Japanese knife restoration : Masamoto gyuto to bunka

This took many hours and a lot of elbow grease, but I think it was worth it ! This was my biggest restoration project ever and I’m quite pleased with the result.
I turned this western handle Masamoto gyuto into a wa-handle bunka with an ebony and ziricote handle. That conversion from yo to wa handle is very fun but takes a lot of work and a little bit of practice to get right ! As a big wa-handle fan, I do this to a lot of the knives I restore and when I first started I found that this type of conversion was not very well documented, so I hope this video can help people who want to attempt this kind of project !
Shoutout to Julien Labelle Affûteur from whom I borrowed the polishing process.
If you have any questions, feel free to to ask me ! Thanks for watching

[@r00tSeller]

Nice work! I'm sure Master Matsuzawa would approve of your work. Creative conversion of a Gyoto, that through decades of hard use became a Hawkbill, for you to convert into a Bunka -- brilliant.

[@dnarvarg]

Thanks ! :)

[@yz_v8]

Great work 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@cafemolido5459]

Not a restoration, but a repurpose. Good job.

[@marceloefsanchezdebustaman4522]

Restauración tiene otro significado en cualquier parte del mundo. Eso sería una transformación, modificación o un reciclado. Saludos

[@fionnhovawart9594]

SRY, to use a band grinder is a crazy idea it would be much easier when you take a flex to shorten the blade Cheers from 🇦🇹

[@dnarvarg]

Yeah is know unfortunately I didn’t have a flex back then… Cheerz from 🇫🇷

[@ft5740]

Good job 👏

[@damdam3149]

Super travail ! continues ! (le bénéficiaire de ton dernier Deba)

[@dnarvarg]

Merci beaucoup ! :)

[@Shoestring1956]

Superb.

[@simonboyden7868]

Nice work man

[@dnarvarg]

thanks man !

[@mashinosatoshi]

素晴らしい包丁の再生です！

[@dnarvarg]

thanks you :)

[@matonk1200lt]

Super travail bravo j’aimerais avoir le même 😂

[@dnarvarg]

Merci ! Il est en vente sur mon Leboncoin si jamais ça t’intéresse

[@inthespread001]

It has been decades since Masamoto makes knives. They are now only knife seller. Reselling knives with their brand name on it.

[@garaboo]

Боляче дивитися на процес. Все в пилюці, іржі та лайні - ніякої поваги до роботи та інструментів.

[@ryanfitzgerald7054]

Is that pieces of a hot glue stick you put in the tang insert?

[@dnarvarg]

Yes it it. I prefer this to epoxy as it’s easier to remove if I ever want to replace the handle

[@skillshamer194]

Nice job! How's parkside bełt grinder, I was eying one in Lidl because they are pretty cheap, seems doing fine with a bit harder work.

[@dnarvarg]

This was my first time using it so I can’t really talk long term but for 100€ it’s really quite decent ! I had to buy some separate finer sanding belts but I was not satisfied with the quality so I would suggest buying some higher end ones !

[@skillshamer194]

@@dnarvarg Yeah I can imagine, can't expect too much, how's overheating? I saw that you are diping your knife between grinding sessions into the water, seems to work pretty good

[@dnarvarg]

@@skillshamer194The sander itself didn’t seem to have any overheating issues, but of course whenever you’re grinding material, the latter will get hot ! I was very scared to fuck up the heat treatment so I was really careful not to let the blade get too hot

[@CrazedOne79]

Rust doesn’t form in seconds. 😂 that’s a process that takes place in no less than around a couple days worth of time. But I did enjoy the redesign into a new knife. Looks great.

[@dnarvarg]

Yes it does, on carbon steel blades rust can form in just a few minutes, even quicker with acidic foods ! And the blade was wet for about an hour while I was grinding the bolster so it had a lot of time to rust

[@maxnguyen9966]

Not in seconds, but with carbon steel knives, couple mins is all it takes, maybe do your research before🤷🏻‍♂️.

[@abzyberdy]

Lol, why use cutting only on tang lol. Blade could be cut as well as bolster. You have to much free time.