how protect wrought iron from etching?

N

Nylunds knives

Joined
Jan 6, 2008
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109
Hello!

I'm going to etch a guard made of wrought iron. It's a stick tang and I need to protect the hole for the tang from etching so I don't ruin the fit between the blade and the bolster.

I will etch the guard in 33% hydrochloric acid and want a deeep etch.

I tried with nailpolish on a scrap pieces but that was not good enough...


What do you use?


Regards Jakob



www.multi.fi/~mnylund
 
If you let the nail polish set up overnight it should work well as a resist.

Personally I would think the use of the resist would be more obvious than the etched wrought iron itself.

If the guard is thick enough not to bend easily, it could be put in place and tapped into place on the blade after the etch is complete; reseating the joint at guard and blade shoulder.

Fred
 
Thank you!

I'll try to let it set overnight.


I had heated the acid so maybe thats one problem will try to etch it without heating next time.





Regards Jakob
 
Nylunds knives said:
Thank you!

I'll try to let it set overnight.


I had heated the acid so maybe thats one problem will try to etch it without heating next time.





Regards Jakob
Click to expand...
I find the process is sped up and with a cleaner result if you clean the surface of the metal during the etching process? Clean, with four oooo steel wool or a stiff tooth brush, after two minutes in the etch. Rinse with water and re insert, until you get what you are working for.
This cuts the guess work of a long sustained etch , which I believe gives uneven results.
Post a picture of your guard after it is etched.

Regards, Fred
 
I get better looking results from ferric chloride then with hydrochloric acid i fint that it also etches the impurities away the ferric does not. :)

hope the wrought it as you wished :D

DC
 
Thanks I'll post some pics after I've etched it tomorrow.

The scrap piece a etched today turned out really good, exept from the fact that it ate away all the nailpolish.. I etched it for about 30 minutes and then cleaned it with a small metalbrush on a dremel. It was etched very deep wich I was looking for.

DCL I already like this material.


Your stabilised pieces arrived today so I'll send them tomorrow.




Many thanks!

Jakob
 
okay :) might be that i didn't give it enough time :)

glad to hear i can't wait :D
I just quit the army so i have a huge amount of time on my hands for finishing a lot of blades

cheers DC
 
Thanks again for all the answers!


I'll try to fill the hole with candle vax.


Raymond, I will have to test using a magic marker can't get much sim,pler then that!




Regards Jakob
 
dip the part in molten bees wax it should resist well and just melt it off to clean up -chris
 
Hello again!

Here are the promised pics of the etched bolster:

DSC_0012.jpg


DSC_0011.jpg


I etched it for about four hours in 33% hydrochloric acid and it still isn't as deep as the scrap piece I etched for 25minutes yesterday. I think that is becasue I had heated the acid up pretty much yesterday but couldn't do that today since I was using candlewax as a resist. The candle wax worked really good!

After all I'm very happy with the result.


What do you think?



Regards Jakob
 
wow Jakob that is really beautiful, top job..
what are the handle wood ? and is the blade one of your if not who made it ? i don't know that mark on it :)

DC
 
DCL_dk said:
wow Jakob that is really beautiful, top job..
what are the handle wood ? and is the blade one of your if not who made it ? i don't know that mark on it :)

DC
Click to expand...

Thank you!

The wood in the handle is curly birch that I've dyed in a brown color. It's not finnished yet, it will dry for a day more and then I will polish the handle with carnaubawax.

I'm pretty sure you would recognize that mark if it wasn't upside down and if it wasn't a forged laminated blade with a quite rough forged finish.

The blade is actually made by Mattias Styrefors. Usually he only makes damascus blades, but I was lucky enough to find this blade by him for sale by another maker:D.




Regards Jakob
 
Very nice, Jakod. I was wondering why you wanted a deeper than normal etch on wrought inron, but now I see that it was to better match up better with the forged finished flats (try to say that 3 times quickly) :D
 
Nylunds knives said:
Thank you!

The wood in the handle is curly birch that I've dyed in a brown color. It's not finnished yet, it will dry for a day more and then I will polish the handle with carnaubawax.

I'm pretty sure you would recognize that mark if it wasn't upside down and if it wasn't a forged laminated blade with a quite rough forged finish.

The blade is actually made by Mattias Styrefors. Usually he only makes damascus blades, but I was lucky enough to find this blade by him for sale by another maker:D.




Regards Jakob
Click to expand...

very nice good catch to get one of his old blades "non mascus" :)

DC
 
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