I etched my blade last night!

Santi · Apr 23, 2005

It starts from this polished blade . . . (I got it pre-owned from other forums.)

BUT forged blade should show nice temperred line, IMHO.
So I decided to etch it, using simple houshold "chemical" - cooking vinegar.

I dipped it for coupla hours . . . and the blade turned BLACK!!

-- to be continued --

Santi · Apr 23, 2005

I, then cleaned it the same way I clean the dishes, and applied a metal polishing paste "Autosol" (a gift from Samo, coupla years ago!

)

Result below . . .

Much better looking blade, eh?

Stickbait · Apr 23, 2005

Now you guys have made me get the "itch" to dip some of my knives in vinegar(cheapie ones first however)

Peter La · Apr 23, 2005

Great idea Santi, how drrable is this new finish? Very cool.

deputy tom · Apr 24, 2005

Looks like an alternative to cold blue for firearms.tom.

Ebbtide · Apr 24, 2005

Looks great!
Did you heat the vinegar first?
I did this with my Livesay US Marshall, it didn't have the fine finish that Mr. Fowlers blade does but the (cold) vinegar dip showed the temper line pretty well.

Santi · Apr 24, 2005

Ebbtide said:
Looks great!
Did you heat the vinegar first?

Nah, it's room temp.

airyq · Apr 24, 2005

I like your etched finish better than the original mirror finish. Much more character with the temper line.

But I must say that you must have a big pair of b@lls to try it on such a knife

Santi · May 15, 2005

airyq said:
But I must say that you must have a big pair of b@lls to try it on such a knife

Just checked, it's of standard size.