Kukri Etching Walk Through w. pics

Jens Schuetz

Jens Schuetz

Joined
Jun 24, 2013
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Its so simple I thought a few of us might give it a try.
Only do it if you are sure you aren't electrocuting yourself or that sparks might fly and burn your house down.
I am just describing what worked for me and if you follow it then at your own risk.


Here is my Kukri Etching DIY tutorial with pictures.
Happy Thanksgiving.

1. Scotchtape the target area

2. Mark your outline with a Sharpie


3. Cut it out with an exacto knife


4. Peel of the cut sections with a forcep/tweezers


5. Etch using a DC source (12V car starter battery here)
Plus clamped on the blade
Minus clamped on a q-tip soaked in saltwater
should only take 1 minute for a similar size pattern
This will remove material wherever there is contact to the metal


6. If you wish to turn your etched pattern black use an AC source (12v door bell transformator here)
one contact clamped to the blade
the other one to a saltwater soaked q-tip
which contact where doesn't matter since its AC


7. remove all tape and rub the etched area in wet baking soda (toothbrush recommended) to keep it black and not turning into red rust

8. rub your blade with oil, dry it, apply some oil again

Typing this took longer than doing it.

Here is the result on my daughters Biltong.
A.V.S. are her initials. How to arrange them was her idea.

I hope she will like the surprise when she gets up in a few hours.


Feel free to comment with questions or suggestions for improvement.
Thank you.


Again, Happy Thanksgiving!
 
Jens Schuetz said:
Its so simple I thought a few of us might give it a try.
Only do it if you are sure you aren't electrocuting yourself or that sparks might fly and burn your house down.
Click to expand...
Too late for that! Great job Jens. Looks like my Anodizing setup minus the sulfuric acid. Salt water is much safer. I wonder if there is enough power in a 9v battery to get one good etch. Ive always wanted to try this. Thanks for the post! May be time for some turkey biltong btw!
 
Ok, you've hit on my biggest fear other than snakes, bee's, poisonous spiders and Gurka's that are unhappy with me.

Electricity!

The electricity hooked up to a wet Q Tip don't zap the applying person, if you like move wrong or touch the blade or anything?

Back in my carpenter/remodeling days I'd have sparky shut down the whole house rather than risk a jolt. Makes my teeth hurt thinking about it.
If I'm ever executed the electric chair in NOT an option.

PS- It looks great. You done a fine job.
 
She was quite a bit surprised and is liking it a lot :)

Thank you guys.

Anodizing sounds interesting. :D Wasn't there a Bond movie "The man with the golden Kukri"?

You are just holding one of the electrodes while etching therefore you should be safe even if its metal contact touches you.
Electricity at 12V is quite harmless.
I touched both electrodes and nothing happens. With wet fingers though on the AC you can feel a slight tickle.
Still, during the experiments on what kind of etching works best I used a surge protected plug for the AC and had somebody on the ready to rip the cable out if I start behaving weirdly. Also my clamps and wires are rated for higher voltages than I will ever use.

Maybe I'm overly careful because once in highschool I got inspired by a physics lesson and tried to rig up transformer myself at home. Wrapped some copper wires to make coils and stuff. Anyways the 220V only went through a short section of my left underarm but it wasn't very pleasant. One of our house's fuses blew too. I heard its most dangerous if the electricity travels from one hand to the other because there is the heart in between...



The only danger I see now is if the electrodes touch each other directly. They can spark a lot and if the burning metal falls on a carpet...

9V should work. I read of people etching a whole blade using 1 D cell only. Might take longer, but I'm not sure.
 
This was a very cool thing you did, both for your daughter and inspiring some of us to try new mods and to personalize our kukris even more. Thanks a lot.
 
Wow you were right, just a little tingle. I thought if 110 was good 220 would be faster.

Thanks for the info.

 
Bawanna said:
Wow you were right, just a little tingle. I thought if 110 was good 220 would be faster.

Thanks for the info.
Click to expand...
You were much younger then Bawanna! Thats why Khuks are so thick. You cant get them into an electrical outlet. Means Khuks are safe for children!

