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| A quick Polishing tutorial Authored By Terry Raw on Mar 23rd, 2007 |
Ok start with 600 W/D or a stone of that grit with your hand on the Mune so you don't lose fingers, go from nakago to yokote DO NOT polish the kissaki /boshi mask off if you have to progress up the blade in short strokes back and forward till all marks are removed then use one single stroke tang to tip none stop, light pressure decreasing the pressure (I use a block of Balser wood from the model shop when using Wet and Dry paper this conforms to the blade)   Be sure not to rub the ridge line(shinogiji) just do the cutting edge first below the shinogi repeat with 800-1200-1500 finishing with 2000 use nothing but CLEAN water ,( add some Bicarb Soda to the polishing water to keep it alkaline stopping the blade from going rusty while you polish)the Hamon if it's real will be visible but not as a white contrast ,, then do above the shinogi the same way , (the kissaki is done separately ). Then useing HAZUYA stone ground as thin as paper ( rub it wet on another piece of Hazuya the resulting paste is used on the blade to help the Hazuya do its work more efficiently this is done again from tang to tip using your thumb to guide the hazuya in short back and forward movements moving only very little towards the kissaki.   It is a long process about 3 to 4 days or until you are happy ( what you are doing is leaving scratches a little bigger than the 2000 so it shows up as a white contrast follow the Hamon as close as possible some make the Hazuya round make sure no edges are sharp (I rub it on 1200 every time i feel a rough scratchy feeling,)  Keep the stone wet don't over do the water just a drip from the finger now and again and dont forget the mud on the blade to help the cutting action the kissaki is then masked off from the rest of the blade and and done from shinogi line to cutting edge from yokote to tip still moving shinogi to cutting edge and moving sideways to the tip ever so small so the strokes overlap without any visible demarcation lines movements when finished polish the hamon very carefully, degrease the blade before starting and wash in water, the same after you finish get some oil of cloves from the chemists and oil the blade very lightly. Here you can see (dam hard to photograph) the progress made in a few minutes, as Terry says, it takes a few days to do a tanto properly  Added Note: Just a word the above tutorial is for those wishing to polish a blade that just has scratches,, "NOT" from foundation polish this is a whole different kettle of fish again as shinogi and yokote lines are set in place at the foundation stage , and should be done by the smith or a polisher as this is most important stage most damage is done at this stage ,, thanks for a good day and chat & tutorial Ron much appreciated mate , i just hope this gives some insight into the whole "just bung steel in the forge and polish it" idea some folks get about making a blade by hand Ed Note: Heres a pic of an ingenious blade holder Terry has made, the blade he was polishing here is a reject blade that cracked in the quench, with a good blade a piece of clean soft cloth would be under the blade to stop the other side from getting scratched.  |
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