# Question about Banding in Monosteel knives



## Logan A. (Sep 7, 2021)

Hi all! 
Quick question for those who understand a bit about banding. I just purchased a Kogetsu white 1 monosteel gyuto. I have seen that banding appears in a lot of honyaki, and some monosteel blades. How would I know if my knife would produce banding when polished and etched? Do all monosteel blades produce banding when polished and etched?


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## Mlan (Sep 7, 2021)

Banding is just caused by the fact that steel is an Alloy. The main factor which dictates how much banding a knife has is the batch of steel with some having more distinct banding than others. Look at any highly polished and etched knife and you can see it to some degree. Even in Takadas and Ashis some knives have more banding than others because the steel batch is different. The fastest and easiest way to tell on your knife how good the banding is is to etch it in acid


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## Bear (Sep 7, 2021)

Ferrick cloride


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## @ftermath (Sep 7, 2021)

Bear said:


> Ferrick cloride


+1

Lemon juice is less potent but works as well.


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## Pie (Sep 7, 2021)

… does banding occur in The core of classes knives as well…?

I only have this wrought iron kanna that has banding, and found a killer stone to bring it out, but so far none of my knives show any banding whatsoever.


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## Logan A. (Sep 7, 2021)

Thanks for all the advice on here! I’ll give ferric chloride a shot, or lemon juice.


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## Logan A. (Sep 7, 2021)

@ftermath said:


> +1
> 
> Lemon juice is less potent but works as well.


Wow. What knife is that?


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## Bear (Sep 8, 2021)

Shi-han A2, if using Ferrick on monosteel carbon, at least A2, it will darken your blade and the banding doesn't last, it will tell you if its worth polishing though.


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## sansho (Sep 8, 2021)

ferric, not ferrick.

love that shi.han A2 banding btw.


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## Bear (Sep 8, 2021)

sansho said:


> ferric, not ferrick.


Oops


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