NOOB in need of help

S

Silent123

Joined
Oct 30, 2010
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7
I am going to go straight to the point. Im a noob, never made a knife, though I read a lot, i mean for months, I am mainly interested in swords(japanese style blades)

So recently some sunobes I ordered arrived at my door. Good thing about them, bevels and edges are all nicely done and crisp.

I started sanding them down using regular hybrid polish method, everything is going great, all my bevels are still pretty crisp so I havent destroyed anything.

My Problem: I started with 220 grit rhynowet sandpaper, working the katana in sections, then I noticed half 30 min almost no scracthes from machinery grinding have gone away.

So I take 220 grit out and get 120grit, with 120grit rhynowet ,after 3/4 hours I almost finished one side of the blade, still from what I read I must only start with next grit once all scratches from previous grit are gone, since previous grit is machine, some scratches are pretty deep and hard to get off.

My question is I am supose to remove all those machine scratches off with 120grit before going to 220 grit right?

I really hope this deep scratches are the ones harder to get off blades, cause 4 hours each grit is gonna kill my arms.

Good thing is I already can see hamon on the full finished 120grit part. Steel C105w2.
 
Yeah, for a decent polish job I must remove those deep scratches out, thats what I though too. Judging from it I just hope after all those deep scratches are gone I dont have to sand so deeply and it will be faster progressing throw all other grits.
 
It will go faster as you get higher in grits. I use wd40 while sanding. If the original scratches are 60 then 120 is a good place to start.
 
The basic shaping has been done for you by the smith on your sunobe blade. He used an arato stone or a coarse grinding belt. These leave deep scratches.

Now you have to set the foundation and smooth it up. When you start the shitaji-togi the first stones (or grits if using papers) can take days in some cases. If the smith left a flat and fairly even surface, it goes faster. If you have already got it flat and smooth in four hours, you are doing very well. Once the foundation is established, going up the grits will be much faster.

I figure twenty minutes per inch of blade length for the foundation grits of 120 and 180; ten minutes per inch is good for the grits 220 and 400; and 5 minutes per inch from 400-2000. In the shiagi-togi, time is not predictable, as it goes at its own speed. Normally, shiagi-togi takes a couple days to a week for a katana. Whatever the rate of polishing you work at - don't move on until all the coarser grit marks are gone. Deep scratches left behind don't polish away with the next grits - they just get worse and worse looking as the steel surface gets smoother and smoother.


The best tips I can give you to speed things up are:

**** - Use good light. You need white light in the 5K to 6.5K spectrum. You need both direct and indirect light. The new LED lights that fit in your old fluorescent ceiling lamps are great for polishing. Wearing a magnifier hood ( Optivisor) is a good idea, too.

1) Use a solid backing block when sanding. Folding the paper and sanding with just your fingers will round things a lot.
2) Use the paper wet. In a gallon of water put a teaspoon of dish soap and a tablespoon of baking soda. This makes a lubricating soft water that will also retard the flash rust you can get in polishing. Dip the paper in this water often and keep it wet all the time. Re-dip if the slurry starts to get dry or pasty. Wipe/wash off the blade regularly with a wet cloth when polishing to keep grit from building up and spalling.
3) Wash everything between grits. Wash the blade off, wash and rinse the oke and make up new soft water mix, change the towels and any cloths or pads you are working on. Hose off the togi-dai if you can. Final step before the next grit is to thoroughly wash your hands.
4) Use good paper. The Rhyno-wet you have is a good choice. Use it like it was free. Change it whenever the progress slows down. Cut the paper into small pieces or strips to fit your block. Store the strips in a zip-lock bag with the grit size written on it. Keep the bag sealed to keep stray grit out.
5) Don't try to speed things up by pressing harder or working too long. Take breaks, flex your hands, get a sandwich, etc. Drink lots of water.

6) In doing the shiagi-togi, make-up removal pads ( cosmetic aisle of the drug store) work superb for the polishing and hamon work.
 
I use "windex" glass cleaner, I could try silicone oil, or vegeable oil. But thats not what troubles me :p Good to know after those deep nasty scracthes ares polished I can work faster.
When I get to 400 I willl take some photos of it =)

He used a belt sander, but blade its fully shaped , yeah like I said everything is crisp bevels, just need to finish with those deep scracthes to start seeing the real polish results.Good thing is I havd 50 sheets of 120grit Rhynowet, It will be enough for all 3 blades.

I use solid wood sanding block =). The ideia of cleaning blade eatch grit is rly important to clean the abresive residuo from previous bigger grit and avoid scratch, nice tip =)
 
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