Etching my 9 with Celtic pattern for St. Patrick's Day! More pics added!

granitestateofmind

granitestateofmind

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Apr 20, 2013
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I've been trying to figure out some sort of celtic knotwork pattern I could cut into vinyl as a stencil/mask to etch into the spine of my 9 with my electro-chemical etching setup. Since it's St. Patrick's Day, I finally got over the possible vs. improbable hump and started cutting some vinyl:






I had a little trouble "mitering" the ends; I figured I'd adjust it later...it's tough to get a pattern that will end nicely within the space constraints I wanted to work with. Decided to just figure it out on the fly, and got ready to cut the release paper. Necker to the task.





I've used this method a long time ago to do artwork for screen-printing, but this is the first time I've tried to do it on metal with irreversible results. It took me a few attempts to make sure it was lined up properly along the spine. Making sure the blade is squeaky clean:



Release paper on, backing just about to come off the vinyl, fingers crossed - metaphorically speaking, of course. Hard to use them that way.










This was the hard part. I didn't want to put it down skewed to the very straight boundaries of the spine and the grind line, and I couldn't really see through the release paper to line it up. I ended up taping the knife onto the grid of the cutting board and using the grid to line up the vinyl. I think I got lucky; it ended up pretty straight, as far as I can tell:





Used some vinyl to clean up the ends - it didn't come out the exact way I wanted it to, but sometimes it's true that perfectionism is the enemy of good enough. I think I'll be OK with the results once I get it etched. I'll be posting up an update when the etch is done.



 
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That is going to come out looking great, looking forward to seeing the end result!
 
We haven't seen a good Clich job in a long time. Looking forward to it.
 
can't wait to see the finished product! Looks like it will be cool!

I know I don't have the ability to be that careful with it, I'd probably have laid the vinyl onto the knife and then cut out the design with a x-acto. But that is just me.
 
Thank you for your anticipation and kind words....now some pics of the process and the final results. I'll be self critical and say that it didn't come out perfect....but I'm still pretty damn happy that it turned out at all, and decent enough for photos.

Tried out a new method for a little more coverage...some cotton rounds wrapped around a little piece of Micarta daizee kindly sent me for another project. Worked OK, but messier than Q-tips (and I am using Q-tip® brand swabs):



Went back to Q-tips to make sure the etch was fairly uniform:



Then on to the AC, won't bore you with the details, but this is what it looked like before the rinse:



Rinsed it under some plain water as I didn't want the vinyl to lift. I could see some imperfections, but it looked pretty good and I decided I didn't want to make it worse trying to make it look better, which totally goes against my semi-AR approach to these sorts of things. It was hard to tell if I'd etched deep enough, but I grabbed a pair of tweezers and started unmasking....lo and behold, it was looking pretty cool. So....the moment you've been waiting for:



Definitely some imperfections, the etch got under the vinyl in one or two spots and the AC blacken is not as even as I hoped it'd be. Still, I decided it was time to put on the neused Micarta I got off the exchange and take some photos:



Decided that if the 9 and 16 were going to be riding around together, I ought to take the Micarta off my 5 and dress up the 9's partner in....the woods.



Closeup showing some of the uglier spots, but what the hell. Once I spend some time beating on that 9, who's gonna notice it?



And one last one...'cause it's my thread and I can post what I please:



Now I'm really looking forward to some nice weather as I received the sheath in the dead of winter and haven't carried it....my family gives me funny enough looks with my other steel, much less me walking around the house (or the neighborhood!) with a 9 and a piggybacked 16 strapped to my belt. Here's to the arrival of Spring!

Go n-éirí an bóthar leat
Go raibh an ghaoth go brách ag do chúl
Go lonraí an ghrian go te ar d'aghaidh
Go dtite an bháisteach go mín ar do pháirceanna
Agus go mbuailimid le chéile arís,
Go gcoinní Dia i mbos A láimhe thú.
 
Perhaps not perfect, but it looks awesome.
Keep us posted after you beat on it a bit - I think those minor blemishes will blend right in as the blade starts to show patina and use.
 
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