An episode posted on X became a hot topic on 5ch: a poster wrote that his father-in-law, insisting his wife’s beloved Damascus steel knife “wasn’t cutting well, so I had it sharpened,” took it to an acquaintance’s house and ran it through a power tool. Reports that the blade ended up looking chipped and jagged first drew a wave of comments pointing out that the knife probably wasn’t real Damascus steel to begin with — just a knife with the pattern printed on. From there the discussion expanded into a debate over whether a sharpener or a whetstone is the correct way to sharpen a blade, and even into historical arguments about whether samurai sharpened their own swords. What started as a small domestic incident spiraled into a full-blown debate about bladed tools.
What people said
1AnonymousSep 13, 2026 22:35
@
My wife's beloved Damascus steel knife.
My father-in-law apparently took it upon himself, saying "I had it sharpened because it wasn't cutting well," and took it to an acquaintance's house where they went at it with a power tool.
2AnonymousSep 13, 2026 22:37
Wait, this thing just has the Damascus pattern stamped on it — it's not actually Damascus steel.
37AnonymousSep 13, 2026 23:16
Re: #2
Yeah, for real, that's just printed on.
3AnonymousSep 13, 2026 22:38
Honestly this looks like it was done on purpose just to go viral.
8AnonymousSep 13, 2026 22:40
So did you end up stabbing your father-in-law with this knife or what?
9AnonymousSep 13, 2026 22:41
If you're gonna sharpen it, use an actual whetstone lol
That knife looks filthy now.
10AnonymousSep 13, 2026 22:41
If it's 'my' father-in-law, that's my wife's biological father; if it's 'my wife's' father-in-law, that's my own father.
12AnonymousSep 13, 2026 22:42
If it's just a knockoff, who cares.
13AnonymousSep 13, 2026 22:42
Never seen such a sloppy sharpening job in my life.
14AnonymousSep 13, 2026 22:43
There's this thing called a sharpener, you know.
15AnonymousSep 13, 2026 22:44
This is ugly enough you could sue for property damage.
He must've done it on purpose.
16AnonymousSep 13, 2026 22:48
He probably did it himself just to farm views (バズり, i.e. 'going viral').
17AnonymousSep 13, 2026 22:48
I didn't know what it actually was and was gonna buy one 'cause it's cheap, but I googled it and all the reviews said the sharpness is mediocre, so I passed.
18AnonymousSep 13, 2026 22:49
I cut vegetables with factory machines for a living, and when the blade gets dull, the part-time lady (BBA, slang for an older woman) calls some old guy nearby to sharpen it with an angle grinder. I don't think it's actually getting any sharper, but she seems satisfied with it, so I just leave her to it.
20AnonymousSep 13, 2026 22:51
People used to say Damascus steel and old Japanese swords were impossible to replicate, but materials science has since figured out it's just steel and soft iron imperfectly bonded in many layers at a temperature below melting point. So aside from antique value, there's nothing to be all that impressed by. Obviously modern alloy steel is superior anyway.
24AnonymousSep 13, 2026 22:57
My dad used to play samurai at night sharpening knives on a whetstone too. Not the rhythmic shk-shk-shk sound — just an endless, slow shhh… shhh… The blade ended up chipped like a fine-toothed saw.
30AnonymousSep 13, 2026 23:06
Re: #24
Samurai didn't sharpen their own swords, lol.
31AnonymousSep 13, 2026 23:06
Re: #24
He was trying to kill you.
25AnonymousSep 13, 2026 22:57
So you'll put up with a dull knife just to keep the pattern intact?
26AnonymousSep 13, 2026 22:58
It doesn't even say the sharpness actually improved, and whatever tool he used, a power tool clearly isn't the right choice anyway.
27AnonymousSep 13, 2026 22:59
There's even a chance he's not someone who cooks at all — he probably just pressed down on it with brute force instead of moving it back and forth, then complained 'this thing's dull!'
28AnonymousSep 13, 2026 23:03
The moment it's visibly all jagged and gritty like that, there's no way the sharpness improved. He's probably just getting senile.
29AnonymousSep 13, 2026 23:04
Knives like this are just about showing off the pattern, not about being sharp.
34AnonymousSep 13, 2026 23:12
Re: #30
Back when combat was central to daily life, lower-ranked samurai did some of it themselves — you needed 'neba-awase' (a quick touch-up honing before battle) too.
35AnonymousSep 13, 2026 23:14
Wait, your father-in-law just took it without asking — are you living with your wife's dad?
38AnonymousSep 13, 2026 23:16
Amazon sells Kyocera sharpeners.
At least it sharpens better than an angle grinder.
39AnonymousSep 13, 2026 23:17
Re: #36
Did you just picture some Edo-era samurai in ceremonial robes holding a legendary sword?
41AnonymousSep 13, 2026 23:20
Mr. Sore Loser here probably doesn't even know professional sword sharpeners (togishi) exist.
42AnonymousSep 13, 2026 23:21
Re: #40
So you jumped in without knowing about the era when swords were just plain combat tools. There were professional sharpeners, sure, but samurai did it themselves too.
44AnonymousSep 13, 2026 23:23
Yeah, you clearly don't understand how this works, lol.
45AnonymousSep 13, 2026 23:23
The fact you can't even respond to 'neba-awase' shows you're just picturing some Edo-era samurai in ceremonial robes holding a legendary sword. They did maintain their own gear — precisely because their lives were on the line.
47AnonymousSep 13, 2026 23:26
Old man vs. old man, duking it out.
Background and Key Points of This Topic
Commercially sold “Damascus knives” are often something quite different from genuine Damascus steel, which gets its wavy pattern from forge-welding many layers of steel and soft iron together. Cheaper products are mostly stainless steel knives whose surface has simply been laser-etched or acid-etched to reproduce the pattern, and many commenters on the thread agreed with the remark that it’s “just printed on.” Meanwhile, the discussion around blade sharpening grew from practical questions — the difference between a household sharpener and a whetstone, and whether it’s appropriate to grind a blade with a power tool (angle grinder) — into a historical debate over whether Japanese swords were handled only by professional sharpeners. No comments cited actual historical sources on this point, and opinions within the thread stayed divided without reaching a conclusion. One point readers can easily get wrong is that the name “Damascus” refers to the pattern, not a guarantee of the steel’s grade — so judging sharpness by price or brand alone would be premature.
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