Weird question

[Chefspence]

Can a person fill in kanji with some sort of liquid that will set in? Thinking of the look you see on masamoto or sukenari knives where it's embossed and filled with black something.

Thought it would be cool to fill in kanji on a kohetsu as.aybe even with different colored stuff.

Is this dumb?

[jacko9]

Take a look at this stuff - it might work;

https://www.ecopoxy.com

[Jeff B]

Sounds like a lot of trouble to me. It's not like you can "mask it off" to keep from getting it places you don't want it.

[Kalaeb]

Maybe nail polish?

[ronnie_suburban]

The thing you have to keep in mind is that any substance one might use that is not 100% permanently fused to the knife is likely to end up in some food. And that is definitely not a good outcome.

[timos]

i think traditionally its enamel but the process used might adversely affect the heat treat of the knife. Ive seen this used in handles for a stained glass type affect. I saw some knifemakers from france at one of the east coast custom knife shows that was really good at this, however google sucks these days and i cant seem to bring up the name

[cliff]

Whatever Masamoto used to use with the old KS came off with a little acetone

[Chefspence]

The thing you have to keep in mind is that any substance one might use that is not 100% permanently fused to the knife is likely to end up in some food. And that is definitely not a good outcome.

Yep. My initial thought as well, that's why I thought of nail polish, then thought well if you can't wear nail polish as a prep, that's prob not a good idea.

[Chefspence]

Epoxy seemed like the right substance, but you have to buy a lot for so little an application. You're right Jeff, idk how to keep it from getting all over the knife. Apply one drop at a time from a pinhead?

[Chefspence]

I think I just like asking about things that are bad ideas

[ken123]

I had a Nubatama knife that had gold wire inlay on the carved kanji of a saya. I wouldn't recommend doing this.

Ken

[delmar]

Epoxy could work with needle tip applicator. But not sure about toxicity, and how much of a big deal that is to you. I'd probably lean towards black CYA (super glue) with needle or whip tip applicator. Medium or thick would be my choice. Have a solvent and a couple q tips ready if there is any oops.

I've used this stuff with good results. https://www.stewmac.com/Materials_and_S ... y6EALw_wcB.

But I tend to lean towards hobby websites for more variety.

[jacko9]

My experience trying to flow epoxy with a needle tip applicator yielded less than satisfactory results. The epoxy won't flow into small cracks unless you use very thin penetrating epoxy and even then you need multiple coats to fill voids. I have been able to fill small cracks in very valuable wood but I always had to sand after to smooth it out. The super glue gives better results but even then it was quite tricky and the stuff wanted to adhere to edges and not flow freely into cracks. I haven't used the stewmac yet since a little sanding on wood is no big deal but I would try the product on some scrap before I would commit it to your valuable knife.