# KASUMI on a KATO !?!



## nutmeg (Jan 14, 2020)

kkf-fellows, 
2020 is bringing epic challenges





will I succeed? :-/

to be continued..


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## Matus (Jan 14, 2020)

C’mon, we all know you will


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## nutmeg (Jan 14, 2020)

Matus said:


> C’mon, we all know you will


it‘s gonna be tough :-/


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## madelinez (Jan 14, 2020)

I'm looking forward to seeing this!


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## brooksie967 (Jan 14, 2020)

Following! Ben, you always do insane work!


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## TSF415 (Jan 14, 2020)

nutmeg said:


> it‘s gonna be tough :-/


If you can’t do it nobody can


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## Garner Harrison (Jan 14, 2020)

Cant wait to see pictures!


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## Kai (Jan 14, 2020)

Best way to start the year, with a (soon to be) triumph


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## DanielC (Jan 14, 2020)

Goodluck


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## Luftmensch (Jan 15, 2020)

Matus said:


> C’mon, we all know you will



My thoughts exactly! @nutmeg never ceases to impress


... Love the teasers though.


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## brooksie967 (Jan 15, 2020)

WHERE'S THE UPDATE?


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## Etilah (Jan 18, 2020)

A most interesting subject...


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## nutmeg (Jan 18, 2020)

brooksie967 said:


> WHERE'S THE UPDATE?


Hey my friend, no need to be loud!
Quality takes time and YOU know this very, very well


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## nutmeg (Jan 18, 2020)

It's a Kato..

That means it comes with a nice garden tool finish out of the box. 
Easily recognizable by its naughty vertical lines. Biggest hassle that makes anyone wonder if he/she should begin the job.


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## nutmeg (Jan 18, 2020)

So what's the plan, now?!

Sandpaper? Synth? Jnats? Finger stones?!


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## nutmeg (Jan 18, 2020)

With Kato, we are lucky that the blade hasn't any low spots or say, disturbing low spot.

We want to erase the lines quick, prepare the blade to a nice kasumi finish but we don't want to destroy the geometry, right?


I began with an Atoma 600 diamond plate. Fast, not to destructive and takes his flattness forever. 
I go diagonal to the axis of the edge, that way I can see precisely where the lines disappear
Using a marker pen may be used in order to be effective without removing too much metal at the same place.


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## nutmeg (Jan 18, 2020)

hmm.. by the way, don't think you'll be able to erase these small lines with the next finer stone


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## nutmeg (Jan 18, 2020)

Done! 





As little as possible, as much as needed..




..so the geometry is safe and the beloved kanji remains CrisPy


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## nutmeg (Jan 18, 2020)

That was the first step but an important one!


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## Luftmensch (Jan 19, 2020)

nutmeg said:


>



Can't wait to get more context.... Looks like an ura!


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## drsmp (Jan 19, 2020)

nutmeg said:


> don't think you'll be able to erase these small lines w



do you touch up just the area with residual finish/lines or the whole face of the blade?


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## nutmeg (Jan 22, 2020)

drsmp said:


> do you touch up just the area with residual finish/lines or the whole face of the blade?


A Kato is not totally flat so you can't hit the surface with a stroke on the stone.
So, yes I removed the lines step by step and controlled the process using a marker pen in order to not remove too much metal at the same place.


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## nutmeg (Jan 22, 2020)

My friends, there was a sad time when I discovered my beloved synth AI 1000 was only 2mm thin. 
I was really afraid to not be able to finish the next step in a comfortable way.. 
And that made me so angry because I forgot to order a new one!


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## nutmeg (Jan 22, 2020)

But good news: #1000 step has became very successful and we can now look at the results together. 

*The goal was to remove all scratches from the #600 diamond plate. *

_But how to check they are all gone?_
#600 has been done diagonal to the axis of blade length, so we do now #1000 strictly parallel to the axis of the blade length.
Easy isn't it? 


