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Post by samuraiguy on Mar 30, 2024 2:06:54 GMT
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Post by larason2 on Mar 31, 2024 3:26:25 GMT
Sorry to break it to you (you probably knew this), but it's not a real sashikomi. It's a textured polish. Nice sword though! A proper sashikomi looks opaque when you look straight at it (you see your reflection, but it's misty) but like a mirror if you look at it from the side. Yours looks opaque if you look at it at the side, and also straight on. Still a nice polish though! Honestly I much prefer this to the burnished to death that is standard on most swords. I like Shadow dancer's aesthetic, should buy one of their swords one day!
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Post by wildv on Mar 31, 2024 6:44:38 GMT
Sorry to break it to you (you probably knew this), but it's not a real sashikomi. It's a textured polish. Nice sword though! A proper sashikomi looks opaque when you look straight at it (you see your reflection, but it's misty) but like a mirror if you look at it from the side. Yours looks opaque if you look at it at the side, and also straight on. Still a nice polish though! Honestly I much prefer this to the burnished to death that is standard on most swords. I like Shadow dancer's aesthetic, should buy one of their swords one day! I think your wrong. Looking at the photos, it does look like this, but the light makes it look like what you mentioned. It's not actually if you zoom in and really look close!
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Post by samuraiguy on Mar 31, 2024 12:37:02 GMT
Well whatever the polish is or isn’t I love it. 😂
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Post by Cottontail Customs on Mar 31, 2024 15:04:24 GMT
they really do make some very nice looking swords
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Post by samuraiguy on Mar 31, 2024 17:46:16 GMT
they really do make some very nice looking swords I agree and I would add especially for the price.
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Post by larason2 on Mar 31, 2024 17:58:21 GMT
Sorry to break it to you (you probably knew this), but it's not a real sashikomi. It's a textured polish. Nice sword though! A proper sashikomi looks opaque when you look straight at it (you see your reflection, but it's misty) but like a mirror if you look at it from the side. Yours looks opaque if you look at it at the side, and also straight on. Still a nice polish though! Honestly I much prefer this to the burnished to death that is standard on most swords. I like Shadow dancer's aesthetic, should buy one of their swords one day! I think your wrong. Looking at the photos, it does look like this, but the light makes it look like what you mentioned. It's not actually if you zoom in and really look close! I don't think you're right. It's pretty time consuming to sashikomi a sword properly. This doesn't look like it to me. I'll try and post later a blade I've been polishing for comparison
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Post by wildv on Apr 1, 2024 1:03:33 GMT
I think your wrong. Looking at the photos, it does look like this, but the light makes it look like what you mentioned. It's not actually if you zoom in and really look close! I don't think you're right. It's pretty time consuming to sashikomi a sword properly. This doesn't look like it to me. I'll try and post later a blade I've been polishing for comparison Please do share, I also have a fair idea of what sashikomi looks like as one of my nihonto is polished in this style but I am no expert!
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Post by larason2 on Apr 4, 2024 2:33:04 GMT
Ok, thanks for your patience. The truth is it's quite tricky to photograph a sword so that the sashikomi is visible, so it may just be I'm being tricked by the photos. However, the top two photos the polish looks very uniform, and it doesn't vary in different light directions, and the ha texture is very similar to the ji, which I take to be evidence that it's a textured polish (Still open grain, however achieved by using a coarser polishing stone in different directions to get a uniform matte finish). ![](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53630875764_b39ae00979_b.jpg) ![](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53630744688_b1e580eb40_b.jpg) ![](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53630744758_2e2d46abd6_b.jpg) So this blade is a Jkoo custom I've been working on polishing with traditional Japanese stones since last November. I put a basic sashikomi (with the uchigumori stones) on it, then applied some jizuya, and I'm just trying to work out the Japanese style burnishing on the shinogi (that's why that part doesn't look quite right! You see here, the ha and the ji look different at different angles, and depending on what light or absence of light is reflecting on them. This is because at this angle, a sashikomi finish is more like a mirror. If it looks equally frosted at every angle, that's evidence it's a textured polish. ![](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53629646757_f1398dcae0_b.jpg) Here's another photo that helps drive that home. The shinogi here has a textured polish, because I haven't burnished it yet. So it looks very matte, whereas the ha and ji have a sashikomi, so they look like a frosty mirror (depending on the angle and the light, it can look matte, like a mirror, or somewhere in between. ![](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53630536411_6cc03670a9_b.jpg) That said, all three can look equally matte with the right light and angle, as it is here. So more than one angle is really necessary. ![](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53630984205_85b295bccc_b.jpg) Generally, this sort of photographic style is considered the best to see the detail, and determine if it's a proper sashikomi or not. The sword is taken on a black background in a dark room, where the only light source is the light of the camera (or phone as the case may be). The light is beamed at the sword at a slight angle. If the ha and ji are have a proper sashikomi, they will go from a matte look to black for the Ha (since it's behaving like a mirror reflecting back the black room), and for the ji, the matte look turns into a grey frosty mirror showing in good detail the lines of the jihada. A textured or frosted finish begins and ends always the same, always matte. Now, because a matte finish is unburnished, you can still get a hamon and even details of the jihada (as you can see, some jihada is visible here). However, it will never be as good as a proper sashikomi, because it is polished to a much finer degree. As a note, if the finish is acid washed/etched, as most Longquan swords are, then it will look a bit like a sashikomi, but for the ha, you'll see white lines on it, and you'll never get the deep black. For the Ji, an acid washed/etched finish will have the lines get bigger and smaller, or start then disappear, depending if there was a blotch of acid there or not. You'll also basically never see lines in the ha or shinogi, as you can see here, because they both tend to be pretty burnished. Edit: One more thing is to mention that I've seen some photos of a Longquan sitting with a big honking uchigumori stone at a polishing basin! They may think that as long as they apply the uchigumori it must be a sashikomi finish. However, if the sword isn't polished fine enough with the previous stones (which is very time consuming and difficult), the uchigumori doesn't really do anything (it polishes the top peaks of the coarse polish, which makes it look a bit finer, but you don't get a sashikomi).
