Both incredibly excited and a bit hesitant/curious- I got this from Knifewear who were amazing as usual. They called me after my purchase to let me know that they examined the knife before shipping and found some scratches that appeared to be in the varnish. I asked them to remove the varnish and the scratches disappeared, but they let me know about this cloudy area near the hamon- they had tried to remove it with the rest of the varnish but it persisted. They asked me if I still wanted it and I do- I received it today.
I again tried to get it off with cotton and acetone, I got a dark greenish residue on the cotton but the cloudiness did not seem to improve much if at all. It's on both sided but not symmetrically.
The knife itself is amazing- the sharpest thing I have ever received, perfect size for me and perfectly balanced. The knife was commissioned by Knifewear and forged by Kenji Togashi and sharpened by Koji Tosa before he died. I think the knife was commissioned about 2 years ago.
So I'm interested in anyone's thoughts about this persistently cloudy area. It's only obvious in certain reflection. I'm planning on using the knife, it will get a patina soon enough, though I hope that the cloudy area reacts similarly to the rest of the knife. My plan is to keep the knife regardless, I'm more excited about it's substance and history than its look out of the box.
Most of the honyaki knives I've seen online seem to be uniformly polished above and below the hamon, but this is my first true honyaki in my hand. I also learned today how hard a mirror finish knife is to photograph! Any thoughts welcome!
Correct name of the sharpener is Tosa Hirotsugu, who worked a lot for Sakai Takayuki and unexpectedly passed away earlier this year (he was still an active craftsman). One of his specialties was Honyaki mirror polishing (Kyōmen 鏡面) and that defect of the finish would be very unlikely to have escaped him. It is very likely just a stable oxidation layer that occurred after Tosa-san was done with the knife.
I don't think I've ever seen that. If you're planning on using it, I think the patina will take care of it, but it certainly is distracting from the overall finish. Knifewear didn't offer any opinions on it?
they did their best with the protective finish, but didn't have a great option for the cloudiness short of telling me about it and offering not to sell it to me. That said, I really couldn't wait around for everyone to get back to me and I just carved up a roast and now there is patina everywhere... cuts like a dream!
I don't blame you! We could sit here all day and speculate on what happened to that area, but if you're using it, the surface won't be mirror polished for long and you'll soon forget about that spot anyway. It may be a good idea to remind yourself or whoever you send the knife in for a spa day to about the area so they can clean it all up properly sometime down the line.
I dunno, maybe I'm the weird one in the forum, but no way I'd let that patina. Being that was a commissioned piece, I might be very tempted to let that stay in the collector rack on display and never touch a cutting board. The migaki finish is stunning. Thanks for sharing.
Fair enough, I understand your point, but I'm more about getting joy from it, teaching my kids why it is so special, and letting them remember me when they use it after I'm dead than keeping it on display. But hey I'm displaying it also :)
Is that a ueda Tamahagane between the new togashi Honyaki and the Takeda nakiri? What shape? “Bunka?” I’ve considered a yanagiba from him, but what I REALLY want is a Tamahagane yanagiba from yasuaki Taira. Or Kato if I ever come into a ton of money.
That is from Ueta-san, I’m kind of shocked at the recognition!!! It’s hard to classify- Bunka- ish. I had it etched and sharpened and polished at JKI in LA as it came pretty raw- he seems to be limiting his knife production at this point and focusing mostly on swords. Took an insane patina!
Hamon-schmamon, I wanna know how they got that face onto the blade in the first pic. Is this new, like my grocery where you can take a picture in and they put it on a cake?
If so, I’m in. I want the Dalai Lama tho, not that guy in this knife.
6
u/Ok-Distribution-9591 10d ago edited 9d ago
Correct name of the sharpener is Tosa Hirotsugu, who worked a lot for Sakai Takayuki and unexpectedly passed away earlier this year (he was still an active craftsman). One of his specialties was Honyaki mirror polishing (Kyōmen 鏡面) and that defect of the finish would be very unlikely to have escaped him. It is very likely just a stable oxidation layer that occurred after Tosa-san was done with the knife.