# To member KUSA.



## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

KUSA, because I have restaurant clients (and not enough of them, BTW), we use Japanese waterstones and Schwartz nanodiamond slurry.

As stated, a doctor's scalpel is from 15K TO 25k grit. We polish jackknives to 3.2 million grit.

To demonstrate this, I have attached _*the worst knife on the planet*_. I'm stuck with it, what knife aficionado wants to be cat-called for owning the biggest piece of junk on the third rock from the Sun?

But it serves to demonstrate just how good Japanese waterstones are.

_Click on the picture to enlarge_.


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## KUSA (Apr 21, 2016)

Had to do a double take on the edge. It’s a mirror. Impressive.


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

KUSA said:


> Had to do a double take on the edge. It's a mirror. Impressive.


You might not see this kind of work much anymore. Some knives take two or three days to finish, most often it's a Japanese folded chef's knife. Who wants to pay several hundred dollars for knife like that? If you watch some of those shows where professional chefs make artistic slices, that a folded knife, no question.

(My wife has three of them, and doesn't know why I paid so much for them. But she won't use anything else).

I am polishing a Pilar folder for myself, should be done by tomorrow evening as it's only 2.5 inches long. However, it's going to get the "Fully Monty" because besides being incredibly handsome, I'm one of those chronic perfectionists. I'm going to finish the edge with nanodiamonds.

Yes, yes, I'm one of those clowns who dumps 400 dollars in time and materials into polishing a 22 dollar folder...


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

*It's not all switchblades and redheaded women...*

As much as I joke around here you might guess I take nothing very seriously. However, I am dead serious about polishing, which is known as sharpening to the masses.

One of my knives might have provided your best dinner at the finest restaurant in town. To the best of our knowledge, there are only five polishers in North America. Dwade Hawley is in Canada, and Rob Babcock does kitchen knives.

I'll polish what is put in front of me, but Dwade Hawley is undoubtedly the best polisher in the western hemisphere, and probably in most of Japan, as well. Rob only does high-end folded chef's knives, and again, he has no equal.

I'm third...

BTW, I get a real treat today, I'm going to be using a Schwartz 2000 blue speckled waterstone, right out of the wrapper! Beautiful stone, and it shapes as it polishes, believe it or not.

Below is a real-deal Hattori chef's knife which belongs to my wife. You can tell Ichiro Hattori made it personally because, one, it's folded steel, and two, I only paid a few hundred bucks for it. His "kids" have the business now, and they make kitchen knives with nothing folded or hammered. Too bad Ichiro is in his late 80s, the business is now for profiteers. My wife's folded steel knife is worth several thousand dollars now--just because Ichiro handled it...

_Click on the pictures to enlarge_.


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

Thank you, Slippy. Got something funny to tell you.

I darn near memorized Hunter Thompson's book on the Hells Angels. When I polish, I think of Hunter's observation.

Thompson was commenting on the Angels' bikes. He said words to the effect of, "_It's hard to believe that a machine so incredibly perfect flies down the highway in the hands of a maniac..._"

When everything is going just "perfect," I reflect on what I have done in the world of polishing. Ken Schwartz is amazed at the stature his clients have achieved. And so, when I look at a perfect edge I think, "_It's hard to believe that a utensil so incredibly perfect was created in the hands of a maniac..._"


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