Polishing a Japanese Sword

Рет қаралды 20,009

Күн бұрын

Bladesmith Walter Sorrells shows the lemon juice acid etching process that he uses as the final part of polishing his Japanese style swords. In this case the blade is a tanto, the shortest of the three sizes of Japanese blades, the larger two being the wakizashi and the katana. Unlike in Western style knives where polishing is mainly intended to make the blade shiny, the intent here is to bring out the hamon or "temper line" which is characteristic of all swords of the samurai.
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Пікірлер: 65

@johnbranchcomb6868 11 ай бұрын

Can't thank you enough. This technique brought out a beautiful, initially invisible, hamon, on my first attempt at differential heat treating an 80crv2 tanto.

@WickedTools Жыл бұрын

Thank you Walter for the demonstration! Work of art!

@philippatek3928 Жыл бұрын

Loved it!! I used your technique on my first ever hamon… it was O-1 mono, and it actually turned out really good 👍🏼 thanks for the continued teaching Walter!

@mateushenrique9056 Жыл бұрын

Man, you really save my work today, thank you very very much, you have a amazing great job, big fan.

@nahte123 Жыл бұрын

Inspiring stuff! Thanks for sharing.

@XcaptainXobliviousX Жыл бұрын

gorgeous piece. ive adored your hamon work in japanese swords for years. keep on keepin on.

@XcaptainXobliviousX Жыл бұрын

i still randomly think about that eggshell lacquerwork scabbard you made once every couple months

@reddogknives Жыл бұрын

I made a camp knife with differential quench and a hamone that came out really nice, but nothing like yours. Many hours of practice and technique needed. Thank you for your vids

@danielmartin4596 Жыл бұрын

Beautiful job

@DamsLifestyle Жыл бұрын

AMAZING video

@josephgeurts3134 Жыл бұрын

Thanks ! it's -18° in Minnesota this morning, I'm staying in to polish one of my blades !

@CobraKaiNoMercy Жыл бұрын

Nice video Walter! I also have some katana hybrid polishes that I did which can be seen on my channel. Compared to your approach, I use either lemon juice or vinegar, but I will only apply it to the hamon. For the metal polish I personally don’t care for Mothers Mag as it is very aggressive, I instead use Pikal which will remove excess acid etching, while still leaving the hamon nice and white looking. I do this around five times, and then will use Wenol as a finishing polish which makes the blade very shiny, and tones down the hamon giving it a more “Sashikomi” (natural polish) compared to a “Hadori” (artistic polish), which I find a bit too much. Enjoyed the video!

@christurley391 Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the video.

@metalmanproductions9267 Жыл бұрын

Thanks Walter

@RobanyBigjobz Жыл бұрын

It remains an ambition to make a hamon that beautiful. Can't seem to get there, dunno if I'm taking off too much of the oxides with the mothers polish or if there's just not that much activity in the steel. Either way, another great video Walter :)

@jeremybertrand7931 Жыл бұрын

Wow! I had no clue you went through all that to polish! Crazy!

@andrewengstrom1516 Жыл бұрын

"the squiggly line is the hamon." Love you so much, Walter...

@promiscuous675 Жыл бұрын

Thank you.

@reorg Жыл бұрын

First time in months you showed up in my new subscribed videos, even though I'm a sub for years

@lundysden6781 Жыл бұрын

WoW!

@josephgeurts3134 Жыл бұрын

Thanks Walter ! The mag polish was the missing step i needed to get rid of that haze . I had used lemon juice from the bottle before , it was a cost savings over squeezing lemons , i save those lemons for the vodka sour after polishing :))

@bananaguns9892 Жыл бұрын

Do you know what abrasive he used in the slurry?

@josephgeurts3134 Жыл бұрын

@@bananaguns9892 idk for sure ,the pen plastic jar is mother's mag polish , is the Ajax on the sink a clue to the powder for slurry ?

@donclary5293 Жыл бұрын

Thanks for this video! I look forward to each when I get the notice of a new one. Timing is great. Currently working on several twist damascus tantos. Why do you polish the tang then rough up the area that ends up in the tsuka?

@kestersmith1575 Жыл бұрын

Beautiful outcome Walter to bad I don’t have that kind of patience

@nathan900130 Жыл бұрын

Will this affect blade that has colored with acid dye? I have a Clay Tempered T10 Katana with Black Acid Dye, and I’m thinking of polish the hamon.

@fakerfake1 Жыл бұрын

Absolutely stunning! Is this blade for sale?

@opusjosh 17 күн бұрын

What is the song and what is the container used to clean off the lemon?

@chriskincaid6035 Жыл бұрын

Thank You ...

@samwise5493 Жыл бұрын

Do you ever use lime for a finish ?

@althesmith 8 ай бұрын

What is your attitude towards using layout fluid for more of an indicator for getting all the previous grit marks out?

@althesmith 9 ай бұрын

How far would you take a shinsakuto which is going to be used for iai and light cutting, and would you touch up with a soft stone or paper?