So, here it is. And in ultra-macro:



fallout vault list





The middle third of the picture is the core only:






_You may feel worried about how deep the #1000 scratches really are.._
Don't..!!! If the color was more homogeneous, one could even let the blade like this and be happy with the condition.









Bellow, with exaggerated light coming perpendicular to the scratch pattern.
Not sharper, ok. But closer than a naked eye can see.


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## khashy (Jan 22, 2020)

nutmeg said:


> But good news: #1000 step has became very successful and we can now look at the results together.
> 
> *The goal was to remove all scratches from the #600 diamond plate. *
> 
> ...



Holy moly dude! Already looking incredible!


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## Matus (Jan 22, 2020)

Cool, keep it coming. 

I am just curious - how much of this kind of work can Atoma 600 handle during its lifetime?


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## nutmeg (Jan 22, 2020)

Matus said:


> Cool, keep it coming.
> 
> I am just curious - how much of this kind of work can Atoma 600 handle during its lifetime?


no limit


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## nutmeg (Jan 22, 2020)

Jnats are very hard material. 
There could be some exceptions I still don't know but Jnats hardness should be in the same ball park as iron.
I could flatten the thickness of more than 1 meter of stones with an AI#220.. And with more than 20kg pressure! So I am confident that the Ai#220 could handle more jobs like this than 10 people could do in their life.
Though I've only used the Atoma for knife repair so I can't talk about its life time or any of its limits now.
Let's see in 5 or 10 years... I'll let you guys know when mine died


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## krstf (Jan 22, 2020)

Amazing work, thanks for taking the time and effort to describe and document!


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## domrun (Jan 22, 2020)

On the way to the next step ...
AI 2000 ?


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## nutmeg (Jan 22, 2020)

domrun said:


> On the way to the next step ...
> AI 2000 ?



2000 points!

It was sometimes hard to see it the scratches from #1000 have been removed, so I took my time..
And finally 

The size of the scratches is now very small. 

On this part for example, the scratches are not visible or only with very special light conditions.
(This pictures is not what a human sees):




Here, the scratches are more visible but once again the part on the picture is extremely small. You can compare this to a microscope:


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## Kitchen-Samurai (Jan 22, 2020)

I guess those 10 minutes are over now...!


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## nutmeg (Jan 22, 2020)

Sorry guys, I'm afraid the blade isn't *epic* enough for a beauty contest yet...






So.. what's next?


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## nutmeg (Jan 22, 2020)

*Next steps in 69 minutes..!*


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## Briochy (Jan 22, 2020)

What's up slappers


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## Briochy (Jan 23, 2020)

A noobie question here, but can you get a kasumi finish with sandpapers?


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## ma_sha1 (Jan 23, 2020)

No, you need a stone that is softer than the Hagon so it’ll only affect the cladding not the core steel.


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## Luftmensch (Jan 23, 2020)

nutmeg said:


> Sorry guys, I'm afraid the blade isn't *epic* enough for a beauty contest yet...



Exacting standards.... 

Very interested to see how this turns out. I have endeavoured to replicate the "garden tool finish" when thinning behind the edge. It will be great to see what the kasumi option looks like


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## Joao lourenco (Jan 25, 2020)

My goodness!!! Nutmeg!your work is amazing!!


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## nutmeg (Jan 27, 2020)

Briochy said:


> What's up slappers



What's up, polishers ?!

_Previous steps haven't been sooo exciting.._
Now glad to leave those plastic stones and put the blade on real ones 
(In advance, sorry for the image quality. Light hasn't been my best friend today..)

So, let's move forward with my softest Ohira uchigumori.
This is a very, very, very soft one! The softest. It gives a perfect white haze on the core and on honyaki but still a bit coarse/soft for clad as finisher.
Anyway, the blade is slowly coming into the Kasumi area AND THIS IS COOL..


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## nutmeg (Jan 27, 2020)

closer..


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## Briochy (Jan 27, 2020)

nutmeg said:


> What's up, polishers ?!


