Copperwash Recipe

H

Harley Boatman

Joined
Jun 21, 2020
Messages
98
So I've seen a few makers do a copperwash on their blades. Now I'm wondering if anyone has a recipe (how much water/copper/echant) and what steels a copperwash will work on.

Just thought it would be something fun and different to try out sometime.

Thanks :thumbsup:
 
I don't do it, and see no purpose for it, but it is done by dissolving copper in FC. You can simply hang some strips of copper in a tank of normal strength FC and let them eat away. test with a freshly sanded and clean piece of steel to see what it looks like. The FC will be useless for etching blades after this, so don't do it in your regular etch tank.

Just remember that the color it is only a few millionth of an inch thick and will come off in use.
 
I somerimes acid etc designs in my blade. Curious if anyone has copper plated such an etched blade then buffed off the copper, (or gold) and if the plaiting would stay and be visible in the cut, that is below the surface and thus may stay and not wear out. Same idea would be for stamped metal. Anyone tried it and got input?

I might add that I do my own heat treat and when I get metal close to temp, I melt copper and brass onto the steel 1090 is easy, my favorite D2 gets complicated and I have to slam the copper in with a Hamer while red-hot. All tricky as I do not want the temperature to ever drop low enough to give me metal stress. it all has to be part of 'getting it up to quench temperature,' Thus, I am able to combine steel and copper sucessfully with as thick a layer as I wish, that welds- on chemically bonds - does not come off. It adds nothing to the function of the blade, but feel it also takes nothing away. (as far as I can tell) I choose Wide designs at 2 or more inches wide and do the work near the spline, not close to the edge where it could have an effect on my cutting edge. I also only edge harden the blade. I can explain if anyone is interested. Mostly no, no one is interested, it's to out there and wierd. Which is fine, I end up with 'cool blades' that work. But yes curious if I could create 'low spots' to plate that protect the plating. Pattern hammer marks etc. Any comments? (like in th picture I enclose, curious if I could plate the inside of those hammer marks ad or the etch 45677899-7E46-4588-8DEB-ADC27F71DF8C_1_201_a.jpeg
 
You can etch, and then plate.
You can plate in low spots-hammer marks or stamps.
Copper would be pretty useless in that scenario-as it tarnishes readily.
Gold plating, on the other hand doesn't tarnish.
 
Good point on copper tarnish- forgot. Yes maybe gold but does not show up as well. I once tried baked in glass enamel and it worked but was complicated. Glass cant handle the quench and steel cant handle glass temp without needing treatment. I used finger nail polish no issues but worried it would not hard enough. But if 'below grade?' I may explore that more. I've been filed testing some ideas Some hard resins may work. I can look around see what others are doing. Thanks for the advice!
 
I have gold plated filework and engraving 40 years ago. It works extremely well and shows up much better than copper.
Etching has been plated forever. It's a lot more common than you think.
 
The new hard resins used for enameling are great. They use UV light to cure the resin. Apply the resin and expose it to the UV light for 10 minutes and it is hard. It is pretty durable stuff. It is sold under the name U-Namel.
 
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