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Post by Arlequin on Jun 18, 2024 22:47:04 GMT
Well whatever the polish is or isn’t I love it. 😂 You mind telling me the specs of your sword? I like big blades and this definitely looks different than there typical stock profiles
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Post by Roscoe57 on Jun 19, 2024 1:20:05 GMT
Beautiful hamon. I have never purchased from Shadow Dancer. Though I have thought about it.
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Post by Sir Thorfinn on Jun 19, 2024 2:31:22 GMT
Crucible steel? Isn't that wootz? I don't see it. What am I missing?
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Post by Arlequin on Jun 19, 2024 3:46:23 GMT
Crucible steel? Isn't that wootz? I don't see it. What am I missing? I don't think anyone has actually verified what their crucible steel is, it seems to be some mystery alloy steel they made specifically to compliment their polish so you can see some minor activity. I'm guessing this is why some had issues when they launched in 2022 with swords bending easily, Im hoping they've refined it since then, however they also seem to be offering regular 1095 now so thats an option now if you don't wanna gamble on a mystery meat blade
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Post by wildv on Jun 19, 2024 13:11:03 GMT
Crucible steel? Isn't that wootz? I don't see it. What am I missing? I don't think anyone has actually verified what their crucible steel is, it seems to be some mystery alloy steel they made specifically to compliment their polish so you can see some minor activity. I'm guessing this is why some had issues when they launched in 2022 with swords bending easily, Im hoping they've refined it since then, however they also seem to be offering regular 1095 now so thats an option now if you don't wanna gamble on a mystery meat blade I'd honestly take bending over snapping, cracking or chipping any day!
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Post by Gelue on Jun 19, 2024 14:07:41 GMT
Yeah the Chinese companies usually use crucible steel as a description for house made steel. Now what you are actually getting who knows but as far as shadowdancer goes it has more activity and the steel and hamon.
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Post by mrstabby on Jun 19, 2024 15:03:54 GMT
I mean making crucible steel isn't that hard nowdays. And they have an insentive to make it as it can be sold at a premium. I have read that china is doing a lot more of it nowdays. On higher priced swords I am less likely to doubt that it actually is crucible steel, than I am to doubt that it is good crucible steel. Would take a lot of trial and error to get the mix right - although the swords being soft in 2022 might say the steel had too little carbon it could also have been a heat treat issue.
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Post by Sir Thorfinn on Jun 19, 2024 15:59:30 GMT
The reason I asked is that I have not seen any examples of crucible (real damascus) in a polished out katana. I'm just curious what it would actually look like. Might be awesome, might be a polished t&urd.
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Post by Roscoe57 on Jun 19, 2024 16:22:26 GMT
The reason I asked is that I have not seen any examples of crucible (real damascus) in a polished out katana. I'm just curious what it would actually look like. Might be awesome, might be a polished t&urd. Z-Sey crucible steel. Tuoyuan Katana MKIII. So far with cutting used tatami mats only, I have not had any issues with edge rolling or chips. Attachments:![unnamed 5.jpg](//storage.forums.net/1694914/thumbnailer/tDLDJdnBuZOHmKaOsOIF.png)
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Post by mrstabby on Jun 19, 2024 16:30:19 GMT
Spencer Sandison Wootz knife (crucible steel) tested by knifesteelnerds: You likely can do a lot with using different alloys in the mix.
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Post by Sir Thorfinn on Jun 19, 2024 19:47:30 GMT
Z-Sey crucible steel. I can see some pattern. Not much though. And the Spencer Sandison Wootz knife looks great, but its not polished out. I want to see a real aberration, a wootz Katana in high polish....and decent pics. Gaijin heresy.... Edit: www.reddit.com/r/Blacksmith/comments/176g816/wootz_tanto/Is this the right polish, or is this just mirror from a buffer? Edit #2 I'm not hijacking this am I? Not my intent.
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