I take that as you didn't get the reference. Anyway, amazing work you've done there. How much do you reckon you've spent just for polishing this knife?


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## nutmeg (Jan 27, 2020)

Briochy said:


> I take that as you didn't get the reference. Anyway, amazing work you've done there. How much do you reckon you've spent just for polishing this knife?


Actually, without being a fan, this guy made me like the bass.. wich is a cool thing as soul/funk/jazz/hip hop lover.

No idea, how long.. I took so much time trying to use my new lenses for the pictures that it seems to be an eternity!


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## Briochy (Jan 27, 2020)

No, I meant in terms of money, like how much did this cost you?


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## friz (Jan 27, 2020)

Are you using now a full size stone uchigomori or finger stones?


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## nutmeg (Jan 27, 2020)

Briochy said:


> No, I meant in terms of money, like how much did this cost you?


Jnats don't last forever but I don't see them become thiner over the years.


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## lemeneid (Jan 27, 2020)

friz said:


> Are you using now a full size stone uchigomori or finger stones?


Knowing nutmeg, its probably hugeass boulder sized uchis.


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## nutmeg (Jan 27, 2020)

friz said:


> Are you using now a full size stone uchigomori or finger stones?


This is full size Uchigumori.


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## nutmeg (Jan 27, 2020)

lemeneid said:


> Knowing nutmeg, its probably hugeass boulder sized uchis.


Actually not! This one is say 170*70*30 mm so, very comfortable size but not huge.
The next one is 120*70*20mm and believe it or not, I didn't feel any size limitation with a350mm blade.


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## lemeneid (Jan 27, 2020)

nutmeg said:


> Actually not! This one is say 170*70*30 mm so, very comfortable size but not huge.
> The next one is 120*70*20mm and believe it or not, I didn't feel any size limitation with the 350mm blade.


Thats actually a really nice size for a stone if you ask me. I love taller and wider stones as opposed to long ones as I don't use long strokes that often.


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## nutmeg (Jan 27, 2020)

lemeneid said:


> Thats actually a really nice size for a stone if you ask me. I love taller and wider stones as opposed to long ones as I don't use long strokes that often.


Totally agree. 
I find there are stones that don't perform well is a situation but never because of the size.


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## nutmeg (Jan 27, 2020)

Only the taste matters, not the size..


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## Luftmensch (Jan 28, 2020)

nutmeg said:


> The next one is 120*70*20mm and believe it or not, I didn't feel any size limitation with the 350mm blade.



Nah.... I mean.... whoa.... Hold the phone buddy. Dont be casually droppin' nuggets like that.... all casual and $h!t like its a regular day at the office! 350mm sir!??!

Thats one big arse Kato!





nutmeg said:


> Now glad to leave those plastic stones



What was your final synthetic grit?



nutmeg said:


> Anyway, the blade is slowly coming into the Kasumi area and THIS IS COOL..



A true maestro! I look forward to the end result!


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## plluke (Jan 28, 2020)

I don’t have anything constructive to add except to say that these @nutmeg threads are always fascinating and really educational, especially when there are pics of each step. Knowing that I need patience is one thing but seeing exactly what each well executed step looks like is incredibly cool and useful!


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## nutmeg (Jan 28, 2020)

Luftmensch said:


> Nah.... I mean.... whoa.... Hold the phone buddy. Dont be casually droppin' nuggets like that.... all casual and $h!t like its a regular day at the office! 350mm sir!??!
> 
> Thats one big arse Kato!
> 
> ...



Thanks for your comment! I'm excited to see the end result too..

This Kato is a 240mm. The 350mm was a yanagiba honyaki from Okishiba Masakuni.

The final synth grit was 2k on Ai#2000 / Shapton pro.


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## Luftmensch (Jan 28, 2020)

nutmeg said:


> This Kato is a 240mm.



Gee... Too bad... just a "boring, plain-jane" 240mm kato 



nutmeg said:


> The 350mm was a yanagiba honyaki from Okishiba Masakuni.



