It was awesome to read this thread! Congratulations on its completion and Kudos for sharing it with us. I also have a honyaki done in mirror polish by Watanabe. It's Blue #2 steel and it had a fair share of use over the years. The blade is awesome and hasn't yet been put on stones! I've been stropping it after almost every use and it still cuts like a dream. It's not a regular use knife, but still gets to use a fair share.
I was thinking of repolishing it to the mirror again and perhaps giving a few etches cycles to bring up the hamon. Watanabe/Toyama doesn't make a wavy hamon like some smiths do, but I would still like to see if I could bring up the contrast even more.
I have previously done a few bevels and found that the sandpaper from about 80-3K grit does the quickest job for me. I am using the 3M pretty expensive paper, but it last a lot more than the cheap eBay stuff and also it tend to have a more uniform scratch pattern. Perhaps I will stick to it if it will be able to handle the hard blue #3 tempered to around 66-67 HRC.
If I will every be brave to start the project, I will certainly create a new thread and would love to get some help from you guys to guide me.
I was thinking of repolishing it to the mirror again and perhaps giving a few etches cycles to bring up the hamon. Watanabe/Toyama doesn't make a wavy hamon like some smiths do, but I would still like to see if I could bring up the contrast even more.
I have previously done a few bevels and found that the sandpaper from about 80-3K grit does the quickest job for me. I am using the 3M pretty expensive paper, but it last a lot more than the cheap eBay stuff and also it tend to have a more uniform scratch pattern. Perhaps I will stick to it if it will be able to handle the hard blue #3 tempered to around 66-67 HRC.
If I will every be brave to start the project, I will certainly create a new thread and would love to get some help from you guys to guide me.