. Keen to try the baking soda.
 
mikedtran said:
Where would one source 20k Aluminum Oxide powder? I checked google / amazon / ebay and really must be failing?

Any thoughts on if there is a better powder for polishing than 20k Aluminum Oxide powder?
Click to expand...

Got mine from a guy who did some work at a metal fabricators. Search "WA powder 2000" seems to return a few hits in the states
 
Badgertooth said:
This was a great post, thank you. I was lengthening the bevel a bit to get past some hesitation it had in denser ingredients and when I was happy with the geometry I was terrified by the finish, thinking I'd thunderf*cked a perfectly good Shig. Hence a trip to the hardware for scrubbies and wet 'n dry. I think I will keep the uchi and WA separate as you mention and try applying the WA with a soft substrate. Keen to try the baking soda.
Click to expand...

No matter how deep you go a good polishing will always bring out craftsmanship of the shig. Japanese knives and swords are meant to last a lifetime of sharpening (or several with good care and attention) so don't be afraid, but also don't go crazy.

Im about to pick up my second set from amazon

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003ELH7AI/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
 
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Yup, getting mine from a local pen making place. And I agree, I think I'm a custodian of a Shig more than an owner
 
Those pads are great, but they start at 1200 grit what may be a little too much, or so I wonder.
 
Yup but scale 2.5 to get it back to sandpaper grits


Coloured Micro Mesh polishing pad set.

Set includes 9 grits: 1500, 1800, 2400, 3200, 3600, 4000, 6000, 8000 and 12000.

Where 1500 is slightly coarser than normal 600 grit paper.
Click to expand...
 
WIP testing micromesh and DDP's baking soda trick. Also concentrated more on keeping the lines straight:






 
Badgertooth said:
WIP testing micromesh and DDP's baking soda trick. Also concentrated more on keeping the lines straight:






Click to expand...
Lookin good! What grit on the micro mesh did you use? Was the baking soda used as paste?
 
I erm... Went through the entire rainbow. Then paste of baking soda with uchi fingerstone
 
Badger, as is usual you've got that different kind of texture/darkness on the wider bevel. You might try using the same slurry from your final stone (and even also the earlier stones) to polish beyond the bevel. Might get a more uniform look.

On the other hand, the finish doesn't need to be uniform. Matter of taste.
 
Asteger said:
Badger, as is usual you've got that different kind of texture/darkness on the wider bevel. You might try using the same slurry from your final stone (and even also the earlier stones) to polish beyond the bevel. Might get a more uniform look.

On the other hand, the finish doesn't need to be uniform. Matter of taste.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think it's because with the initial sharpening a few weeks ago I used a pretty tight progression for scratch deletion and ended up with a very polished bevel without the foresight to keep a bit of slurry from each stone. So I'll try and use the same progression on another wide-bevel and keep some slurry.

As an aside, I saw on the JNS that WA powder is best used with camellia oil and I tried it... Vastly different and more refined finish than using it with water. Which poses an interesting question: what would happen if you used stone slurry with camellia oil?
 
Badgertooth said:
Yeah, I think it's because with the initial sharpening a few weeks ago I used a pretty tight progression for scratch deletion and ended up with a very polished bevel without the foresight to keep a bit of slurry from each stone. So I'll try and use the same progression on another wide-bevel and keep some slurry.

As an aside, I saw on the JNS that WA powder is best used with camellia oil and I tried it... Vastly different and more refined finish than using it with water. Which poses an interesting question: what would happen if you used stone slurry with camellia oil?
Click to expand...

On the camellia oil note. I do all my sanding with camellia oil, no water. I prefer the feel much more.
 
I like to use slurry, with jnats (any stone) the slurry partials are meant to break down finer and finer. Also when I'm on my finishing polish 8k+ I will go over the entire knife, it just leaves it silky smooth. And I test the smoothness as a wipe it with a cloth in my hands. When it slips through I know I'm done.

also please only use food safe items unless you are a chemist.
 
Badgertooth said:
As an aside, I saw on the JNS that WA powder is best used with camellia oil and I tried it... Vastly different and more refined finish than using it with water. Which poses an interesting question: what would happen if you used stone slurry with camellia oil?
Click to expand...

I haven't tried WA with camellia, tho maybe with mineral oil. I've tried nat stone powder (uchigumori) with oil and preferred my usual water method, I think as it was easier to see and keep track of progress.

Problem with using oil with your stone slurry, if you don't have powder, then how will avoid oiling up your stones? Usually you'll generate some slurry with some means, and you won't use oil for that, and then you'll apply the slurry to the knife. To me the oil method only works if you have powder, natural or otherwise.
 
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