Ahhhh.... who could forget? 




nutmeg said:


> I'm excited to see the end result too..



I hope there is a twist at the end! Like some clouds or banding in the cladding... I suspect not though. Still... lets wait and see.



By the way...



nutmeg said:


> I took so much time trying to use my new lenses for the pictures that it seems to be an eternity!



A+ photography. You're doing your work a great service by documenting it so well. It is easy to take for granted how well you have photographed your subjects.... kudos for taking the time.


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## Garner Harrison (Jan 28, 2020)

Just have a question for you if you have any advice for me, how would you polish the hira on a knife with a heavy distilled taper? It doesn't work if I place it flat on the stone towards the handle


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## nutmeg (Jan 29, 2020)

Luftmensch said:


> I hope there is a twist at the end! Like some clouds or banding in the cladding... I suspect not though. Still... lets wait and see.



I am thinking about a broken tip.


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## nutmeg (Jan 29, 2020)

Garner Harrison said:


> Just have a question for you if you have any advice for me, how would you polish the hira on a knife with a heavy distilled taper? It doesn't work if I place it flat on the stone towards the handle


You can do sand paper + finger stones but sand paper is not as clean as benchstones so you have to take your time.
And you're going to need more finger stones.


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## Luftmensch (Jan 29, 2020)

nutmeg said:


> I am thinking about a broken tip.



Ha! Noooo!

Given its a Kato... that might not be such a surprise!


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## nutmeg (Feb 4, 2020)

..What's NEXT..?


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## Midsummer (Feb 4, 2020)

Watching closely, have been thinking of doing the same thing (Kasumi on a Kato). 

And then the master walks in. I must see where this goes.....


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## nutmeg (Feb 4, 2020)

A step finer!
Some love on a middle soft Ohira uchigumori bench stone and we're is now in the kasumi zone, my friends.

With low res and a cool light, the blade could get a couple of likes on Instagram but this hasn't been our plan..


..So, with harsch light in order to show the scratches more deeply:








Heavy crop:







Heavy crop:


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## nutmeg (Feb 4, 2020)

Midsummer said:


> Watching closely, have been thinking of doing the same thing (Kasumi on a Kato).
> 
> And then the master walks in. I must see where this goes.....


hehe.. Katos and Shigs are the most flipped knives.
But also the most pimped.
These blades are hand made and therefore unique. I'm also excited to see where this one is going.


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## lemeneid (Feb 4, 2020)

nutmeg said:


> hehe.. Katos and Shigs are the most flipped knives.
> But also the most pimped.
> These blades are hand made and therefore unique. I'm also excited to see where this one is going.


After this is all done, you could probably flip this for a Kato dammy


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## nutmeg (Feb 5, 2020)

lemeneid said:


> After this is all done, you could probably flip this for a Kato dammy



Actually, I'm polishing this knife for someone else!
..and he is not planing to sale/trade it. (or maybe for a reasonable offer, like $69k )


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## Badgertooth (Feb 5, 2020)

Incredible watching this take shape Benjamin


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## Luftmensch (Feb 5, 2020)

Badgertooth said:


> Incredible watching this take shape Benjamin





Always nice to see praise from one craftsman to another


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## pd7077 (Feb 5, 2020)

Loving this thread. I’ve been working on a white 240 standard for a friend for the past month or so.


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## Luke_G (Feb 6, 2020)

nutmeg said:


> Actually, I'm polishing this knife for someone else!
> ..and he is not planing to sale/trade it. (or maybe for a reasonable offer, like $69k )



The owner of the knife is a lucky guy 
The knife is looking spectacular!


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## Johnny.B.Good (Feb 6, 2020)

Very cool.


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## nutmeg (Feb 7, 2020)

Before we continue with sexy pics..
Here is a video where you can see the slightly convex bevel refined on a Nakayama Asagi.
I sharpened the blade like this with every stone during the progression, with leading and trailing strokes.
This hard stone is a contrast killer but makes a very, very fine edge.


