Diving into Kanna

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Chris Hall
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Re: Diving into Kanna

Sun May 25, 2014 8:38 pm

Yxoc wrote:Ah, I see. Do you grind the main bevel with it, is it flat enough?
No I don't. Or, to be more accurate, I haven't had a need to attempt that. If a blade were trashed though, with a big chip out of it, I would consider using the belt on the main bevel, but only for rough material removal. It would be back to the coarse stones after that.

That said, I'm sure there are better made and more accurate vertical belt sanding machines that would do a decent job for rough grinding.
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Re: Diving into Kanna

Sun May 25, 2014 9:22 pm

Just had a look at some of the youtube clips by 'sumokun' and they're a great intro. It's very helpful to see things being done.
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Re: Diving into Kanna

Mon May 26, 2014 6:46 pm

Chris Hall wrote:Sounds good in theory, but when faced with removing a lot of material, the idea of working the blade on the 800 stone for an hour or whatever loses appeal kinda quickly. :|
This is part of why I'm more than happy to use abrasives on thick float glass for the exceptional cases of heavy-duty metal removal. Specifically, I cut open Diablo grinding belts(**) in 80 or 120 grit, then on to wet-dry sandpaper for finer work. If the media starts to dull, it's easy and cheap to refresh it. In my (admittedly, limited) experience so far, stones both cut too slowly and dish out too quickly for this sort of use. I originally took this path out of necessity in reconditioning some old Western hand planes. A 24" Bedrock jointer needs a vast flat surface for lapping.

If this were the sort of thing I did a lot of, I'd look into getting one of the big belt grinders of the ilk favored by bladesmiths.

** I call these out specifically as their durability and clogging resistance are phenomenal. Compared to some other materials I've used, the stuff simply doesn't clog and clears trivially with a pass from a shop vac.
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Re: Diving into Kanna

Mon May 26, 2014 7:15 pm

Chris Hall wrote:Apparently there are two models of Diaflat, one coarse and one not so coarse.
Right, from DMT's DiaFlat page there appears to be a special order option of a 160-mesh plate vs. the usual 120-mesh.
An Atoma 400 is probably too coarse for the finishing stones. An Atoma 1200 is more suitable. I've been happy also with the DMT Diaflat, though others don't seem to like it so much.
Returning to this quote, I'm now a bit confused. Converting DMT's mesh/micron ratings to grit, it seems that the DiaFlat is very much coarser than the Atoma 400 plate. Depending on which model, the DiaFlat seems to range from 120 to 165 grit. Do you use something else for flattening your finishing stones, or have you found the DiaFlat suitable for that?
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Re: Diving into Kanna

Mon May 26, 2014 7:33 pm

I can flatten finish stones with the DiaFlat. The key is to use only very light pressure. It cuts fast and if you apply too much pressure it will scar the stone. I'm not sure that a stone with scratches in it is such a big deal actually, but I try to minimize that a much as I can.

With the natural finish stone I use the diamond plate to raise a slurry - at least I used to.

I would bet you'll get sick of the sanding belts on float glass after a while. It's just messy. It does the job of flattening though.

Thanks for the link, BTW. I think I'll look at getting the #160 model sometime.
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Brian
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Re: Diving into Kanna

Sun Jun 28, 2015 4:20 pm

Dredging up this post to ask a few questions.

I'm doing my investigations now :) I am wondering if there is a reason for the anvil to be soft material. Reason I ask is that my father offered me to take an Eagle anvil he has 'laying around' his metal shop. Now I've not seen one person use a typical western anvil for this process, but I have seen people use the modified railroad track.

The railroad track is looked down upon by westerners because the face is, at best, work hardened. That seems to be an attribute which is appreciated by those doing the tapping out, am I on the right track or would a western anvil be just as useful?
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Re: Diving into Kanna

Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:03 pm

Brian wrote:Dredging up this post to ask a few questions.

I'm doing my investigations now :) I am wondering if there is a reason for the anvil to be soft material. Reason I ask is that my father offered me to take an Eagle anvil he has 'laying around' his metal shop. Now I've not seen one person use a typical western anvil for this process, but I have seen people use the modified railroad track.

The railroad track is looked down upon by westerners because the face is, at best, work hardened. That seems to be an attribute which is appreciated by those doing the tapping out, am I on the right track or would a western anvil be just as useful?
I'm afraid you're on the wrong track - what kind of crazy stuff are you reading? Sounds like a world of hurt and pain, a hard-luck story of down and out survival(?)

Which westerners are looking down on the railroad track anvil? They have obviously leapt to certain mistaken conclusions.

If the anvil were actually a piece of used railway track, then yes, the upper surface would be work hardened. However, such is not the case. It is an anvil in the form of a railway track section that never saw service as a railway track. Logically these anvils could be produced by extruding railway track and then chopping to length- but it would be a very small size of railway track. I doubt there are trains running on such tiny railway track these days, except in amusement parks perhaps.

A regular anvil would work fine too. Some folks use the end grain of a dense piece of hardwood. You want an unhardened surface for tapping out.
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Brian
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Re: Diving into Kanna

Sun Jun 28, 2015 7:12 pm

The interwebs are a crazy place :)

I mean to say the railroad track is looked down apon for black smithing for reasons which seam to make it perfect for tapping out, which would be a soft face and slight spring.

Good to hear that a regular anvil should work, and I will be able to hunt through some fixtures for it which may be better suited to the task at hand, or make one that offers a block of steel with a soft face.
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Chris Hall
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Re: Diving into Kanna

Sun Jun 28, 2015 8:12 pm

Yeah, it's not an anvil for blacksmithing, just for tapping out.

There are a lot of possible anvils that would work well, main thing is to make sure the arris you do the ura-dashi work on is smooth and clean.
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Brian
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Re: Diving into Kanna

Sun Jun 28, 2015 11:26 pm

Thanks Chris!

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