@zerodarkthirty6662 Жыл бұрын

is this method also applicable to a high manganese steel katana blade ?

@ryanr2740 Жыл бұрын

Hey Walter what kind of dry abrasive are you using?

@silentforest4126 Жыл бұрын

Thank you man i loooove you!!! Why cant my dad be you, seriously

@brianmansfield1777 Жыл бұрын

Would you mind sharing what kind of abrasive you are using in the oil slurry?

@Oneeightseven781 4 ай бұрын

I think it’s Synthetic Diamond Powder

@floydstevars4235 9 ай бұрын

How can you bring bring back the original condition of an old antique Japanese sword

@Robert-ko6wr Жыл бұрын

Interesting t-shirt. It wasn’t hard for me to believe that you graduated from Harvard. That was completely plausible. My only quandary was did you do STEM or the Humanities? I truly enjoy your all your videos. You are a wonderful and humble teacher. This one though begged a question. Nice t-shirt though and a thoughtful gift from Mom.

@ralphgalindo8000 11 ай бұрын

its 10:58 7-30-23 What is the abrasives you have in the mason jar that you make the oil slurry?

@Oneeightseven781 4 ай бұрын

Synthetic Diamond Powder

@_vindicator_ 26 күн бұрын

i would add that you never file the tang if it's a shinken. all in all, i don't recommend filing the tang ever, but definitely not when it's a real japanese blade - it's used to measure the age of the blade and also to establish legitimacy.

@LYLEWOLD Жыл бұрын

Very cool. And who was the piano music? Chopin, maybe? Sounded like Satie, but also not.

@bananaguns9892 Жыл бұрын

Chopin prelude in E minor i think

@LYLEWOLD Жыл бұрын

@@bananaguns9892 Thank you. Not that I know, I had to find that and listen to it, but I think you're right.

@bananaguns9892 Жыл бұрын

@@LYLEWOLD I’ve played it but i couldn’t remember if that was the name or not(eventually they all get mixed up in your head)

@emsea7279 Жыл бұрын

I thought we polished our blades with our enemies?

@Yoda2422 14 күн бұрын

Not really.. if it’s a traditionally made blade it will probably just rust if you don’t clean it

@ClenioBuilder Жыл бұрын

👏👏👏👏👏👏👀

@Pablo668 8 ай бұрын

I'm wondering how he gets away with polishing his knives in the kitchen. What does the wife say?

@ZeroG 22 күн бұрын

acid polish = bad i thought

@ColdHawk Жыл бұрын

7:09 Hmmmm. Anyone else thinking what I am thinking watching this? You can tell by the movements of his hands… Walter has done this many times.

@ryanwalker1825 Жыл бұрын

You didn't chop and you wood with it

@onoviktor7867 8 ай бұрын

😖

@unclebob1959 Жыл бұрын

Can you make a meat cleaver sometime?

@smrettpecca Жыл бұрын

Thumbs up for the t-shirt! :) the Hamon is just beautyfull! Thumbs down for leading viewers from this platform to a pay platform. :(

@reddogknives Жыл бұрын

The man is just trying to make a living.

@miyan0908 Ай бұрын

nice kitchen knife. not Japanese Sword.

@ellipsis9573 Жыл бұрын

I have to say, it is interesting that you found a way that works for you, but no. Just no. This is not polishing. This is etching. This takes absolutely no skill and is kind of mind-boggling for your prices and an insult to the jappenese craft. Part of the mystic of Japanese sword making is the long process, attention to detail, and methodical process towards perfection. The appearance should only be, at the very least, only hazuya scatches, which makes the blade a near perfect matte finish. All i see is sand paper makes from your foundation polish, while the hamon being visible from the acid etch. Honestly, your prices are far too high for this being acceptable and again, pretty disrespectful to the japenese craft.

@mahesagiri3407 Жыл бұрын

@ellipsis9573 Klo beli hazuya dmn Bro

@swordcollector7040 9 ай бұрын

I agree wholeheartedly. Anyone can start a KZfaq channel, and appear authoritative whether they know what they are doing and talking about - or not. Unfortunately I have seen videos here where if the information was used by a viewer could result in serious damage and devaluing of genuine nihonto blades. You can't shortcut perfection developed over 1,000+ years of Japanese skills applied to creating swords. Westerners tend to think we know better.

@BackyardBlacksmithing 9 ай бұрын

The mysticism of Japanese swords is not necessary. Walter is very respectful of the craft and calls his blades “Japanese styled.”

@BackyardBlacksmithing 9 ай бұрын

⁠@@swordcollector7040We literally do know better, metallurgy is a much more studied field of science. The craft of the Japanese swords is an amazing process, but ultimately it is not perfect. Unless you are forging out blades like Walter, I wouldn’t say this kind of critique is necessary.

@ellipsis9573 9 ай бұрын

@darinnieto7168 walters blades are not prefect at all. I am not going to argue this with you as it is pointless. To me, his prices are extremely high for not having the finer points of a japanese sword. To each their own.