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## nutmeg (Mar 12, 2020)

Hi again, dear kasumi friends


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## nutmeg (Mar 12, 2020)

now, let's go into the finger stones zone...




and hopefully get a sexy blade


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## nutmeg (Mar 12, 2020)

This is an extremely serious step on a gyuto.
The set up has to be SOLID!


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## Briochy (Mar 12, 2020)

Be careful of Corona plz.


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## Johnny.B.Good (Mar 12, 2020)

These pictures are incredible. 

I'm curious about your camera setup!


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## nutmeg (Mar 12, 2020)

Johnny.B.Good said:


> These pictures are incredible.
> 
> I'm curious about your camera setup!


Thanks!
For macro I use a Canon 5d2, a Laowa Apo 100mm and a fancy Canon 90mm tilt shift 2.8.
This later gives crazy (unnatural) depths of field.
Here at f4:


image to url


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## Matt Zilliox (Mar 12, 2020)

what a pretty stone that is!


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## lemeneid (Mar 13, 2020)

That iromono is sexy!


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## nutmeg (Mar 13, 2020)

What's next?!


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## nutmeg (Mar 13, 2020)

The knife's owner wanted a mirror core so I bet on a strong contrast with a matte clad.
Mirror looks totally black and a matte clad, very bright.
Btw if you put oil or water on the blade or if you just tilt it, the clad may turn dark and the mirror depends on what it is reflecting.

Here for example, the clad is the brightest you can find.
But you can see the grease from my fingers makes the blade looks darker on some parts. It also depends on how bright is the reflection on the core.


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## nutmeg (Mar 13, 2020)

Anyway, I took my softest finger stones and got this on the Kato:




The focus is exactly on the blade surface, around the lamination line:


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## nutmeg (Mar 13, 2020)

What's next?!


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## nutmeg (Mar 14, 2020)

nutmeg said:


> What's next?!



Nothing. 
Or just some cleaning on the Kanji.
Anyway, not perfect, but good enough to stop here.

And for several reasons:

_I find the result "good enough" for my conscience.

_A finer scratch pattern means much time and an unlimited time wasn't possible for this project.

_The knife is going to be used...
Kasumi on a single bevel can be perfectly maintained with a one JNAT-set, and this on a long term.
On a gyuto it's virtually impossible to maintain. Usually it will get patina very soon.
Thinning the blade is going to ruin the finish etc.


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## nutmeg (Mar 14, 2020)

_Done!
Not a bad timing, it's my birthday .

So I can trade my Corona beer for some champagne!_


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## McMan (Mar 14, 2020)

Happy birthday dude!
Kato or no Kato, that's a nice Kasumi.
This was a fun thread to watch progress.


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## friz (Mar 14, 2020)

Good job mate!!


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## nutmeg (Mar 14, 2020)

Thanks!
this was at the beginning


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## Matt Zilliox (Mar 14, 2020)

happy birthday and awesome job. i need some finger stones now


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## nutmeg (Mar 14, 2020)

Matt Zilliox said:


> happy birthday and awesome job. i need some finger stones now


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## nutmeg (Mar 14, 2020)

*What's next?! the master trick! *

How could we turn this very bright clad and dark core ....




into a very dark clad and bright core?


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## nutmeg (Mar 17, 2020)

And here is the trick..:



So, is a clad turning bright or dark when polished on a Jnat?


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## Matt Zilliox (Mar 17, 2020)

ahahahahaha, good trick


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## M1k3 (Mar 17, 2020)

nutmeg said:


> And here is the trick..:
> 
> 
> 
> So, is a clad turning bright or dark when polished on a Jnat?




Depends on ones perspective.


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## nutmeg (Mar 17, 2020)

M1k3 said:


> Depends on ones perspective.


Yes I often read people looking for a "dark haze on the clad", wich is a bit confusing.


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