acid etching question

K

KodyL

Joined
Jul 14, 2016
Messages
47
I'm making a small kitchen chopper out of 01 and thought I would try a vinegar etch on it to give it a forced patina. The blade was sanded to 600 grit and then I thought a stone finish might look good as well. I boiled the vinegar and when I put the blade in it started to foam but only on the blade up to where the hardening stopped just in front of the tang. Anyone care to explain ? Looked pretty interesting
 
Ive had success with O1 getting a nice patina with vinegar by cleaning the blade well with alcohol, soaking a towel/rag in vinegar, wrapping the blade in the soaked towel/rag and let sit for an hour. Maybe longer depends what you'd like for finish. Leaving the soaked rag wrapped loosely will leave you an uneven patina. Wrap it tight and compressed for a more even patina.
 
Hardened steel and unhardened steel will etch different. Decarb won't etch much at all.

The blade needs to be very clean before the etch. No need to boil the vinegar, just get it good and warm - 100-130F is good. Let it soak for 10 minutes, take out and scrub with a clean scotch-brite pad, rinse well, and put back in the vinegar. Repeat as many times as necessary to get the patina where you want it.
 
I just etched two blades of 1095 tonight and was surprised at the lack of bubbles compared to th 01 steel. What has worked very well for me was Stone washing for 2 hours using rounded quartz river rock about the size of a quail egg with a handful of aquarium gravel to get into the plunge. Then etch and back in the tumbler for 15 mins or so. Nothing exact but both blades look great with a satin gunmetal grey finish
 
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