Ferric chloride etching

S

ScottFM

Joined
Feb 13, 2001
Messages
52
I tried etching a logo on a blade with ferric Chloride from Radio Shack and after 15 mins it came out grey. Is there something i have to mix with it or should I wait longer? Has anyone used this and had good results?
 
Scott- it is too strong as it comes out of the bottle, and etches so agressively that it removes both the hard and soft layers at close to the same rate. You must dilute it 50/50 with water before using it, and some makers even go 2 or 3 parts water to 1 part FECL.

Having said that, some damascus (Devin Thomas stainless, for example) will be shades of gray anyway. Carbon steel and nickel combinations will give much higher contrast.

Don Cowles
www.cowlesknives.com
 
OOPS- I didn't pay attention to what you said youo were doing. When I saw ferric chloride, I immediately made the leap to damascus. Sorry.

For electro-chemical etching, bot DC and AC are used; one produces the actual etch (gray), and the other deposits iron oxides in the etch (black). If you use FECL, gray is all you'll get. If the etch is deep enough, however, you can rub black pigment into the etch to provide better contrast.

Don
 
Scott,would you explain exactly,what procedure you are using,are you using an etching machine? Are you dipping your blade in the acid? are you using some kind of stencil?

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MIKE
 
I had seen a post a while back saying to put fingernail polish on the blade, let it dry, take a brass rod and remove the polish in the shape of your logo, then put the acid on the logo and let it sit. Thats all I did but with not so great results.
 
Scott,for the type of etching that you are doing,I dont think ferric chloride is the way to go.Up above,Don was thinking that you were using an electro etch machine.Those will give you black logos as he stated.What you are doing requires a different solution,which escapes my mind,at the moment?I'm sure there are others here that do know.Sorry I could'nt be of more help.

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MIKE

[This message has been edited by MIHKNIVES (edited 06-01-2001).]
 
I have had some luck using ferric chloride to etch my name on blades.
It is not as good as the electro-chemical method from what I have seen
but it is not all that bad. On Solingen and O-1 carbon steels I get very
dark gray or black lettering, on 440C it is just gray.

I warm my blade and apply a thin layer of bee's wax to it, it has to be thin.
Then use a 0.3mm propelling lead pencil to scrib my lettering into the wax.
At room temp. 15-20 minutes gives a good deep etch on carbon steel, but
the stainless seems to need more, how much longer is something that I am trying to
find out.

Chris
 
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