Grain in steel

B

blkmtlbndt

Joined
Feb 24, 2015
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Hello, I was etching a blade tonight, in ferric chloride, about 3 sessions of an hour each. I ended up with some visible Damascus type grains in the blade. It is o1 steel. Is this normal? Or is it evidence of a screwed up hardening job? The lines are fairly faint.
 
Post some pics in shop talk.......could be alloy banding, but tough to say without seeing it.
Darcy:)
 
you can live with it, or you can erase it with a 1650F normalization step.
That kind of alloy banding is enanched by repetitive low temperature (under critical) cycling.
 
3 hours in ferric would certainly bring up some stringers if there are any present...that sounds excessive to me unless it is a very weak solution.
 
John L said:
Don: I once forgot a blade in the FC and the next morning there was nuttin.....absolutely nuttin but the stainless wire that held the blade by its' pivot hole. Oh brother........
Click to expand...

John, I did that once, but there was a little bit left. It was a big damascus dagger. :cool:
 
John L said:
Don: I once forgot a blade in the FC and the next morning there was nuttin.....absolutely nuttin but the stainless wire that held the blade by its' pivot hole. Oh brother........
Click to expand...

Hahahaha...I mean, that sucks
 
3 hours :eek: That is a very, v4ery, very long etch. What was the reason? What concentration FC to water are you using?

When the blade is suspended in the FC, tiny bubbles form on the surface due to the chemical reaction. These form long "trails" of bubbles that insulate the blade from the acid under the trail. It can make a blade look a bit like damascus.

Sanding the surface down will get rid of them if they aren't too deep.
 
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