Etching Damascus Folder

[JRB Blades]

I have never worked with Damascus, but a buddy wanted a liner lock knife and supplied a billet for me to use for the blade. I have it heat treated and the bevels at about 80%, plan on cleaning it up this week. I was gonna take it up to about 600 grit on the belt sander. Then drop down to 400 grit or so and hand sand up to 1000grit. When etching, do I need to put nail polish on the pivot, stop pin, and lock face? My FC is 4:1 with distilled water. I plan on etching for about 2-3 min, take it out, clean it off, and etch again. Will do this until I'm happy with the contrast. Just curious about protecting the delicate surfaces or not.

 

[Jesse Latham]

I cover the pivot hole, lock face, stop pin track, detent hole, detent ball track, bearing pockets and name. In short everything you do not want to change.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

EVERYTHING you don't want eaten down in etching needs a resist over it. Don't forget to do the inside of the pivot hole and any other holes.

 

[JRB Blades]

That's what I figured. Thanks. Just soak in acetone to remove nail polish once etching is done?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Yup.