[Henrik Y]

I'm working on a tanto that I've made a horimono on. But I don't know anything about it, just trying and hope for the best. I don't know what tools to use or techniques how to get it smooth and polished so if anyone here can give me some hints and tips I would be very happy.

[Debbie]

files will get it smoother then you can go to polishing compound

[DanM]

Did you try a few practice pieces on mild steel before starting on the blade? Most of these are done with hammer and chisels,the faces on the chisels are polished and little finish polishing is needed. Is this the first piecce of steel you have tried to engrave?Link to modern engraved blades.

Engraved Blades

[Henrik Y]

DanM, on Aug 29 2008, 08:11 PM, said:

Did you try a few practice pieces on mild steel before starting on the blade? Most of these are done with hammer and chisels,the faces on the chisels are polished and little finish polishing is needed. Is this the first piecce of steel you have tried to engrave?Link to modern engraved blades.

Engraved Blades

I've made a few engraving works and I made little practise piece on this particular pattern. I use small chisels that I've made and they are polished up to a few 1000 grit and continuously sharpened with a diamond tool.

This is the first blade that I do this kind of work on. I'm also working on a blade with a fuller but that's a little more simple shape to polish. I've got the pics on the blades in the link on my computer for a long time so I know how it should look. And those who made those blades have probably been training as long as I've been living on this planet

[Jim Kelso]

Engraving tool geometry is critical to getting smooth cuts and making tools that respond well to your efforts.
I learned the basics from James Meek's "The Art of Engraving" book and have adapted from the European roots that came from, as well as the Japanese approach. I don't think it matters which tradition you start from, but you must get some basic knowledge and experience to get the tools to do what you want. From there it's practice, practice, practice. Sorry.

It's hard to tell exactly from the photos, but it looks like your design is good but your chisels aren't cutting smoothly. Again it's hard to tell from the photos. Perhaps all you need is more time at it.

The engraving forums have a lot of information but I am not fond of jigs for sharpening which they all seem to find necessary.

This thread may be helpful: GRAVERS

And the two engraving forums: Engravers Cafe

and Engraving Forum

If you want to further polish an engraving cut, I would recommend using machinist polishing stones. You can search for more info on this forum about stones.

[Amati Lorenzo]

Engraving of the horimono follows this three steps:

1) chiseling with tagane
2) scraping
3) polishing with stones

I think you should insist more with the second step before pass to the third.