Etching Damascus and Polishing Ivory

[John L]

When etching 1095/nickel damascus in ferric how long or how many times do you etch? I hardened, tempered, etched, removed and cleaned, etched again....and its' kinda cloudy. Had washed very well beforehand. On another note the same folder has white ivory scales...no mineral or bark showing. Do you just sand to finer grits or buff? Thanks.

 

[mdoyle]

What solution of ferric did you use? Did you sand in between dipping? I like to sand the oxidation off under warm water with 1500 after I dip. Then dip again and repeat. Do this until you get the color you want and then after dipping don't sand, just windex to neutralize, let dry, then oil. Acetone first!
Matt Doyle

 

[Will52100]

One methoud that I've found works for me pretty well is to etch for about 10 minits in a 4 to 1 mix of distilled water and ferric, then windex and scrub in soapy water with 0000 steel wool. If I don't like the etch I go anouther run with it and repeat till I like it. Depending on the damascus mix I may etch for a couple of minits and lightly hand sand with 2000 grit, wetting the paper with the ferric solution. I may or may not give the blade a light buff with a loose wheel and pink compound after etching, depends on the look I'm after and what the damascus is.

But first I clean the living snot out of it. First wash with soap and water, then scrub with a clean paper towl and acetone.

I haven't worked ivory yet, will be listing in for answeres to it.

 

[Dmitry.M]

I've made few things with ivory and it seems that sandpaper works greate. Ivory could be wery well polished but only if you sand out absolutely all inperfections with 2000 or more grit of sandpaper. I used choke for polishing. Just put some of soft choke in a piece of cloth shake it a little and remove the choke. Than beat out most of choke dust out of cloth and rub your piece with it till it is done. It works for highly figured pieces.If you have flat surfaces and want to use power tools use polishing compaund "for plastic". But NEVER use ANY COLORIZED polishing compounds! Ivory accepts dye very easy and it is pain in the ass to remove it. Sometimes it is simply impossible. I lost several pieces that way.
Some people use just rough wool to polish, no compounds at all.

P.S. What I had was not exactly ivory(elephant), it was mammoth...but I do not know what you have.