Show your work! Uchigumori and co...

[nutmeg]

Zone 2, step by step.View attachment 263529

It is obvious that you can get Zone 2 by using a finer grit.
I will use an Ohira uchigumori of middle hardness+ and slightly finer finger stones for this stage.

As you can imagine, micro contrasts will be increased.
The fun part is to get a great macro contrast by introducing texture.
You can see the core becoming semi-mirror or even a very bright mirror. Depending on the amount of contrast you want to achieve, you can play with the amount of haze in the clad.

You're probably thinking I should have been cleaner for this stage. And you're right! When we're playing with finer grain, cleanliness is a must.

I could hide behind harsh light and macro distance but yes, you can see scratches when you look closely.

 

[nutmeg]

These are naturally shades of grey and we all interpret things differently.

Depending on your lighting and how you're tilting the blade you can get a dark clad with white core...

..or a bright clad with very dark core:

..ridiculous, isn‘t it?

 

[Uncle Danny]

Took my friend Heldqvist in for at bit of a polish

 

[jnat0215]

Shigefusa 300 yanigiba. The picture is before sharpening and polishing

 

[jnat0215]

Masamoto 310 yanigiba. The picture was acturally after sharpening, it's just used a lot. when I first bought this knife in japan it was rusty and broken tip ( tit was originally 330 yanigiba), fixed it and polished it.

 

[jnat0215]

This is my first japanese single beveled knife I ever bought, the first video is sharpening it six years ago ( my skills was bad), the second is around five years ago, started to get into knives and bought some finger stones, Jnats and handle.

 

[ethompson]

 

[deltaplex]

View attachment 264706

Squeaky clean precision on this one

 

[Uncle Danny]

Testing the Binsui I got home

 

[ReiHamono]

Did you find the binsui to be fast?

 

[Uncle Danny]

This is my third and fastest Binsui. And yea, this one is fast.
Can’t tell you if it’s by sheer coincidence, but the greater the pattern the faster the stone.
I’ve tried white ones with grey spots, the a bit of “renge” and this one.

 

[ReiHamono]

Which type do you feel is the finest?

 

[Uncle Danny]

This one without a doubt. Hardest, finest, fastest.

I’ll be on the lookout for more stones like this to sell here. Just need to find them first in Japan

 

[Uncle Danny]

I bites pretty quick

 

[jnat0215]

finished with Naniwa chosera 10000 and koma nagura. It's been such a long time since the last time ever used a synthetic stone for finish. Sharpness is okay but could be better if I strop it.

 

[Veitchii]

View attachment 264706

That speckled, patterned finish on the cladding and the clarity of the core steel is just absolutely incredible. Do you have any tips on achieving a scratchless finish? I know that revealing the alloy banding in the steel can be dependent on the finishing stone, but I think I might be able to improve my technique to get a similarly clean look.

 

[ethompson]

That speckled, patterned finish on the cladding and the clarity of the core steel is just absolutely incredible. Do you have any tips on achieving a scratchless finish? I know that revealing the alloy banding in the steel can be dependent on the finishing stone, but I think I might be able to improve my technique to get a similarly clean look.

A lot of patience, don’t ignore any little scratch and just keep polishing away. Setting geometry is the tricky part that requires technique - polishing is all about patience in my experience.

 

[tostadas]

Quick clean up of the stock finish on this Takeda.

 

[DarwellianEmpire]

Spent a day or two thinning out the Denka. The clad line is too low for my liking in some areas but I’m getting into dangerous territory with how thin it’s getting

Started with an SG 220 and ended with a Narutaki Suita. The stainless takes a pretty decent polish and feels great on the stones.


EDIT: first choil shot was actually the wrong knife whoopsie

 

[jedy617]

Honestly don't know what the best solution is in that case when you are super thin and cladding line is that low...problem I ran into as well

 

[ReiHamono]

I think the main issue here is the core steel is so incredibly thin. In order to raise the stainless steel line, you would have to thin it more in that area.

Honestly, he’s know for quality of heat treat and the shape of his knives. Everything else is going to be pretty random.

Someday we’re going to have someone bring better knifes to us with no compromise, but they’re going to be very expensive

 

[jedy617]

Who is that gonna be

 

[tostadas]

Who is that gonna be

Mazaki, duh

 

[Veitchii]

I did some polishing practice on a hard nakayama koppa. Reading about burnishing vs polishing in this thread really helped; I think this is my best work so far.

 

[ReiHamono]

 

[KasumiJLA]

I just finished refreshing the polish on this blade this evening. There was a lot of patina and at the same time, I need to get back in the mood because I'm going to receive a magnificent custom honyaki gyuto this week...

With the right light that hamon is really bright and it's a pleasure to watch with different angles!

 

[ethompson]

Something I’ve been working on for awhile is my transition from KU to polished bevel. Getting it super crispy without any haze has been my main polishing focus for a few months now. Need more practice on knives where that transition is super duper shallow, but happy with my progress. Time to chase a new dragon. That dragon will be honyaki.

 

[enchappo]

View attachment 268810
Something I’ve been working on for awhile is my transition from KU to polished bevel. Getting it super crispy without any haze has been my main polishing focus for a few months now. Need more practice on knives where that transition is super duper shallow, but happy with my progress. Time to chase a new dragon. That dragon will be honyaki.

Any tips? I mean, I’m still focused simply on not ending up with stray coarse scratches on the hira, but I’m aspiring to this sort of crispness!

 

[ethompson]

Any tips? I mean, I’m still focused simply on not ending up with stray coarse scratches on the hira, but I’m aspiring to this sort of crispness!

Hard coarse stones are a big help. Can’t let much slurry build up on anything under 800 grit. And, counter intuitively, using less pressure when pushing towards the shinogi rather than using more to try and control it gives better results. Feels scary but works. Also mastering working with the scratches fully perpendicular to the edge is helpful for shaping.

 

[ReiHamono]

I don’t understand how you would end up with scratches on the hira