Etching White Metal

R

richardallen

Joined
Oct 15, 2002
Messages
1,101
Is it possible to etch or put some kind of patina on the white metal that's being used in the villager models? Assuming that the golden metal is regular brass, it's quite easy to put a patina on that one, but I'm not sure about the white metal. anybody tried anything yet?

Keno
 
Hi Keno,
I have some villagers that have "white metal" hardware, and some that have steel. The white metal is probably nickel silver, which is an alloy of copper and nickel. It can be blackened, but I don't know the chemicals needed. There are commercial compounds sold in the US to do so, but I don't know about Germany. The one I have heard of is "Blacken-It". It's used for model train wheels and the nickel silver fittings on fly rods for fishing.

Of course, if the hardware is steel, a regular gun bluing solution would work.

Good luck,
Steve
 
Keno there is white metal furniture on my full sized Foxy Folly and I used Birchwood Casey Cold Blue on it when I blued the blade.
It didn't take as well on the white metal but it did darken it considerably.
After I recuperate from my back surgery scheduled for this week I plan on reworking the handles on my two 17" Foxy Folly's and doing them the same way.
I much prefer the finish I get using the cold blue than I do the polished shiny finish that comes on the white metal.

You should be able to view pix of it here
And pix of my 17" Foxy Folly here along with a copy of the original sketch of the AK Bowie and Sher's new model khukuri that was posted last month.

Please let me know if the links don't work.;)

Edit:
In the first link pic 7 of 13 shows the groove I file in all of my user khukuris. A couple of the pix shows the darkening of the white metal pretty well.
The pix in the 2nd link are of the prototype 17" Foxy Folly that weighs 31 ounces. When I finish working it over it will weigh a bit less.
I'm rounding over the spine and reworking the handle for sure. I've also considered drilling a series of lightening holes along the spine in graduating diameters, there is precedence for that as it has been done on at least one old khukuri, can't remember who posted the pic showing that particular one but it was probably John Powell. Everyone was really taken with it, beautiful khukuri!!!! :D
 
richardallen said:
yvsa, that's a cool karda - the one with the dark golden fitting! looks great...
Click to expand...

Thanks!:D I reworked an old German Hunting knife for the long karda and an old Boy Scout knife for the short one. The handles are Sycamore wood and the bolsters are copper pipe slightly flattened and fitted to the handles.
I left them just a tad long so I could mix some of the epoxy with the sawdust/drilling shavings and fill the top so as to cover up the visible holes I drilled in the handles for the tangs.
Terry Sisco recovered the scabbard and made the new frog for it.:cool:
Terry does dayumed nice work!!!!:thumbup: :D
 
richardallen said:
links work. dunno about stuff to etch nickel either, but i'll figure it out.

thanks :)

Keno
Click to expand...

Keno, do you want to etch the white metal or darken it?
What would be the purpose of etching the white metal?
 
um, darken it. i thought etching would technically be the process that would do this? might be a language based mistake. when you darken brass, technically it's etching [oxidyzing (sp?)] it, isn't it?
 
richardallen said:
um, darken it. i thought etching would technically be the process that would do this? might be a language based mistake. when you darken brass, technically it's etching [oxidyzing (sp?)] it, isn't it?
Click to expand...

Keno I don't know about brass but etching on steel does cause it to change color a bit and shows up sharp and crisp but after a while it fades a bit until it's still there but not as sharp and crisp.
Darkening the steel with bluing changes the color drastically. With a gun blue or hot blue the color will last for years. With a cold blue it will fade over time into a grey but is easily reblued.
Darkening brass will change the color from the gold to a black.
Using the cold blue on the white metal changes it to a mottled medium grey.
So far the cold blue has lasted pretty well on my Foxy Folly but it hasn't seen any real use, all it's had has been some handling and the occasional wiping down with Ballistol.
 
WOW!!!!

Yvsa you have just let me see the prettiest Khuk I've ever seen. I have a little german hunting knife with a stag handle my dad gave me. The blade shape is exactly like that. I wouldn't dare rework it, since it was dad's, but that one is seriously sweet as hell. Your work on the Khuk handle is beautiful too. Your skills in handle rework vastly outpace my own. I am truly impressed. Thanks for the views.

Andy
 
aproy1101 said:
WOW!!!!

Yvsa you have just let me see the prettiest Khuk I've ever seen. I have a little german hunting knife with a stag handle my dad gave me. The blade shape is exactly like that. I wouldn't dare rework it, since it was dad's, but that one is seriously sweet as hell. Your work on the Khuk handle is beautiful too. Your skills in handle rework vastly outpace my own. I am truly impressed. Thanks for the views.

Andy
Click to expand...

Why thank you Andy.:o ;) :D If it had of been someone close to me knife I wouldn't have taken artistic license with it either.
The larger of the two is the old German knife and of course that makes the short one the old Boy Scout knife.
I took artistic license with both of them. The old German knife used to have a clip blade, as you can see it is no longer.;)

As far as the skill, you haven't been here long. Your skill will improve as you do more work on your knives.
We all start out as amatures.;) :D

Notice the cho on the Foxy Folly. I also took artistic license with it.:D
The Foxy Folly's all came with a dinky arsed cho more fitting for a Pen Knife or a 12" Sirupati or such.
With the aid of my Ryobi Rotary Tool and a carbide bit I gave it a cho more suitable to its size.:thumbup: :cool:

c0d6.jpg
 
NICE.:eek: I noticed the Cho and figured your knife for a special order.:thumbup: See, I do lots of metalworking at work, and there are dremmels all over the place. I hadn't thought of that. I've ajusted all my handles so far (5). I will improve as I take more risks with my Knives. Plus right now getting the 20 daamn coats of tru oil on my Badune special is kicking my butt. Yesterday I received my GRS with Chandan. Its my nicest knife, except for 1.5" of cho creep its perfect. Bura, you know. I'm going to bring out the shine in that dhandan for sure, and the ring isn't finished so I'm going to give it some definition. What can I do about cho creep though?

Andy
 
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