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Post by ndirico on Mar 9, 2009 0:42:13 GMT
So, I bought this JWHotsteelforge tanto from their eBay store about 3 months ago for $85 shipped. I requested that they NOT wire brush the hamon after the polish and they held to their word. This blade was scary sharp when it arrived (I shaved a spot on my leg with it) and the kissaki was needle sharp; too sharp. In fact, I thrusted through a piece of cardboard with it and it bent the very tip of the kissaki and shorty after, I chipped the blade while cutting a bottle (hit the cap). SO, I said to myself, "Self, this is a perfect opportunity to try a hybrid polish." I had planned on doing this from the beginning, but I had a hard time coming to terms ruining the perfect mirror polish from the forge. I removed the chip and fixed the kissaki with a metal file and then started at 220 grit (to remove the file marks) and ended up at 1000grit. I then etched the blade with a 4:1 water/FeCl solution to bring out the initial, virtually invisible, hamon. I bought the tanto for customization experimentation really. I figure its probably best to start small (tanto v katana) when trying polishing and making tsukas/sayas for the first time. Before: After: What is that!? I'm quite pleased. This took at least 20 hours because of the whole trial/error process. I started over twice because I was not satisfied with the results.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2009 1:23:52 GMT
Way to go! It's a sweet tanto, and it looks even better after your big job.
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Post by ndirico on Mar 9, 2009 2:07:18 GMT
Thanks Ichi-I appreciate your and Slav's pointers.
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Post by musicalpoo on Mar 16, 2009 7:37:06 GMT
precious little gold fish!
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