# Nobumitsu Betsuatsurae (special order) 180mm Deba



## florinbaiduc (Jul 22, 2015)

Hi all, I just got this old and used 180mm deba made by Nobumitsu (retailed by miki-japan). Just for the geeks around here, it is made in a traditional Yasugi #2 shirogami hagane, and the blade has about 10.5mm at it's thickest part, where it meets the handle. The handle's hilt is water buffalo horn. Over the neext week or so, I will try and get this as good looking as possible (and depending on the hamon, leave it a #10000 mirror or even do a kasumi. Any suggestions and comments are welcome  .


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## Godslayer (Jul 23, 2015)

Mirror is probably the best bet. Or would be sick if you only polished up to thé hamon and left thé rest a little rougher. After that sharpen the ol girl toss on a micro and she should be a beast. I always wanted a deba but cant jusify it on thé grounds of i only go fishings once a year lol. Anyways keep us posted i love these threads.


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## florinbaiduc (Jul 23, 2015)

Oh, one does not need many reasons for owning such a kukri - errr deba, I meant deba  . The blade is so pleasantly thick and heavy, and they are useful for chopping frozen beef or chicken. There are some rusty points on it almost all over the blade. That kind of forces me to touch it up, and once that started, I tend to continue up to at least #1000-1500. But yes, I'll try and see what polishing the kiriba to a mirror will bring...


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## rick_english (Jul 23, 2015)

Really looking forward to seeing this.


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## chiffonodd (Jul 23, 2015)

Very cool. Any idea why has been written on the handle?


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## florinbaiduc (Jul 23, 2015)

Yes, it says:
&#21029;&#35458; - betsuatsurae (extra customised)
&#23567;&#37723;&#20918; &#35488;&#20809;&#20316; - kokaji Nobumitsu (Nobumitsu small blacksmithing) - the same as on the blade


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## ecchef (Jul 23, 2015)

"...chopping frozen beef or chicken" :eyebrow:


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## florinbaiduc (Jul 23, 2015)

ecchef said:


> "...chopping frozen beef or chicken" :eyebrow:



Yep, I'm (ab)using another one exactly for this task (going through frozen meat)... Nothing has exploded, yet  . Good deba knifes are made to be incredibly resilient, true, they won't sharpen to stupidly sharp levels (but you can still shave with one), but they won't really mind household freezer level kept meat...


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## florinbaiduc (Jul 23, 2015)

tt


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## florinbaiduc (Jul 23, 2015)

tt - posted by mistake, I don't know how to remove a reply  ...


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## florinbaiduc (Jul 23, 2015)

Hmm, this knife has big geometry problems, not helped by the person maintaining it before me 





Anyway, thus is how it looks after three hours (spine up to #1500, rust removed, one can clearly see the lamination):






Uniform #240, #1000, followed by #1500:


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## florinbaiduc (Jul 23, 2015)

And finally, some quick #1500 mirror check. Actually, I'm not sure i like the result and the mirror look. So it's going to be either at least #8000 or back to a much rougher surface.


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## perneto (Jul 23, 2015)

Looking good! Did you do this with stones only?

Why do you say the knife has big geometry problems? It's not obvious to my inexpert eyes...


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## florinbaiduc (Jul 23, 2015)

It's the most obvious in the first picture (where the area around the writings is shiny, ava the rest is matte), and in the last. Basically its surface is not flat, requiring the removal of a lot of metal to fix. I'm using sandpaper, rust removal eraser and steel wire for the #60 up to 240, then stones up to #8000. I'm also using polishing paper or small finger stones in such cases, where flat stones can't do the job. The sharpening is strictly on stones only (BTW, it shaves, already  )


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## Godslayer (Jul 23, 2015)

Looks good i like thé scratch pattern. Its nice and uniform. Keep up thé good work.


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## spoiledbroth (Jul 24, 2015)

wow this is really great work I wish I was so adept and confident in fixing up my knives. I really enjoy seeing the progression please keep posting threads like this as you pick up new projects my friend!! :wink:


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## florinbaiduc (Jul 24, 2015)

spoiledbroth said:


> wow this is really great work I wish I was so adept and confident in fixing up my knives. I really enjoy seeing the progression please keep posting threads like this as you pick up new projects my friend!! :wink:



Well, there is no black magic to it, only a lot of elbow grease...check out this, my favorite restoration video:
[video]https://youtu.be/jjOm5_DTkQ8[/video]


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## Twistington (Jul 24, 2015)

chiffonodd said:


> I dunno what this is about but suddenly I really want pho.
> 
> [EDIT] actually I just google translated it and am no longer hungry.



Best part: _"Christmas was infected with HIV, and died of AIDS in 1993."_


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## florinbaiduc (Aug 3, 2015)

Finishing up:











This was a real o.o pain, with its bad shape (not perfect yet, this will take much longer than expected...) as an inexpensive deba is an excellent knife though...


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## koki (Aug 3, 2015)

All of the work seems to have paid off. It looks very nice compared to what you started with!


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## florinbaiduc (Aug 4, 2015)

Thanks - will pick it up again later, after some usage, to finish that shape adjusting job... I do have to take out so much metal that it will take ages though. Unfotunately, in this shape I can't use the big waterstones on it...


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