A member in another forum found a 200mm Shigefusa sujihiki being sold on eBay; the seller didn't know what he had (he called it a Japanese carbon knife). I bid on it and won it for $170. It was pretty beat up (the seller admitted this and had lots of pics). I got it today and it was worse than I thought. In addition to a chipped edge, a blunt tip, and lots of rust/corrosion, it had a pretty obvious frown.
I dealt with the frown first, by "cutting slices" in a DMT extra coarse. This was extremely difficult to do (psychologically); it goes against my nature to intentionally dull a knife. But it worked.
I then stuck it in the knife vise and went after the corrosion with 220 wet/dry on a sanding block, lubed with water/Dawn. That went well, though there are still some shallow pits left in the hagane.
I then put it to the belt grinder to (a) fix the tip, (b) take the chips out of the edge, and (c) sharpen it. Sharpening was done using 320, 600, and 1000 grit belts on the front side only, followed by leather/CrO on the back side to deburr. This went well too; it's shaving sharp now.
Now for some before and after pictures. Here's the left heel before and after:
Here's the right heel before and after:
Here's the left tip before and after:
And the right tip before and after:
I'm probably not done with restoring it, but it's a really sweet knife now and I plan to enjoy it for a while. Comments welcome.
I dealt with the frown first, by "cutting slices" in a DMT extra coarse. This was extremely difficult to do (psychologically); it goes against my nature to intentionally dull a knife. But it worked.
I then stuck it in the knife vise and went after the corrosion with 220 wet/dry on a sanding block, lubed with water/Dawn. That went well, though there are still some shallow pits left in the hagane.
I then put it to the belt grinder to (a) fix the tip, (b) take the chips out of the edge, and (c) sharpen it. Sharpening was done using 320, 600, and 1000 grit belts on the front side only, followed by leather/CrO on the back side to deburr. This went well too; it's shaving sharp now.
Now for some before and after pictures. Here's the left heel before and after:
Here's the right heel before and after:
Here's the left tip before and after:
And the right tip before and after:
I'm probably not done with restoring it, but it's a really sweet knife now and I plan to enjoy it for a while. Comments welcome.