Carbon Steel Knives.

[Randomangle]

I thought this would be the best place to post this as I have yet to attempt to shave with them. I have some carbon steel kitchen knives which I bought from Japan a few years ago and the etched 'paint' has started to come out. Any suggestions as to what I could use to enhance the dragon design again?



As you can see in this close-up, Misono is still nice and defined but some of the dragon has been lost.



Any ideas would be gratefully received!

Chris.

 

[Norfolkdick]

Greetings

That looks to my untrained eye to be a really nice and sensible sized and shaped general purpose kitchen/cooks knife. I don't really have any good suggestions for the dragon motif but I would just use it everyday and enjoy it and accept the motif will become less distinct with the passage of time.

I suspect that if you degreased it perfectly you could perhaps try a cold gun blue and then buff the bluing off the blade itself which would leave it only in the etching but I strongly suspect that if you used it daily as a knife like it deserves it would soon be worn off or eroded away by fruit acids etc.

Regards
Dick.

 

[balidey]

I'm not sure what 'ink' or substance to use, but I know a friend that filled in some similar engravings using an old Rotring type pen where you can fill with ink and have very narrow nibs

 

[antdad]

Knock back the blackening of the blade surrounding the dragon with some fine wire wool?

 

[pugh-the-special-one]

Nice knife if it were mine I would run it across my buffer with a little compound then sharpen it.

---

It would probably polish up using a good quality metal polish with the same result.

 

[jaycey]

Gun shops doing a 'blueing' kit. You could try that, wipe it over the blade so it fills the etching and then wipe off the excess.

Like this http://www.solware.co.uk/shotgun-accessories/gun-blueing-maintenance.shtml

 

[ollie9091]

Rub it with lemon juice and salt, then lightly polish with a little cooking oil. Well that is how I cleaned my carbon steel knives as a chef

 

[Randomangle]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll look into the gun paint and maybe the light wire wooling around the dragon. It is pretty darn sharp as it is as I do maintin the edge. I do like the fact that carbon steel knives age so grubbily, does anyone remember when you could buy old carbon cook's knives on ebay? There used to be a couple of sellers in America who sold some really old and filthy ones.

 

[antdad]

Seems like blueing is a good suggestion if you want to keep the patina intact, what was the cost difference when buying in Japan?

 

[Mr TPG]

Looks lovely as is IMO - might have to look into the brand!

 

[pugh-the-special-one]

Here's a seller I've purchased off a few times from the USA he carries a really comprehensive range of knives and stones.
http://www.chefknivestogo.com/kitchen-knives.html

 

[Randomangle]

Seems like blueing is a good suggestion if you want to keep the patina intact, what was the cost difference when buying in Japan?

I couldn't say as I don't think when I bought them they were for sale here. I do remember that the seller (japanesechefknives.com?) put the customs ticket value as £1.00 for two knives totalling well over £100 ...