- Joined
- Dec 30, 2016
- Messages
- 1,973
- Reaction score
- 1,468
Ah, I missed that you weren't just polishing a smooth face but smoothing a hammered face. I've done re-etches on things like a Shun Classic - this is a different set of operations.
Note that anything after this point I don't have much of an idea what I'm talking about, but if I were doing it I might use my coarsest inexpensive stone to grind off the hammer marks and then use sandpaper wet to polish out the stone scratches. It sounds like there's a fair amount of metal to be removed, which means coarse abrasives and in this case I might go dry if I were using paper, though this puts more dust into the air (use a mask), and definitely with a backing pad or block.
If you want to know the thickness of the core steel, and enough is exposed near the edge to be at or close to the full thickness, you could measure there with a micrometer or calipers. Alternatively, you could paint some etchant on the spine - I noticed that even stainless-clad stainless takes etch differently and the core steel is revealed - and measure there. Keep in mind, again, that this is just stuff I've done while messing around and someone here probably actually knows the right way.
Note that anything after this point I don't have much of an idea what I'm talking about, but if I were doing it I might use my coarsest inexpensive stone to grind off the hammer marks and then use sandpaper wet to polish out the stone scratches. It sounds like there's a fair amount of metal to be removed, which means coarse abrasives and in this case I might go dry if I were using paper, though this puts more dust into the air (use a mask), and definitely with a backing pad or block.
If you want to know the thickness of the core steel, and enough is exposed near the edge to be at or close to the full thickness, you could measure there with a micrometer or calipers. Alternatively, you could paint some etchant on the spine - I noticed that even stainless-clad stainless takes etch differently and the core steel is revealed - and measure there. Keep in mind, again, that this is just stuff I've done while messing around and someone here probably actually knows the right way.