polish/finish question

[jjreeves]

so i got my second bushido raijin katana, the first one unfortunately had a very large crack in the tsuka, and i had to send it back, this one is much more solid, it seems that the company may have fixed some of the older issues people had with them, such as the balance point, which on both of mine has been 5.5 inches from the tsuba, it seems it isn't as insanely sharp as i hoped. so i sharpened it up using some 1000 grit sandpaper, and managed not to mar up the finish much, but it has gotten a little ..... shinier, so the question is, does anyone know what they may have used to give it the sort of dark polish it has in the pictures? http://www.swordsofmight.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=435
is the sword's page. it isn't a huge deal if i can't get that darkness back, as the hada is still visible which is what really matters, but it would be kinda nice. thanks for your input

[RobbyDoom]

so i got my second bushido raijin katana, the first one unfortunately had a very large crack in the tsuka, and i had to send it back, this one is much more solid, it seems that the company may have fixed some of the older issues people had with them, such as the balance point, which on both of mine has been 5.5 inches from the tsuba, it seems it isn't as insanely sharp as i hoped. so i sharpened it up using some 1000 grit sandpaper, and managed not to mar up the finish much, but it has gotten a little ..... shinier, so the question is, does anyone know what they may have used to give it the sort of dark polish it has in the pictures? http://www.swordsofmight.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=435
is the sword's page. it isn't a huge deal if i can't get that darkness back, as the hada is still visible which is what really matters, but it would be kinda nice. thanks for your input

From personal experience, I have never found way or wanted to "un-polish" a blade. So I couldn't help you with that respect, but what I think you can do to balence the polish is, pick up some metal glo from Jason and polish the rest of the blade to match the more polished part that you've done. With metal glo, don't polish too much around the hamon, if it's etched that is, because it will fade. The etched hamon on my kawashima is almost nonexistent due to the preceding. There might be some other people here with some other ideas.
Hope this helps a bit.

[Caliper]

I believe he doesn't want the blade to be shiny, he wants the original "satin" look from the pictures

I'm not sure how they achieved that finish, but it looks like it was acid etched to enhanced the folds, take some FeCl and rub it along the blade, it's an acid so you have to neutralized it later with a base, window cleaner solution has ammonia and works, you then lighty rub some metal polisher to get rid of the saturation and you get a duller apearance

if you can't get FeCl you can heat up vinegar or lemon, apple juice, etc that are acids too and apply

[RobbyDoom]

I believe he doesn't want the blade to be shiny, he wants the original "satin" look from the pictures

I know :), that's why I said "but what I think you can do to balance the polish is..."

[jjreeves]

cool, i might try one of those later on, i'll probably just leave it is for now, i'm just glad it can cut now lol, when i first unboxed it it could go thru about 3/4 of a beach mat.

[Caliper]

cool, let us know if things work out for you B-)

[jjreeves]

was kinda planning on doing a review and maybe a video once i get my hands on a camera, guess we'll see

[Kurubushi Kamu]

The only method I know of to 'darken' a blade is part of the traditional polishing process. Pick your favourite search engine and enter 'Nugui'. It is probably a little expensive and time consuming for a production blade though.. hope this helps. KK

[jjreeves]

well whatever they used when they originally polished it, it seems to just be a layer of something on the surface of the blade, left a little bit of brownish residue on the sandpaper i was using, kind of doubt they used that method, as u said it seems expensive.

[RobbyDoom]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't some katana have some sort of a finish on them like lacquer on a saya. I think I read that somewhere. I could have mis-read it as well however.

[Caliper]

I have no idea what forges use to achieve a sort of satin appearance on their blade finish, it always leaves a sort of goo appearance, I've debated myself if it's acid etch, dried oil or even painted, maybe their acid etching has added viscosity (like when you mix it with soap) and this sticks to the blade :-?

KK is right, the traditional way to darken a blade ji is with Nugui, but it's a time consuming process and I doubt production blades have this done