Electro-etching my new BK-16, patina

Chameleonbear said:
GSoM, that is seriously badass!
Click to expand...

Thanks! I'm surprised at how easy it was, and now I am digging through my old electronics repair stuff for resist tape and such so I can try a custom design on my 9, & then maybe the 2.....

First, though, I gotta search the forum for a bada$$ patina method for it....
 
So. Finally wasted some time with mustard and a paintbrush..





And here next to a TOPS B.O.B. which is not nearly as pretty as the my 16, IMO.



Thanks fer lookin'!
 
Man that looks excellent. How did you go about cleaning it up? Sandpaper? what grit you go to? steel wool? Man you had that thing looking like it came from kabar as a satin blade!!

I would of kept it purdy without the patina though and just used some eezox on it.... or mineral oil if i used that one for food prep.

Very nice man!!
 
worldwood said:
Man that looks excellent. How did you go about cleaning it up? Sandpaper? what grit you go to? steel wool? Man you had that thing looking like it came from kabar as a satin blade!!

I would of kept it purdy without the patina though and just used some eezox on it.... or mineral oil if i used that one for food prep.

Very nice man!!
Click to expand...

Thanks! After the etch, Citri-stripped it and then medium ScotchBrite - look close and all the grind marks are still there, which I don't mind and don't care to put in the time to polish out, given that I do plan to (ab)use this blade.
 
worldwood said:
I think it looks great with the grind and tooling marks on it!!!
Click to expand...
You should see my Camillus 2, the steel looks like it spent a year in orbit getting smashed into by meteorites an being blasted by cosmic radiation. Barely any grind marks, but lots of pits and scars almost like they just cold-rolled it into its final shape. I was a little shocked after I stripped it, first one of my Beckers I did and sure wasn't expecting all the roughness under the coating. Too much time looking at everyone's beautiful strip and patina and polish jobs on the Beckerhead forum - I have a lot more respect for the amount of time and effort that goes into all these custom jobs now. My 2 is ugly in a kinda beautiful way and I'm just gonna leave it like that....

 
Two questions: How long did you leave the battery charger hooked up for/how long did you etch the knife for? Did you just use water mixed with salt?? Think I might give this a go...
 
Eero said:
Two questions: How long did you leave the battery charger hooked up for/how long did you etch the knife for? Did you just use water mixed with salt?? Think I might give this a go...
Click to expand...

Yeah, can you provide more details on the etching. Looks cool.
 
Eero said:
Two questions: How long did you leave the battery charger hooked up for/how long did you etch the knife for? Did you just use water mixed with salt?? Think I might give this a go...
Click to expand...

I mixed a little (1/8 cup?) white vinegar in with the water and same amt. of salt...i think. Microwaved it a little to heat it up, tried to get the salt to dissolve (only a cup of water) but it didn't, not all the way. Let it sit while I contemplated the possibility of some accidental welding and/or electrocution (unfounded, as it turns out), then just went for it. As for the battery charger, dip your swab in the solution and clip the negative lead to your swab, right on the wet cotton. Positive terminal should be clipped to your knife (steel, no coating). I was wearing some light duty leather work gloves and safety glasses), and with the battery charger plugged in, just hold the wet swab onto the spot and let it start to sizzle a little, roll it around and when it's black, unclip, dip the other end, and clip new end back in, repeat. make sure everything is within reach when you start, and don't touch both clips to each other or the knife simultaneously -undesired results- and have fun. It doesn't happen so fast that you can't check your progress as you go; I stopped a couple of times to scrub my work with baking soda and a toothbrush, rinsed, repeated etching. The AC etching at the end was the kicker - really darkened the whole thing up nicely. Look on YouTube, there are a few good DIY videos and I just used what I had at hand, there are other methods equally as effective. Hardest part for me was getting over the fear of effing up a perfectly good knife. This is an easy project other than that. Go for it.

MezmerizedOne said:
Dude awesome work with the patina!
Click to expand...

Thank you. Paintbrush and cheap yellow mustard from a wasabe bowl...
Holding up well, but I also haven't used it much yet...

 
excellent work, but don't get discouraged when the patina wears off from use. Just let it form its own.

Guys, you can also do an etcher with an old cell phone charger and small gator clips.
 
GSOM, that is the best looking BK16 I have seen yet. Great job. I will be attempting something similar once my BK16 is in hand. A PM may come your way some day in the near future when I am ready for the attempt. Thank you so much for the inspiration!
 
Whoa granite that turned out awesome, even if you're not stripping the coating the deeper etching looks great!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top