Etching for hamon many spot on blade?

[mahalarbknives]

Etching for hamon use ferric, distilled water 5/1 ~5 min. And have this spot on blade. I do it wrong? Maybe drinking water for mix?

Thank you

 

[J. Doyle]

Distilled water should work fine. The blade needs to be REALLY clean prior to etching. This looks like some sort of oil/grease/chemical residue.

What was the cleaning process prior to etching?

 

[mahalarbknives]

I clean in warm soap and wiped with my shirt. How should I do ? Clean it and wait blade dry And etching?

Thank you

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Those look like "bubble marks". The FC you used and the length of time were too much. I use 15:1 ratio for hamon etching. Five minutes is the usual etch time with 15:1 FC for a hamon.

I check every minute and rinse off the blade, wipe off with a paper towel, rinse again, and put back in the FC. If the hamon isn't clear enough, I clean the blade off and repeat as many as four times.

What was happening in your etch was bubbles forming along the blade and making the etch not work there by keeping the FC away from the blade. That is why you need to rinse and wipe as well as have much weaker FC for a long etch.

As to your cleaning, washing with hot water and dish soap is good, then rinse well with hot water. You can wipe it off with a clean paper towel, but the best method is to not touch it with anything after the wash and rinse. Your shirt is not a good thing to wipe it with, as it has all sorts of stuff on it. Some folks give the blade a final wipe down with denatured alcohol after the wash/rinse.

 

[J. Doyle]

Those look like "bubble marks". The FC you used and the length of time were too much. I use 15:1 ratio for hamon etching. Five minutes is the usual etch time with 15:1 FC for a hamon.

I disagree with this^^^ completely. I use 4:1 ratio all the time and have no issues. Personally, I don't think the strength of the ferric chloride or the etch time is a factor here.

As to your cleaning, washing with hot water and dish soap is good, then rinse well with hot water. You can wipe it off with a clean paper towel, but the best method is to not touch it with anything after the wash and rinse. Your shirt is not a good thing to wipe it with, as it has all sorts of stuff on it. Some folks give the blade a final wipe down with denatured alcohol after the wash/rinse.

I agree with this^^^ completely. Washing with soap and not rinsing good and wiping on a (dirty??) shirt is not a good idea. Who knows what's in that shirt.

I expect you didn't rinse all the soap off well and got spotting etching. Wiping with your shirt didn't help. I've seen exactly these kinds of spots from residual dish soap AND windex on prior occasions. Simple green, mobil 1 oil, wd-40 left on the blade from hand sanding and not completely removed prior to etching will do the same thing.

To repeat....for a GOOD etch, the blade has to be CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN!!! Completely free of oils, residues, cleaners, grease, skin oil, fingerprints. Just clean shiny steel should be the only thing on the surface.

 

[Daniel Rohde]

This may be off base but I got this once when I had really over heated a blade in the heat treat-I was etching it just to see what it would do. I almost looks to consistently dirty to be a cleaning problem, but I'd do what John says:thumbup:

 

[mahalarbknives]

Many thanks for all. This is my big problem for a long time my blade looking no clean hamon(and damascus)

This my bad etching not clean blade.

Thanks for your advice next time I will try

 

[Don Hanson III]

Hamon; 4:1 ferric, 30 seconds, 4-6 times, clean oxides off between etches. Clean, Clean, Clean before during and after.

Damascus; 4:1 ferric, 5 minute cycles with a good rubbing in between.