Etching

E

ericspaw

Joined
Dec 11, 2008
Messages
28
First of all this is a great site. I stumbled into here a couple months ago looking for info on making marking knives for woodworking. Now I have 9 knives that will be going to the heat treatment folks for my first try.

Anyway, is there a good site on the etching process? I know there is chemical etching and electro etching, but I can't find anything on the whole process.

thanks

Eric
 
The search function will not work for nonpaying members, but I have been told that you can get around that by searching on google. There have been lots of threads about etching and several here the last week or so. Personalizer Plus is one of the popular etchers and there is another that allot of people are building. I am sure it can be found with a little search on google, I think the plans are on Chriscrawfordknives, but not sure. Good luck
 
I use a disgustingly simple chemical etch. it works thusly:
1)Procure a big jug of White vinegar, and 2 - 32 oz bottles of lemon juice concentrate, a small PLASTIC tub of the proper size and a Sharpie marker w/ extra fine tip
2) Clean your part with rubbing alcohol, or acetone. making sure to not touch it with your bare hands after cleaning.
3) Sign your name, draw a makers mark, or what have you, with the sharpie markeron the blade.
4) Submerge the blade(s) edge down, fully into to the tub with the vinegar and lemon juice mix (50/50 ratio) (you will need to come up with a way to do keep them on edge I use an old plastic desktop CD holder) like this
lightbox-cd-holder.jpg


let set for 8-12 hours
should come out looking something like
n625615241_1729008_5515.jpg


Jason
 
Not to be a jerk but isn't that more of a patina than an etch? I bet you could mask/black everything out with the marker then scribe out your mark and etch it, so just your mark is black.

Once you get into vinegar and lemon juice etches, it's a slippery slope towards spicy mustard and who knows what else ;)
 
Thanx man, it's how I mark all my knives. you can also buff to a mirror afterwards, the etch is actually raised not lowered, unless you coat the entire blade in sharpie and leave your name "in the white." The citric acid eats the steel very uniformally. This is known as a simple "Strong Water" technique. No James the owl and the fancy lace pattern are actually raised about .015" - 020" around everything around it. I dont think your a jerk, but I'm just sayin those knives (while unfinished) are stock removal from M2 Starrett power hacksaw blades, :D

Jason
 
JasonSCarter said:
I dont think your a jerk, but I'm just sayin... :D

Jason
Click to expand...

Glad we cleared that up :D And I see we were on the same page about reversing the pattern.

I put a mustard/vinegar patina on my CS Master Hunter at least 2 years ago and it's held up very well.

Some circular saw blades caught my eye the other day but it would take me longer to cut them into blanks than it would to order some bar stock and wait for it to show up.
 
Thanks for the ideas and direction. I think I am beginning a long descent into another hobby.

Eric
 
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