- Joined
- Oct 20, 2011
- Messages
- 4
First thread and post for me but I wanted to ask many of the experience knife makers out there: How do you etch your mark into your knives?
I am a cheap college student so I love to figure out DIY ways of doing things. I know there are many different professional etching machines but I don't have 300 dollars to spend on one so I decided to make one. This is may process:
I have tried a lot of methods, all with mixed results, but, what I found works the best is the same method used for making printed circuit boards.
I have made a simple etching machine out of an old laptop battery charger (12v 3A) and a use a simple electrolyte of salt water. It will eat through just about an metal I have come a cross (even stainless) and makes very nice etched lines but, it doesn't blacken the metal to the degree I want (need to work on that). The next part of my process is using laser printer ink as a "stencil" of my mark. This is the same process a lot of people use to make printed circuit boards but in my case I use it as a stencil for my etching. I print my mark on to basic glossy photo paper using a laser printer (photocopier), the reason for this is laser printer ink is actually plastic and when on metal it acts as a great stencil or also called "resist" for etching process. The glossy photo paper is needed so that the printer ink can be lifted off of the paper and on to the metal of the knife. Once my stencil has been printed the next step is to transfer the laser printer ink to the metal of the knife.
This is the tricky part; the laser printer ink can melt on to other surfaces if heat is added to the back of the photo paper of which it is printed on. So I use a standard household iron for that; I place my printed mark on my knife and I iron the back of the photo paper until the plastic has melted and is attached to the knife metal. After that I throw the blade in hot water and let it sit. Then pry the photo paper off my knife and then my "stencil" is attached to the knife.
The last part is etching the knife, with my homemade etching machine. The metal that is exposed to the machine will be etched and depending on how long it is in contact will change the depth of the etching.
This method produces mixed results though, it is incredibly hard to create the stencil. I will spend hours trying to make the stencils stick to the metal and also sometimes the stencil washes off and leaves blurring of the mark. So my biggest question for everyone is: Does anyone know another cheap way to create stencils for electrolytic etching? Or does anyone have any suggestions to make my process easier?
(Pictures of my marks will come up soon, I'm having camera issues.)
I am a cheap college student so I love to figure out DIY ways of doing things. I know there are many different professional etching machines but I don't have 300 dollars to spend on one so I decided to make one. This is may process:
I have tried a lot of methods, all with mixed results, but, what I found works the best is the same method used for making printed circuit boards.
I have made a simple etching machine out of an old laptop battery charger (12v 3A) and a use a simple electrolyte of salt water. It will eat through just about an metal I have come a cross (even stainless) and makes very nice etched lines but, it doesn't blacken the metal to the degree I want (need to work on that). The next part of my process is using laser printer ink as a "stencil" of my mark. This is the same process a lot of people use to make printed circuit boards but in my case I use it as a stencil for my etching. I print my mark on to basic glossy photo paper using a laser printer (photocopier), the reason for this is laser printer ink is actually plastic and when on metal it acts as a great stencil or also called "resist" for etching process. The glossy photo paper is needed so that the printer ink can be lifted off of the paper and on to the metal of the knife. Once my stencil has been printed the next step is to transfer the laser printer ink to the metal of the knife.
This is the tricky part; the laser printer ink can melt on to other surfaces if heat is added to the back of the photo paper of which it is printed on. So I use a standard household iron for that; I place my printed mark on my knife and I iron the back of the photo paper until the plastic has melted and is attached to the knife metal. After that I throw the blade in hot water and let it sit. Then pry the photo paper off my knife and then my "stencil" is attached to the knife.
The last part is etching the knife, with my homemade etching machine. The metal that is exposed to the machine will be etched and depending on how long it is in contact will change the depth of the etching.
This method produces mixed results though, it is incredibly hard to create the stencil. I will spend hours trying to make the stencils stick to the metal and also sometimes the stencil washes off and leaves blurring of the mark. So my biggest question for everyone is: Does anyone know another cheap way to create stencils for electrolytic etching? Or does anyone have any suggestions to make my process easier?
(Pictures of my marks will come up soon, I'm having camera issues.)
