# Holiday Shigefusa Kitaeji Usuba



## drawman623 (Dec 26, 2014)

Santa was good to me. This Kitaeji is very beautiful. Wish the pics were better. Enjoy


----------



## Asteger (Dec 26, 2014)

Wow, Santa has good taste


----------



## TheDispossessed (Dec 26, 2014)

damn!


----------



## Vesteroid (Dec 26, 2014)

They are the only knife I am still looking to collect...man thats a nice knife.


----------



## drawman623 (Dec 26, 2014)

Thanks for the kind words. This holiday my sweetheart was willing to take a request. I feel very lucky. I expect a long learning curve to get comfortable with the Katsuramuki cut... I'll savor her thoughtful gift as I practice


----------



## Asteger (Dec 27, 2014)

drawman623 said:


> This holiday my sweetheart was willing to take a request. I feel very lucky. I expect a long learning curve to get comfortable with the Katsuramuki cut... I'll savor her thoughtful gift as I practice



My wife, well... I suppose she'd see an Xmas present in terms of me selling something, rather than her buying me something new, let along a kitaeji Shigefusa! She's got a point, though.


----------



## jimbob (Dec 27, 2014)

Tis a sweet knife, recently got one aswell. Chiffonade has become next level!


----------



## schanop (Dec 27, 2014)

You two can brag about it :nunchucks:

Nice score for both of you.


----------



## drawman623 (Dec 27, 2014)

Cheers jimbob!


----------



## Mute-on (Dec 29, 2014)

Stunning!

Can't go wrong with a Kitaeji Shig 

Congrats and enjoy!


----------



## Zwiefel (Mar 8, 2015)

I had the chance to see this in person last week. I don't think the pictures do it justice. Also, my first time to see a Shig in person. Very nice.....do they come in a correct-handed version? :spin chair:


----------



## Asteger (Mar 8, 2015)

Zwiefel said:


> I had the chance to see this in person last week. I don't think the pictures do it justice. Also, my first time to see a Shig in person. Very nice.....do they come in a correct-handed version? :spin chair:



Absolutely, D! In fact every Shig I've seen is right-handed. If you want a lefty though - no idea!


----------



## schanop (Mar 8, 2015)

Zwiefel said:


> I had the chance to see this in person last week. I don't think the pictures do it justice. Also, my first time to see a Shig in person. Very nice.....do they come in a correct-handed version? :spin chair:



Yes, it does. Contact Max to see if he can help you out. Below is what was available from Maxim.


----------



## Asteger (Mar 9, 2015)

Chanop - don't know if you've put this one to the stones much yet, etc, but your knives always look so well-maintained.


----------



## schanop (Mar 9, 2015)

Asteger said:


> Chanop - don't know if you've put this one to the stones much yet, etc, but your knives always look so well-maintained.



I am the one with the wrong hand, LOL, Asteger. I don't know how the real owner is keeping up with this knive.


----------



## drawman623 (Mar 19, 2015)

I've been maintaining my knives with a felt strop. With something special like a Kitaeji Shig, I make a point of cleaning the knife immediately. I bought the usuba for performing the karitsumuki cut. Cylinder cutting on a zucini or carrot doesn't leave much evidence of use. I have noticed, however, as I assume many Shig owners already well know, that stropping can polish out the kazumi haze. My Shig Deba is well used and still looks new...but polished rather than the original cloudy. I have no clue how to recreate that effect.

Kitaeji Deba before cleaning


----------



## Seth (Mar 19, 2015)

Are you using fingerstones on the bevel? My experience is that even different shigs will react differently with different fingerstones.


----------



## Pensacola Tiger (Mar 19, 2015)

drawman623 said:


> I've been maintaining my knives with a felt strop. With something special like a Kitaeji Shig, I make a point of cleaning the knife immediately. I bought the usuba for performing the karitsumuki cut. Cylinder cutting on a zucini or carrot doesn't leave much evidence of use. I have noticed, however, as I assume many Shig owners already well know, that stropping can polish out the kazumi haze. My Shig Deba is well used and still looks new...but polished rather than the original cloudy. I have no clue how to recreate that effect.



In a word, fingerstones. Maksim carries some high grade sword polishing ones: http://www.japanesenaturalstones.com/uchigomori-fingerstones/.

If you use natural stones, you can also collect the slurry and try that on a block of felt or paper.


----------



## Seth (Mar 19, 2015)

soft takashima, sometimes I use Maxim's uchi - crappy cell pic

(You have two high-powered people telling you to get a collection of finger stones..... ..)


----------



## jimbob (Mar 19, 2015)

Quick question on slurry harvesting... Do you store it dry and rehydrate, or keep it sealed and wet? Cheers


----------



## Pensacola Tiger (Mar 19, 2015)

jimbob said:


> Quick question on slurry harvesting... Do you store it dry and rehydrate, or keep it sealed and wet? Cheers



In my experience it doesn't matter. It's whatever is easiest for you.


----------



## Seth (Mar 19, 2015)

I also have more respect for the polishing "hobby" after reading the book on sword polishing. It seems that dozens and dozens of different stones are used in a specific order and different stones for different steels. They also use a variety of pastes, powders, burnishing tools, etc - all making the simple process of grabbing one finger stone for your kitchen knife seem...simple. I have found that the same stone on a 180mm kitaeji and on a 240mm kitaeji produces different results probably just because the batch of steels on one day was a bit different than on the next day. I need to go back to work...


----------



## Asteger (Mar 19, 2015)

jimbob said:


> Quick question on slurry harvesting... Do you store it dry and rehydrate, or keep it sealed and wet? Cheers



I would just take the stone I wanted when needed and some old sandpaper for example and rub up some slurry, then transfer to the knife. If you have stones to spare, or something broke, you could use the pro way and smash bits of stone with a hammer, then put the powder through a fine sieve for keeping. Or you can get powder and filter it if necessary when cutting stones.


----------

