Ok, I have been doing some reading on this board about Ferric Chloride etching and the more I read the more confused I get. I just completed a knife build for myself, and before attaching the handles I had etched the blade. I was less than thrilled with the results.
Let me tell you what I did.
1. I cleaned the blade with acetone and only handled with latex gloves.
2. I opened up a brand new bottle of ferric chloride and poured about half of it in a glass container.
3. I put the blade in the glass container completely submerging to the tang.
4. I let it etch for 5 minutes and removed.
5. I took it out and cleaned washed it with hot water, and lightly sanded with 600 grit sandpaper (which took it back down to bare metal instantly).
6. So I cleaned it back up and dropped it in the solution for 5 minutes.
7. I pulled it back out and washed with hot water and skipped the sandpaper step.
8. I applied my makers mark and submerged in the etchant solution again for 30-40 minutes.
9. I removed, neutralized, and polished with Flitz metal polish.
This is the finish I got when I was done.
It is a dull light gray color. I decided to live with it at first but when shaping the handle, I inadvertently got into the spine and took a small section of etch off of the blade. So now I am faced with having to fix that spot by taping off that area and applying etchant with a Q Tip and blending, or sanding the blade back down to 600 and re-etching the entire thing. I am thinking about the latter since I originally wanted a darker finish on the blade. Here is the finish I envisioned on this blade to begin with.
So...... now that you've see what I am trying to accomplish and assuming I sand her back down and re-etch how do I need to approach it? I've read multiple threads with people saying they cut the acid with distilled water 50/50, and some saying they use straight acid. I've also had a couple of makers tell me to heat the etchant in some warm to hot water by putting it in a mason jar and dropping it in a pot of hot water (like one would warm up a baby bottle). I've been told the water/FC mixture will etch darker, and I've been told that warming it up significantly will make it etch faster and darker. Also keep in mind that I etched for 40 minutes last time. If I do any of those things to improve the etch, will I need to cut down my etch time? I don't want to burn the blade up, especially now that is has a $75 piece of presentation grade Kao attached to it.
Any help will be appreciated.
Let me tell you what I did.
1. I cleaned the blade with acetone and only handled with latex gloves.
2. I opened up a brand new bottle of ferric chloride and poured about half of it in a glass container.
3. I put the blade in the glass container completely submerging to the tang.
4. I let it etch for 5 minutes and removed.
5. I took it out and cleaned washed it with hot water, and lightly sanded with 600 grit sandpaper (which took it back down to bare metal instantly).
6. So I cleaned it back up and dropped it in the solution for 5 minutes.
7. I pulled it back out and washed with hot water and skipped the sandpaper step.
8. I applied my makers mark and submerged in the etchant solution again for 30-40 minutes.
9. I removed, neutralized, and polished with Flitz metal polish.
This is the finish I got when I was done.
It is a dull light gray color. I decided to live with it at first but when shaping the handle, I inadvertently got into the spine and took a small section of etch off of the blade. So now I am faced with having to fix that spot by taping off that area and applying etchant with a Q Tip and blending, or sanding the blade back down to 600 and re-etching the entire thing. I am thinking about the latter since I originally wanted a darker finish on the blade. Here is the finish I envisioned on this blade to begin with.
So...... now that you've see what I am trying to accomplish and assuming I sand her back down and re-etch how do I need to approach it? I've read multiple threads with people saying they cut the acid with distilled water 50/50, and some saying they use straight acid. I've also had a couple of makers tell me to heat the etchant in some warm to hot water by putting it in a mason jar and dropping it in a pot of hot water (like one would warm up a baby bottle). I've been told the water/FC mixture will etch darker, and I've been told that warming it up significantly will make it etch faster and darker. Also keep in mind that I etched for 40 minutes last time. If I do any of those things to improve the etch, will I need to cut down my etch time? I don't want to burn the blade up, especially now that is has a $75 piece of presentation grade Kao attached to it.
Any help will be appreciated.
