Etching fittings..

M

Mark Basford

Joined
Nov 8, 2005
Messages
103
I had a particular challenge with the finishing fittings on this knife. So I'm hoping for some insight into a better way to do things.

o184346660.jpg


First I forged, filed, ground, turned, pinned, soldered, sanded and etched the blade and fittings.

Then drilled and filed the stabilized handle block.

I thought about temporarily super glueing the guard and butt to the block so that I could finish flush, then remove, re-etch and epoxy... but the butt has hidden pins, so I don't think I could shear it loose without damage.

So I permanently epoxied everything, finished the block and fitting edges to 600 grit (leaving the other areas pre-etched), then went through the painful process of trying to expose the metal parts of the knife without soaking the wood.

The result is ok, but the faces of the fittings are far more etched than the sides. :mad:

Any suggestions?
 
maybe you could coat the wood with a layer of wax to seal befor you etch you could just melt some bees wax or parifin and paint it on with a disposible brush never tried it but i think thats what id do good luck :)chris
 
I hadn't thought of using bees wax before but in the same vein, i once preassemble a knife and then used plastic tool dip from the hardware store to coat everything that I didnt want patinaed. I had really good luck with this method but I wasn't dipping the whole handle into the solution. I was painting chemicals onto the guard to put a patina on copper. The nice thing about the tool dip was the ease with which you can remove it when it's time to come off. It also painted on nicely. I was able to control it with. Lot of precision. Whatever method you choose, i'd suggest mocking up a test sample to make sure it's going to work the way you need it to. I know that's a no brainer but I'd hate to have tried to help someone and set them back in the process.

Good luck and let us know how things work out for you.

Rick
 
Wax resist, wow, I definately should have though of that... it seems so obvious now.
Guess I couldn't see the forrest for the trees.

thanks guys
 
coloured nail pollish works well, then you can see if you have good coverage. nice looking knife there.
Cheers Ron.
 
I saw your pics in the gallery. I though it looked good. The sides will wear faster with use. So, in a year or two you might not be able to tell, especially if he carries it in the woods. I thought there wasn't much difference in the flats and the sides anyway. But it probably looks different in person, because pictures can be misleading.
 
The the edges of the fittings are the correct color, but lack the strand delination that can be seen on the blade and the faces of the fittings. So it's passable, but still needs work.

I'm sure you are right about the wear, bjalongi... and it makes 100% sense if you look at is from a heavy users perspective, which is the intend purpose of this piece.

That being said; proper, uniform fit and finish seems to be one of the most commonly used yard sticks by which makers are judged by collectors and by each other. I'm trying to improve with every piece... still stumbling along; but thanks to help from the bladeforum community I'll stumble a bit less.

thanks to everyone for their help
 
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