What polishing grit before finger stones?

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tostadas

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I'm looking to clean up the kasumi on my knife. What grit do you guys polish to before moving to finger stones?

On a related note, what is the approximate equivalent grit range for a typical fingerstone?
 
depends on what knife it is, usually a jnat is my last step to finish the edge before polishing using finger stones.
 
tostadas said:
I'm looking to clean up the kasumi on my knife. What grit do you guys polish to before moving to finger stones?

On a related note, what is the approximate equivalent grit range for a typical fingerstone?
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First off.. forget grit range for natural stones. Put that notion completely out of your head. I'd recommend just trying it and see what happens. It really depends on what finish you want. Some people go to mirror before fingerstones, some are fine with a satin finish. To give you an idea, most of my satin finishes are usually done at 1k-1.5k (sandpaper). My mirror finishes are sanded up to 2.5k and then diamonds to 1 micron.
How many hours would you like to spend on it?
 
Forty Ounce said:
First off.. forget grit range for natural stones. Put that notion completely out of your head. I'd recommend just trying it and see what happens. It really depends on what finish you want. Some people go to mirror before fingerstones, some are fine with a satin finish. To give you an idea, most of my satin finishes are usually done at 1k-1.5k (sandpaper). My mirror finishes are sanded up to 2.5k and then diamonds to 1 micron.
How many hours would you like to spend on it?
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So it sounds like the finish needs to be pretty clean before moving to the natural finger stones? In other words, they do not help to clean up any scratches, say from a 1k or 2k synthetic?

Working with sandpaper previously, I am aware of how much time it takes to get to mirror (I've not yet made it there), and I'm not planning on spending that kind of time on future knives. But I am interested in possibly dipping my toes into the world of J-nats based on some of the really awesome photos that members on here have posted. For right now though, I dont have a ton of time to invest, just want to make my daily drivers look a bit nicer. A refresh of the kasumi would be super.

As a loose comparison, I spent probably 15hours full detailing my Honda CRV to get it to a condition that makes me happy. But in no way do I think I'll be winning any auto show awards. I can spend some time, but ultimately, my knives are going to get used.
 
tostadas said:
So it sounds like the finish needs to be pretty clean before moving to the natural finger stones?
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. It depends a lot on what you are trying to achieve. Fingerstones, especially softer ones, are good at hiding scratches, even the deep ones left from factory finish thats hiding in low spots along the blade face. So you can get away with using them after a 1-2k synthetic, it just won't look perfect but if you use your knives anyway it should be sufficient.
 
tostadas said:
So it sounds like the finish needs to be pretty clean before moving to the natural finger stones? In other words, they do not help to clean up any scratches, say from a 1k or 2k synthetic?

Working with sandpaper previously, I am aware of how much time it takes to get to mirror (I've not yet made it there), and I'm not planning on spending that kind of time on future knives. But I am interested in possibly dipping my toes into the world of J-nats based on some of the really awesome photos that members on here have posted. For right now though, I dont have a ton of time to invest, just want to make my daily drivers look a bit nicer. A refresh of the kasumi would be super.

As a loose comparison, I spent probably 15hours full detailing my Honda CRV to get it to a condition that makes me happy. But in no way do I think I'll be winning any auto show awards. I can spend some time, but ultimately, my knives are going to get used.
Click to expand...
If you just want your kasumi to look good, aim for a super muddy stone in the 1-3k grit range, synth or jnat, it doesn’t really matter.
 
Show or tell which knives you plan to finish. .. It's hard to give the right advice as each project will differ in its needs. 1k sandpaper to fingerstones may be enough... or maybe they need a bit more on your synthetics (what ya using) before the fingers stones...
 
Matt Zilliox said:
Show or tell which knives you plan to finish. .. It's hard to give the right advice as each project will differ in its needs. 1k sandpaper to fingerstones may be enough... or maybe they need a bit more on your synthetics (what ya using) before the fingers stones...
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The main one I'm looking to refinish right now is a Mazaki Nashiji KU. I have at my disposal a Naniwa 200, Shapton Pros 1k, 2k, 5k, and sandpaper from P120-3000. I have it right now at P800 sandpaper finish. Havent taken any stones to it other than touch ups on the edge, nor have I used any coarser sandpaper.
 
