Etching Damasteel

S

Storm W

Joined
Feb 19, 2019
Messages
915
I have my first damasteel blade. Its finally ready to etch. Most of what I come across says to used warmed or hot muriatic acid. I don't want to do that in the house. What are my other options? I have feruc mixed with vinegar as well.
 
I think that horsewright once said to me that he just uses ferric chloride (and that is my plan when I use my first damasteel). Hydrochloric acid is just too much of a PITA for me (but I guess it would be reasonable for Someone who can store and use it outside). On the ferric, my plan is to try it, and if I don’t get reasonable results, warm it up to ~130F (hottest water bath I can create). Appearance might not be the same as HCL, but more approachable for me.

You may want to check directly with horsewright... I will lay odds he has a photo or more to show the results to you...
 
Yeah I do use ferrc. I've found using a fresh batch works the best. I 've used this on other stainless dammys too with good results. I warm it in the sun if I can:

Damasteel:

duq7RwL.jpg
 
Horsewright said:
Yeah I do use ferrc. I've found using a fresh batch works the best. I 've used this on other stainless dammys too with good results. I warm it in the sun if I can:

Damasteel:

duq7RwL.jpg
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4cK8GO8.jpg

It worked. It was my old vinegar ferric mix. Thanks for the info. The second etch was deep enough that I can feel the topography.
 
HSC /// said:
Thx for the update. Good to know. I guess I’ll dump my muriatic acid.
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The first etch was around 30 minutes and the second was around 45. The acid was old but hasn't been used much. I put it on a heater vent so it was warm but not anywhere near hot. The second went pretty deep.
 
Storm ... FWIW ... I put my pvc pipe with ferric in it in a Home Depot bucket (using zip ties around it to keep it vertical). When I went to etch, I just filled the bucket up with hot water from the faucet. Did a good job of heating the ferric up. Temperature is really important to the speed of any chemical reaction....
 
Cushing H. said:
Storm ... FWIW ... I put my pvc pipe with ferric in it in a Home Depot bucket (using zip ties around it to keep it vertical). When I went to etch, I just filled the bucket up with hot water from the faucet. Did a good job of heating the ferric up. Temperature is really important to the speed of any chemical reaction....
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I got it done with being stupid .
 
Funny how things don't make since until the light goes on. I had a suminagashi san-mai blade that I was etching one February. The FC tank is out in the open smithy. I etched for almost an hour and only had a pi$$ poor etch. I cleaned it several times, stirred the tank, topped it up with fresh FC stock, and was about to dump it and mix some new FC when it suddenly dawned on me that it was 30 degrees outside. I waited a few days until it was in the 50's (temperatures changes fast here), and the blade etched just fine.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Funny how things don't make since until the light goes on. I had a suminagashi san-mai blade that I was etching one February. The FC tank is out in the open smithy. I etched for almost an hour and only had a pi$$ poor etch. I cleaned it several times, stirred the tank, topped it up with fresh FC stock, and was about to dump it and mix some new FC when it suddenly dawned on me that it was 30 degrees outside. I waited a few days until it was in the 50's (temperatures changes fast here), and the blade etched just fine.
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Its pretty cool what you can do by just trying the thing that you know doesn't work. Thankfully Horsewright Horsewright gave me the confidence to just give it a try.
 
Richard338 said:
A good rule of thumb for the most part, but I study some reactions with a negative temperature dependence...
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Really? not common .... are you able to reveal the reactions? (I am both chemist and Chem. E.). I could see Le Chatelier's principle leading to that in a really, really exothermic reaction --- but that would have to overcome the increased system energy swamping the activation energy lower limit....... ????? (sorry folks for the nerdy ramblings ..... just curious......)??
 
Cushing H. said:
Really? not common .... are you able to reveal the reactions? (I am both chemist and Chem. E.). I could see Le Chatelier's principle leading to that in a really, really exothermic reaction --- but that would have to overcome the increased system energy swamping the activation energy lower limit....... ????? (sorry folks for the nerdy ramblings ..... just curious......)??
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Generally a signature of barrierless gas phase reactions where capture limits the rate.
Sorry to derail, these cases certainly aren't relevant to etching in solution!
 
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