The Watanabe Finish

[ojisan]

It seems Heiji san also uses Sen (Kato san as well).

 

[Andrew]

Yeah Toyama looks pretty ootb. Not a problem at all.

I don’t mind being proved wrong here but I feel like Heiji (carbons Atleast) might have a synthetic stone finish and very few high/low spots.
Again I could be very wrong about that. I’m also referring to direct order KU heijis.

I have no insider info, but have a KU Heiji that has the most even blade road of any knife I've put to stones. Clearly that doesn't mean it was finished on stones, but might point in that direction.

 

[Zweber12]

I remember a Shigefusa KU nakiri used to cost $200 and a Kitaeji $400 or$ 500 five years ago..
No place for a Jnat finish at this cost!
The finish is the same now in 2019.
So, the knife may have seen a stone or two, but for the whole finish: never.

Kitchen knives makers and (sword) polishers are two different crafts.

Hmm.. I did not see a sand blaster when I visited the Shigefusa workshop last year, just stones.

 

[Matus]

Hmm.. I did not see a sand blaster when I visited the Shigefusa workshop last year, just stones.

I am not a Shig expert, but I find the statement of nutmeg about sandblasting very surprising - I mean - it looks so much different. And Kato Workhorse has a simple ‘ground’ finish (in a way no particular finish), no sandblasting either.

And Watanabe knives have the finish which Toyama or other makers he sells in his online shop put on them.

 

[nutmeg]

I am not a Shig expert, but I find the statement of nutmeg about sandblasting very surprising - I mean - it looks so much different. And Kato Workhorse has a simple ‘ground’ finish (in a way no particular finish), no sandblasting either.

And Watanabe knives have the finish which Toyama or other makers he sells in his online shop put on them.

Maybe but last year when I was in Sanjo with Watanabe I had the chance to make a small knife in the blacksmith school. Final finish was sand blasted.
There I saw some Shigefusa kitaeji knives that had pretty much the same finish so, my guess is that they are sand blasted.
Also I had a couple of Kitaeji on my stones and really no one OTB looked like to have been finished on stones.

Anyway, for $500-1000 I'm not very picky when it comes to the finish OTB. Not sooo important to me. As soon as you thin it or as it takes patina, the knife will look totally different.

 

[Matus]

I would guess that the finishing that the Kitaeji do get is - even though hand finished - most likely not as involved as what you do. So the results look then different too.

 

[Mute-on]

Have you seen the video in which Masayuki removes the kurouchi from a blade using a small stone attached to a handle (looks like a sen handle)? It takes about 25 seconds for one side.
That’s still a stone finish, even if there are no other steps.
In my view, the suggestion that Shigs could be sandblasted is basically ridiculous. Of course I don’t have quite as many as Zweber, but enough to have seen all of the finishes they do.

 

[BlueSteel]

My guess is even that there is no knives with full Jnat finish on the market.. That would make the finish more expensive than the knife itself and the concurrence doesn‘t sleep.. ;-)
That‘s why you guy Never get the same finish with your Jnat as OTB.

Maksim says that his Mazaki knives are full Jnat...at least I think that is what he says on his website:

For the Edge finish on the knives i have choosed to leave them unfinished, while some knives in Japan finished with sandblasting, buffer, or just regular sander it is very hard to see if knife it self was finished on stones, ALL Mazaki knives however is finished and sharpenned on Japanese stones without hiding it with sandblasting or sander, thats how he get most even edge and easier in the future to thin or sharpen.

 

[nutmeg]

Maksim says that his Mazaki knives are full Jnat...at least I think that is what he says on his website:

For the Edge finish on the knives i have choosed to leave them unfinished, while some knives in Japan finished with sandblasting, buffer, or just regular sander it is very hard to see if knife it self was finished on stones, ALL Mazaki knives however is finished and sharpenned on Japanese stones without hiding it with sandblasting or sander, thats how he get most even edge and easier in the future to thin or sharpen.

Glad to see this! and they are really fair priced too.

 

[valgard]

Maksim says that his Mazaki knives are full Jnat...at least I think that is what he says on his website:

For the Edge finish on the knives i have choosed to leave them unfinished, while some knives in Japan finished with sandblasting, buffer, or just regular sander it is very hard to see if knife it self was finished on stones, ALL Mazaki knives however is finished and sharpenned on Japanese stones without hiding it with sandblasting or sander, thats how he get most even edge and easier in the future to thin or sharpen.

These don't have sandblasting but still have the worst finish I have seen, huge atoma level gouges, and they are not evenly ground. And definitely not a Jnat finish, this is a very coarse and sloppy synthetics or diamond stones finish at best. Maxim said Japanese, not natural.