## Background
As I [posted here](https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueChefKnives/comments/1myq1cd/npkd_project_knife_morihei_hisamoto_white_1_135mm/), I got a Morihei Hisamoto White #1 as project knife to learn how to thin and polish.

I’ve been quite interested in the process as I love a good kasumi, and didn’t want to mess up my sentimental knife I got in Sakei, yet.

I didn’t expect much, but *wow* have I been impressed with the steel on this knife! It’s carbon clad and already in pretty nice shape, so was pretty easy to work with and love the results.

## The process
[I’ve posted some of the process here](https://www.reddit.com/r/sharpening/comments/1mzq8r4/first_time_thinning_come_and_watch_me_flail/) but got annoyed with not being able to post pictures in the comments.

TL;DR Stones used were King 300, Shapton Pro 1000, Shapton Rockstar 2000, King 6000 (from the KWS combo stone), and some natural stone powder to even out the kasumi band at the very end.

I lightly thinned it with the goal to get the bevel even. I will gift this knife, so didn’t want it to be too fragile. I also didn’t want to fuck things up too bad before getting to the polishing stage.

I’ve thinned it with a King 300 to remove low spots and remove the factory scratches. Also started seeing some core steel peek through which was a nice surprise.

Then moved up to a Shapton Pro 1000. My work on the 300 wasn’t very even since I was getting used to the ambidextrous movements. But the kasumi hazy banding was actually quite good already, I was impressed.

Got so impressed in fact that I wanted to complete my progression to see how it would look and get used to polishing. I went up to Shapton Rockstar 2000 and polished it on a King 6000. The King 6000 was a real struggle but eventually found a way to get things shiny.

I then went back all the way to the Shapton 1000 to even things out and re-apply a nicer kasumi. It was actually pretty good but had some blemishes I wanted to get rid of. Finally I used some stone powder that I applied with a small sanding pad. The stone powder really helped to finish it. The 6000 brought some shine, it’s no mirror but pretty smooth in most lighting.

In total it took me about 10 hours - could’ve gone faster if I had been more experienced, but it’s also a small knife and it was pretty even, so that worked in my advantage. I learned a lot and got to know sharpening better as a whole, and my stones too.


## The results
It wouldn’t say it was _easy_, but definitely went better than I would hope for before starting, especially considering it was my first time touching up a knife this way.

There are quite a few blemishes (even two or three factory scratches I didn’t get to remove yet), and no bevel set yet. But good enough for a tool to be used in the kitchen while looking pretty sexy until some patina will form.

I attribute the satisfactory results 60% to the steel, 20% to my skills, 10% to the advice I got from Onno at Karasu and here at Reddit, and 10% to the stone powder to apply a more even kasumi and hide spots I didn’t get properly.

It’s actually nice enough that I considered keeping it for myself as a memorial to my first polishing job. Judging by the online prices of the “fine” version of this knife it seems I about tripled the value of the knife (minus the handle and my sweat and a little blood).


## What’s next?
Adding a handle I already have, but also considering rounding off the spine. Not so sure about the sanding since I like the kurouchi look, but also seen examples of it looking great with a polished spine + kurouchi.

I will give it away and more aggressively thin & polish another knife to see if it was beginner luck or not - in any case, I would recommend everyone that wants to try, to just go for it. I had lots of fun and enjoy the end result.

Thanks for reading and the information.


Look ma! I polished a Morihei Hisamoto White #1, kasumi style!