tostadas said:
The main one I'm looking to refinish right now is a Mazaki Nashiji KU. I have at my disposal a Naniwa 200, Shapton Pros 1k, 2k, 5k, and sandpaper from P120-3000. I have it right now at P800 sandpaper finish. Havent taken any stones to it other than touch ups on the edge, nor have I used any coarser sandpaper.
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Bring the bevels to 5k, and then switch to fingerstones, you'll be golden. I would avoid using sandpaper on a wide bevel knife, unless you really know what you're doing. If you're not sure, then don't do it.
Another thing.. mazakis tend to be convex, be careful not to flatten the bevels too much or you will affect the performance in a negative way.
 
for those working with synth stones. i have tested a lot of 1k stones, and the best for kasumi haze and contrast is the 800 naniwa pro. the 1k shapton pro and the king 1k hyper (but it creates silver streaks).

this might be a bit to coarse looking for most folks. and it is quite coarse imo. then i have had good luck with the naniwa pro 2k (very good imo), glass gray 6k, cleancut 4k kitayama (probably the same stone as the bester 4k). also i have a medium hard uchigumori, but its not better than the last 3 synths its just more reproducible, because whatever i put on there i get the same result no matter how i do it or for how long.

the white glass can also produce good kasumi but its pressure sensitive. press too hard and all kasumi goes away. flush the stone, same thing.

these could be good bases for fingerstones. but i think a good uchi is the fastest and most surefire way to create a good haze over and over.
 
inferno said:
for those working with synth stones. i have tested a lot of 1k stones, and the best for kasumi haze and contrast is the 800 naniwa pro. the 1k shapton pro and the king 1k hyper (but it creates silver streaks).

this might be a bit to coarse looking for most folks. and it is quite coarse imo. then i have had good luck with the naniwa pro 2k (very good imo), glass gray 6k, cleancut 4k kitayama (probably the same stone as the bester 4k). also i have a medium hard uchigumori, but its not better than the last 3 synths its just more reproducible, because whatever i put on there i get the same result no matter how i do it or for how long.

the white glass can also produce good kasumi but its pressure sensitive. press too hard and all kasumi goes away. flush the stone, same thing.

these could be good bases for fingerstones. but i think a good uchi is the fastest and most surefire way to create a good haze over and over.
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I wouldn't recommend uchis to people. They are overpriced due to hype. They are extremely inconsistent. An easy kasumi would be from aizu, or maybe chu nagura.. those tend to be much more consistent, and much less expensive.
 
yeah i dont recommend it either just because you will never know what you get. mine is quite good though. could be better though. and for the price of that one i could have gotten 4 really good synths so.
 
Forty Ounce said:
I wouldn't recommend uchis to people. They are overpriced due to hype. They are extremely inconsistent. An easy kasumi would be from aizu, or maybe chu nagura.. those tend to be much more consistent, and much less expensive.
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Do you mean use the nagura itself as the polishing stone?
 

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inferno said:
for those working with synth stones. i have tested a lot of 1k stones, and the best for kasumi haze and contrast is the 800 naniwa pro. the 1k shapton pro and the king 1k hyper (but it creates silver streaks).

this might be a bit to coarse looking for most folks. and it is quite coarse imo. then i have had good luck with the naniwa pro 2k (very good imo), glass gray 6k, cleancut 4k kitayama (probably the same stone as the bester 4k). also i have a medium hard uchigumori, but its not better than the last 3 synths its just more reproducible, because whatever i put on there i get the same result no matter how i do it or for how long.

the white glass can also produce good kasumi but its pressure sensitive. press too hard and all kasumi goes away. flush the stone, same thing.

these could be good bases for fingerstones. but i think a good uchi is the fastest and most surefire way to create a good haze over and over.
Click to expand...
How does the cerax 1000 and Rika 5000 fit into this?
 
dafox said:
How does the cerax 1000 and Rika 5000 fit into this?
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i dont have any of them. you have to try out yourself. if it creates a good kasumi then it does. easy as that.

from what i have learned a good final kasumi is built upon lower grit good kasumis. you kinda work your way up. otherwise you will lose contrast.
 
inferno said:
for those working with synth stones. i have tested a lot of 1k stones, and the best for kasumi haze and contrast is the 800 naniwa pro. the 1k shapton pro and the king 1k hyper (but it creates silver streaks).
Click to expand...
I played around with the Hyper 2k the other day, it has a similar finish to the 1k Hyper, but finer and much less silvery streaks.
 
Forty Ounce said:
I know, but you're gonna make the guy's head spin with sword polishing info. Let's keep it simple, like how I said "bench stone" and then posted a pic.
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No worries, I appreciate all the info. There's always Google for terms I'm not familiar with.
 
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