Cleaning and finishing a blade

T

TwoBears

Joined
Sep 25, 2003
Messages
2
Can someone help me. I need to know what kind of acid you use to bring out the quality of the steel. I made a knife blade that is pitted somewhat and rusty. Would like to have a nice finish on it. :confused: By the way, newbie here. Thanks everyone
 
Welcome twobears.
Not sure what you mean by bring out the quality of the steel. There are many reasons to etch a blade. To darken it or to bring out the pattern in damascus or to highlight a hamon, etc.

To fix rust and pits though the normal thing would be to regrind it. Help me a little and tell me what you want the blade to look like.

Are you the twobears from the muzzleloading forums?
 
Its an old bandsaw blade. Its ready for use. Its got thick blackening and pits throughout. I wanted to bring out the original finish of the blade. I ground it already to try and get it out. Someone told me that if I used an acid to soak it in, it would take all that out and some of the pits would remain but the blade itself would shine. I guess thats the best I can explain it. It looks like a piece of steel that has been laying around for about 20 yrs. LOL....And no, i am not that TwoBears. Thanks for your reply. I appreciate it.
 
Etching will remove some of the rust however it will also darken the blade. If you are looking for a better looking but old knife, I'd use ferric choloride cut 50/50 with water and soak for a half hour checking for damage throughout that time. After, wash well with water and buff with old blue jeans or something like that. To get the blade shiny, you need to go to the buffing wheel.

Good luck
 
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