Thoughts on polishing.

Ive been in a Japanese mood lately, and watched some videos on the sword smithing process. The polishing part takes up to two weeks to complete. Beyond looks it stated that it makes the cut cleaner. Sorta like a hairless swimmer. Sorry for the gross anology.

Heres how this relates to razors in my mind. At the 1k level we establish a bevel, at the 4k level we "hone" and sharpen the blade, and at the 8k level we polish. But we keep going much farther than just 8k in most cases. Why? My thoughts are that because a razor is a shearing action you want to remove as much resistenace from the cut as possible. Low drag means that the hair isnt getting pulled, and then more comfortable. This might have been covered, but this is just my thoughts.

We say polishing however there is more than the physical polishing going on because it makes the razor more comfortable to use and increases the keenness of the razor. That's what I've found.

Japanese swordmakers use an incredible number of different stones to polish up their swords and many of these stones cost more than some of our entire razor collections.

Hi JonnyO.

polishing for a cleaner cut-ie, less resistance- is only a side benefit not means to an end. Loosing an arm to a rusty, rough finished sword is almost as easy. The sharpness of the cutting edge for martial intent is established quite early in the process.

Polishing to reveal structures within the hamon developed, you might say, as a sort of proof that things had been properly done.