Thread: Meat cleaver restoration

Ok a quick update.
I clayed the blade, and performed the heat treatment when I finally had my forging setup working.

Here is the blade with the clay coating:


Here is the blade after heat treatment:


And here is the blade after grinding and polishing.
It is extremely difficult to capture it properly, with the blade surface not being flat.
Also I am not yet happy with how the polishing has turned out. It is serviceable, but I am not yet satisfied. Up to 1K, the hand polishing was ok. After that I tried a BBW and a coticule, but those are really not great for Japanese style polishing. After that I tried poliching compounds on wood, which was somewhat better, but that destroyed the hazy finish I was trying for.
I dipped it in light etchant to highlight the hamon.

I also cut several fingers in the process of polishing and etching


Now I still gotta figure out how to cut the handle, and also how to get the polishing done right.

You can get a good result going up to 2k with wetndri & WD40. Then switch to some Hazuya stone to polish the hamon area . No real need to use Jizuya as it is mono steel. If you have an uchiko ball you could use the powder on paper with a little oil to polish the same area.
Repeated light acid etching & subsequent polishing can yield a pleasant enough effect too.

btw . Lookin' good

Nice! And by the way, any plans you have to take that blade to Japan....leave it at home. With the hamon, you'd never be allowed to bring it into the country. I mean, just in case this becomes a knife you have to use everyday...

Really? You can't bring blades with a Hamon into Japan?
I would think that noone would mistake this with a real Japanese blade.

This is the first time I did something like this, and I was not sure how detailed the shape of the blade would trail the clay line.
That is why I kept it simple. As you can see, the way the actual hamon matches the clay line in 1 smooth line is uncanny.
Now I just need to get my hands on more carbon steel...