# fixing uneven ura of yanagiba



## orange (Jul 3, 2014)

I have a yanagiba that did not have even front bevel nor straight edge.
In the process of fixing it on stones, I ended up having unevenly sharpened backside (concaved part). I am wondering if there's a way to fix the ura using a some kind of non-professional tool (thinking of dremel type).
Has anyone experienced the same issue?

Thanks.


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## BeerChef (Jul 4, 2014)

I wont be able to tell you the right thing to do but I can tell dont use a dremel under any circumstances.


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## ThEoRy (Jul 4, 2014)

Pics would help. It could be just a wonky grind from the maker. Only thing I can think of to reset the ura would be the giant wheel stone like at Korin or a belt grinder with a curved platen that replicates the wheel stone curvature.


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## orange (Jul 4, 2014)

BeerChef said:


> I wont be able to tell you the right thing to do but I can tell dont use a dremel under any circumstances.


:laugh: Thanks. I hear you. I saw a video on youtube that a guy was using a dremel to polish (mirror) a yanagi. It worked beautifully. :lol2:



BeerChef said:


> Pics would help. It could be just a wonky grind from the maker. Only thing I can think of to reset the ura would be the giant wheel stone like at Korin or a belt grinder with a curved platen that replicates the wheel stone curvature.


Thanks. I found a way: Using a corner of a stone, I rubbed the stone on the yanagi to sharpen the uneven surface. The method works reasonably. I need time and patience though. Polishing can be done with sand papers and a cork I expect.


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## ThEoRy (Jul 6, 2014)

I'd still like to see some pictures of the knife if you will please. I'm not quite sure I understand the problem or solution.


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## orange (Jul 7, 2014)

ThEoRy said:


> I'd still like to see some pictures of the knife if you will please. I'm not quite sure I understand the problem or solution.



Sorry for the late reply. Here's a picture AFTER I sharpened the concave side of the knife mentioned using a corner of sharpening stones.
I did not take a picture before I worked on it but the band (both the spine and the edge) of ura was much wider and wavy. You may still see some remnant of how bad it was before.
What you see is much uniform and narrower band along the backside now. I can work on it more to make it look more uniform but I am content with what I see now. 
By the way, what I did was 1. to sharpen the whole area of backside first with the knife on a flat surface and holding stones in hand. Then 2. I sharpened backside in normal manner to check the result of step 1. and repeated the process.


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## mhlee (Jul 8, 2014)

That doesn't look good. 

It also looks like someone put a microbevel on the back side of the knife.


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## zitangy (Jul 8, 2014)

orange said:


> Sorry for the late reply. Here's a picture AFTER I sharpened the concave side of the knife mentioned using a corner of sharpening stones.



it it works why not? I wld choose the route of using sand paper say starting with 220 grit and dropping to 120 if progress is too slow on a shaped block of wood with some curvature backed by leather so as to follow the concavity ( idea picked up from Haburn's post as to polishing the ura). and from time to time polish the blade to check on progress. Perhaps we shld consider using a marker pen to see where are the high spots.

I wld imaging that a stone wld be too flat/ angular and make deeper and uneven hollow surface.

Once you remove metal you cant put it back.. 

have fun whilst you are at it..
rgd
sd

rgds
d


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## orange (Jul 8, 2014)

mhlee said:


> That doesn't look good.
> 
> It also looks like someone put a microbevel on the back side of the knife.



This is my practice knife that I experiment all kinds of things. 
Yeh, it does not look stellar but it's much better than before.

No, there's no microbevel on the back. It's just light deceiving the look.


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## orange (Jul 8, 2014)

zitangy said:


> I wld imaging that a stone wld be too flat/ angular and make deeper and uneven hollow surface.
> 
> Once you remove metal you cant put it back..



Yes, you are right. Working on it with a stone is a crude way and thanks for your suggestion with sand paper route.


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