# Knife thinning - visual aspect



## krx927 (Feb 4, 2015)

Hi experts! I have a few questions about thinning of the knives and hope you can help me out.

Until now I did not attend to do any thinning as I was afraid I will destroy the looks/finish of my knives. Finally I said I need to tackle this and I tried out on my cheap knife that I use for sharpening practice.

As I was afraid the looks of the knife are really bad after thinning. The knife looks like it would come out of a war zone 

Do you have any tips on how to restore the looks/finish after thinning?

Yesterday I thinned this knife with 250/400/1000 stones. Today I am planning to finish it with 3000 and 8000. The spots where I am removing the material will for sure look nicer, but as you can see from the pics it will not restore original finish / look good...

In the pics you can see quite a few hollow spots (darker parts). I expect that this will not happen on my proper knives and is just a problem of this cheap Tojiro. But also the spots where I was removing material are not uniformly finished and the looks considerably different. Every section looks different. I am afraid that when I polish this with high grid stones the result will still look bad/ non uniformly.
I hope this can be seen from my pics

I also have an issue with the part towards the spine at the end of secondary bevel (where shinogi line is). I can see that I cannot control where I abrade the material and thus make complete mess on this part of the knife.
I imagine that on the knife with different grind with more expressed secondary bevel this problem would not be so big. But on my knives with convex grind where there is no expressed secondary bevel and shinogi line does not exist (I suppose this is correct statement / at least you do not see it) this would lead to really bad results  visually (like on Watanbe or Akifusa gyutos).

I would really appreciate some tips on the visual aspect of thinning and how to correct it afterwards. From the functional aspect I think my thinning is OK  I am removing material from secondary bevel and getting the thinning I want. 
But it looks horrible! 

I have one Miyabi 7000MCD that urgently needs thinning. But if I do what I did with this Tojiro it will be just terrible. On top that knife is Damascus so I suppose the visual effect will be even worse.


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## icanhaschzbrgr (Feb 4, 2015)

If you want a quick and easy solution  then grab some sandpaper and use it to refinish whole blade. 240/400/600 grit IMO would be enough. Shouldn't take more than 20-30 minutes and your knife would look better than new.


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## krx927 (Feb 4, 2015)

And what would you suggest in which direction should I use sand paper? Perpendicular to the blade like I was thinning or parallel?


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## icanhaschzbrgr (Feb 4, 2015)

krx927 said:


> And what would you suggest in which direction should I use sand paper? Perpendicular to the blade like I was thinning or parallel?



That's IMO mostly depends on your own preferences. I prefer polishing parallel to the edge, because find it a bit simpler and more appealing. Whatever direction you'll settle on, you'll quickly see how scratches pattern looks like, so you will quickly learn long swipes to make scratch pattern look more even.
Actually I've just remembered an even quicker way of restoring finish: c powder from JNS. Don't be fooled by low grit number  this thing works super fast and results are good enough for any double bevel guyto. On a single bevel yanagi you'll probably want a more polished look, but on your Tojiro this powder will works great. And you'll need about 1 minute per side (no kidding. This thing is fast)


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## Geo87 (Feb 4, 2015)

krx927 said:


> And what would you suggest in which direction should I use sand paper? Perpendicular to the blade like I was thinning or parallel?



Usually there are already sanding marks on the blade in a certain direction. IMO you want to follow along with the direction that is already there. 

But yes it's very easy to remove thinning scratches with sandpaper it shouldn't take long at all


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## chinacats (Feb 4, 2015)

Ask those spots on the blade are due to the original poor grind...You shouldn't see this issue with better knives. As suggested, a quick run thru a few different grits of sandpaper should clean things up nicely.


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## gic (Feb 4, 2015)

What's the equivalent of c powder in the US?? Who sells it?


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## Sabaki (Feb 4, 2015)

those grindingmarks look a bit uneven... a bit wobbly maybe? are you holding the knife correctly with secondary bevel flat on to the stone at a 45 degree angle with your index finger on the spine and thumb down on the bevel to make it stable as possible and then rise the spine to your selected angle and start grinding.

a lot of practice is required getting proper result, keep it up:thumbsup:

hope it makes any sense

edit: it was thinning you where aiming for so keep it flat and check bevel regulrarly!


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## berko (Feb 4, 2015)

> What's the equivalent of c powder in the US??



looks like silicon carbide, try ebay.


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## mkriggen (Feb 4, 2015)

Like previously mentioned, looks like you overshot the secondary bevel a bit. Slow down and concentrat on keeping that wide secondary bevel flat on the stones. It will probably take a few sessions before you start to get a consistent scratch pattern as most wide bevels are slightly concave from the maker. As far as prettying it up goes, it's sandpaper, abrasive/polishing powder, or finger stones. Personally, I wouldn't bother until you get the bevel evened out, then you should only have to do it once.

Be well,
Mikey


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## Matus (Feb 4, 2015)

I think the point made by Mikey with first getting the wide bevel even on stones before going to some finer surface finish is spot on.


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## Luvwine (Feb 4, 2015)

I am a newbie sharpener too. Just wanted to say thanks for this thread both for the OP who was brave enough to post his beginning work, and for the contributors who have been nothing but helpful--both the OP and to me.


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## rick_english (Feb 4, 2015)

This probably goes too much toward perfectionism, but if you take the handle off you can clamp the blade to a piece of wood and do a much better job of refinishing it.


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## TB_London (Feb 4, 2015)

Jump back to the 250 and even it out a bit. As you're using it for practice, getting better at holding a steady angle and being consistent will stand you in good stead in the long run.

Once it's even you can then either polish it up on the stones, which looks good for laminated blades
http://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/showthread.php/4440-Carter-refinishing?highlight=

Or use sandpaper to even out the finish over the whole blade. Working handle to tip until you get a uniform scratch pattern.


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## krx927 (Feb 6, 2015)

Thanks for all the answers.. 

I will try first sand paper or even buy some silicon carbide. 

For the secondary bevel: indeed I was not paying too much attention to the angle when tinning. I was expecting that it will remain more even as the knife was sitting on the stones more flat. 
Also good to know that I should not expect such issue because of hollow grind on better knives. Perhaps uneven grind is also the reason of my overshoot of secondary bevel?

No issues: it's a practice knife. I will now first test the sanding to get it looking OK and then I will just repeat the thinning to see if I can get better result for the secondary bevel issue.
I will never improve if I will not practice


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## Seth (Feb 6, 2015)

Also, if it hasn't been mentioned, be cognizant of where you are putting your left hand fingers (if you are righty) as this is a primary factor in where metal gets removed.


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## krx927 (Feb 25, 2015)

I was following your advice and used some 800+1200 sand paper. Unfortunately I could not do single strokes through the blade and I needed to split it in 2 parts. Result is still pretty good, big improvement:


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## Mute-on (Feb 25, 2015)

Looks great! Nice work :thumbsup:


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## Benuser (Feb 25, 2015)

+1


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## wphill (Feb 26, 2015)

Three cheers for newbies...i'm one. Been there. Might consider using a black marker to lock in the angle. There will be a next time. Keep learning from effort to effort. Good point made about where the fingers go on the blade. I used w/d sand paper progression. Automotive supply was the best source. Cut out 3x4cm and cemented to white packing foam wrap. Made to fit on the fingers. But,
heck, your results are top notch. Thinning has been a huge part of improving my game. Another tool is a caliper to check consistency of the grind and I got an led lamp light to aid my aging 
eyes. Sunlight is best.


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