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Having a bit of fun trying to photograph - with a cell phone - something that I’d mentioned before. That some stones can put a kind of dark line between the jigane and hagane. It will be difficult to photograph without a professional lighting, but I managed to get enough of it to illustrate what I was talking about.

The knife is a vintage Takeda ko bunka and the stone is a shiro ceiling suita that I got from Max years ago. If you look closely, you can see the dark line at the interface on part of the bevel. It’s there all along the bevel, but the light was just right in that area for it to show up in the image. Anyone else notice this effect?

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I had to do it, publishing my latest work on my favourite thread on KKF..! I completed this project today by installing the handle and I'm very happy with the final outcome!

I have documented my progression if you want to look for the process : Honyaki restoration project - Going to document my journey
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And it seems like I have now more time to take care of my blades and it seems like it is going to be a wonderful summer 2023.. :)
(Winter was long enough, wasn't it? )

Here is my beloved Watanabe 150mm petty Kintaro Ame White 2.
What a fantastic cutter! It feels like a small gyuto so you can imagine it can be comfortable to use in many situations. Very agile at the same time and can get a very, very sharp edge.

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As always: geometry first!

The first step was to give him a healthy geometry. No low spot, no wavy surface, a nice convex grind and probably a pointy tip..

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1K Shapton, 2k Shapton, done!
 
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now, a more tricky part: remove all the tiny scratches!

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Jnats can trap light and magically hide scratches. This is not new. And on clad they do marvels in no time.
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But how to get the extremely hard and tough steel core.. scratch free?
Using Jnats?
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Using Jnats is an appealing solution...
But how effective would it be? How long will it take?

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I am afraid Jnats are too slow on the steel core for removing deeper scratches.

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It seems like synth stones are the way to go in the beginning! Quick, effective and they don't hide scratches. So I see what's done and what has to be done.

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Let's go with 3k, 8k and we'll see if it's acceptable to begin the kasumi with Jnats.

Cheers,
Benjamin
 
Gesshin Hide Yanagiba 270mm. I am at my parents house for holidays with only 3 stones, a Shapton 1000, Rika 5k and a Hideriyama from JKI. I am sharing this because I am blown away by how well the bevel is done out of the box. The whole knife bevel had only 3 low spots which you can see in the picture. This is the most pleasurable bevel sharpening experience I had straight out of the box. It took about 1 hour with the 3 stones to get a descent polish and because of how well the convexity is done it means you can touch independently sharpen the edge from the shinogi without worrying for waviness etc.. If you are in the market for a yanagi I highly recommend the Gesshin Hide.

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I have recently refinished a 80mm Kato petty:

Original condition after testing different stone 'finishes':




After #400 sanding paper




After #600 sanding paper




After #1000 sanding paper




After #2500 sanding paper




After soft fingerstones (in retrospect I should have probably done a little better job with sanding, but it is still nice)



Great work
 
@ethompson that finish looks freaky. Like it shouldn’t be possible! What is going on w that core steel…
If you get very fine stone that polishes rather than burnishes hardened steel you can start making the grain of the steel pop in the same way that you can make iron-banding appear. You're seeing the metallurgical structure of the core.
 
The one above is
I’m admiring these kiridashi, what are good ones and where can I buy some?
that one above is an @Illyria RTG one atelier tennen toishi sold in a drop. Buyee has some nice ones. Most of the big knife shops have cheaper ones. Nice thing about Japanese kiri, Kanna and many hand tools is they often use wrought so nice to test what a stone is capable of.
 
I understand the purpose and attraction to watetsu, wrought iron/soft iron. But I kind of hate it.

Why?

I have 270mm Mizuno Tanrenjo gyuto, clad in watetsu/soft iron.

This knife is fairly thick these days, something like 3.3mm above the spine. The cladding is thin. It seems to be basically a honyaki knife with a veneer of soft iron that doesn’t add any function, just for appearance.

It will rust while you’re using it. The recommended solution is to keep a wet/damp folded towel to wipe the cladding off when you’re using it, to prevent food staining. I’ve thought about removing the watetsu but it would pretty much destroy the value of the knife.

I don’t get it. Is there some reason that one would use a knife like this versus any of the alternatives?
 
I understand the purpose and attraction to watetsu, wrought iron/soft iron. But I kind of hate it.

Why?

I have 270mm Mizuno Tanrenjo gyuto, clad in watetsu/soft iron.

This knife is fairly thick these days, something like 3.3mm above the spine. The cladding is thin. It seems to be basically a honyaki knife with a veneer of soft iron that doesn’t add any function, just for appearance.

It will rust while you’re using it. The recommended solution is to keep a wet/damp folded towel to wipe the cladding off when you’re using it, to prevent food staining. I’ve thought about removing the watetsu but it would pretty much destroy the value of the knife.

I don’t get it. Is there some reason that one would use a knife like this versus any of the alternatives?
Care to show this knife, I might want to relieve you of it…
 
The reason Watetsu, wrought and other soft irons are used are tied up in the ability to quickly remove material when sharpening. More important with single bevel and tools (because the full bevel is sharpened). Also straightening a clad knife is much easier than mono steel or honyaki. The aesthetics are a bonus…

Not sure why the cladding is so thin on the Mizuno. Post the pics so we can see! I know watetsu and wrought iron aren’t made anymore so it may be a cost thing…
 
… ! I know watetsu and wrought iron aren’t made anymore so it may be a cost thing…

Watetsu, as I understand it, is just soft iron, not even cast iron? Wrought iron not made anymore in Japan? Dang, my porch rails and mailbox are worth a fortune.

Maybe, but the whole country is full of soft iron I believe, just like every modern country.

Swedish steel? I offered to split a WW2 tank made with it with a friend, but he declined. I can’t imagine why.
 
Took my damascus Yanick to the uchigumori today and cleaned the patina off. Also decided to mirror the spine as I had some time to kill and was enjoying how meditative and relaxing knife maintenance is. Started at 400 grit paper and progressed through about 15 grits to 12,000. Then finished it with some flitz and a buffing wheel on my dremel.

Not gonna pretend this is world class work, but I had a fun couple hours.

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