How to Restore Hamon on Knives (particularly kitchen knives)

CWL

CWL

Joined
Sep 15, 2002
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Folks,

I have an assortment of handmade kitchen cutlery that came with hamon lines, but due to regular usage, these have become obscured by regular steel patina. Nothing wrong with the edges, they just aren't as cosmetically appealing as when new.

What would be good ways to restore the hamon short of going all out with japanese finger stones? Would flat stropping on leather or felt work? What about micro grit (2000 -4000- 10,000) sandpaper backed with wood work?

Any suggestions on materials and techniques?
 
Wouldn't a polishing agent like Mother's Mag & Aluminum Polish do the trick? My Yuna Mini Hard 2 is pretty high polished but I can see the hamon line just fine. Not sure how that works out with a differentially HT steel of the same steel type as opposed to a laminate steel though.
 
You need to first prep the surface by sanding to a very fine grit then etching with acid will reveal the hamon.
 
cwl, you can get some ferric chloride from radio shack and etch the blade to bring out the hamon again.
 
just to consolidate the first three responses since I'm unoriginal - if it is only patina and not scratches that need to be removed, then use a metal polish followed by an etchant like ferric chloride.
 
How did the Japanese do it without acid etching? I know it was done with finger stones only. I own a few Japanese swords and weapons and have also seen some national treasure quality ones up close in Japan, they have that dullish satiny sheen to the Hamon contrasting with a polished look to the rest of the blade.

I hit my Andy Takach chef's knife last night with some 3,600 and then 12,000 grit polishing pads, the patina comes off easily and the steel polishes fine, and while the hamon is very evident but just not as contrasting as when brand new. I can do the etch, I was just hoping to not have to.

add: Just looked deeper into Japanese polishing method, it's more complicated than acid etch with multiple stones, oil and ground stone dust. I think I'll hit the tech store for some FeCl, may as well restore some damascus blades that have gone dark as well.

Thanks!
 
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