Jens:
Anodizing aluminum can be done at home with similar setup. Some anodize titanium knife blades to get some really cool "rainbow" color patterns. I have anodized at home with very good results. Rit fabric dye (there are much better commercial fabric dyes) can be used but not very UV stable for parts used in sunlight. You can use a power supply just like you have but needs to be several amps. Connect electrodes same way but instead of Q-tip you must immerse entire part in acid (usually sulphuric). Most important thing there is keep the solution cool because the reaction generates a lot of heat. Also the setup gives off hydrogen gas so must be vented. I put bucket of acid into another tub of ice water and do it all outside. An old refrigerator evaporator and aquarium pump works excellent for heat echanger. I mix a box of battery acid from auto parts store with half water to dilute (disclaimer-never ad water to acid. Always add acid to water). When the part stops bubbling it is ready. Anodizing surface is aluminum oxide and non-conductive (electrically) so the process will stop itself. The same setup can be done to remove chrome plating from aluminum as well (with hydrochloric acid). ..or dissolve broken steel bolts from aluminum parts. Many cool uses!
I would not recommend teaching youre daughter anodizing yet because it can be very dangerous if you dont do your homework and when your done where do you safely store two gallons of acid?
I wonder if your method would work to make a hamond line show better. May look like crap on both sides of line tho? Lemon juice and vinegar probably safer? just a thought.
 
I really dig the nice dark black you achieved with the AC. I recently did a logo etch with a 12v battery charger but the solution I used was cider vinegar with as much salt as would dissolve in it. Have you tried this solution and opted for water? Did you use distilled or tap water? I also have a store of hydrochloric and muriatic acid that I use for forced patinas and ghetto copperizing (probably not a word), are these alternatives any better?
 
Thank you jamaljahda and snowwolf glad you like it. Cant wait to see other people try :)

Lol Bawanna and Ndoghouse. Anybody seen the movie "Young Einstein"? http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...=X&ei=YWaaUpKABYmdiQLvtYGwBg&ved=0CK0BEPwdMAo

Anodizing with Acid :eek: I worked with Acids before but only with thick gloves and in chemical hoods (with forced exhaust). I'm kind of hesitant unless the sulfuric acid is very diluted? Awesome how many applications you mentioned!
I was also thinking of emerging a whole blade (none of my Kukris) for some more extensive electrolytic etching. Good information about the cooling!
The etching removes the metal. Now the hammon could indeed be more or less etched depending on its property. But removing so much metal just to show the line will look bad. The etched areas are also a bit rougher than the rest of the blade. Lemon and Vinegar sounds best :)
Didn't teach my daughter the electrolytic etching only showed and explained it to her but I'm to paranoid to let her try it for real even if it just tickles in the worst case. Got her some snap circuits for Christmas. Thanks on the warning for Anodizing.

Thanks Carhold. I was also surprised on how deep dark it was. Almost looks like paint if you ask me. Vinegar should make the reaction a bit faster and adding hydrogen peroxide even more.
I only experimented with two different salt solutions. One was maximum saturated and the second was max saturated and then diluted 3 times. To be honest I couldn't notice any difference. If at all then the lesser salt etch stayed more black and didn't turn into red rust as fast, which gave me more time to rub in the baking soda. But maybe I was just faster anyways the second time?
Once I used distilled water with salt, the other time tap water with salt, again I noticed no difference. Everything goes so fast that even if one is 10% faster than the other I wouldn't notice that since its only a few seconds.
 
Thanks for the info Jens. I'll have to try the magic tape for the resist as well. I was using nail polish but getting a nice clean line is difficult. If you etch too long it starts to undercut the resist...I imagine you can get clean lines with the tape and is easier to clean up afterwards.
 
before the Kukri etch I experimented with correction liquid, nail polish and tape.
Correction liquid was my idea since I had some lying around. It is easiest to apply but brittle when putting a pattern into it. During etching it seems the paint soaks up the saltwater and the etching goes right through it. So its not a real mask.
Nail polish I had seen in some tutorials (had to buy some first) takes a pattern very nicely but "undercuts" during the actual etching as you describe it so nicely.
Tape works best for me overall it just takes a bit of work cutting the pattern into it and peeling it of.
Wax might be a good alternative but might stick too much even scratched away so that the electricity cant reach the metal where its supposed to, might even melt since etching creates a bit of heat.
 
For anodizing mask I used rubber cement. Worked very well and easy to remove when done. Might not be right for fine artwork, logos, etc though because you would have to paint it on. I used it for getting fire and spash type patterns where borders are random. I have heard of laser printing on some type of clear sticky film but dont think ive ever seen the stuff.

Jens Schuetz said:
before the Kukri etch I experimented with correction liquid, nail polish and tape.
Correction liquid was my idea since I had some lying around. It is easiest to apply but brittle when putting a pattern into it. During etching it seems the paint soaks up the saltwater and the etching goes right through it. So its not a real mask.
Nail polish I had seen in some tutorials (had to buy some first) takes a pattern very nicely but "undercuts" during the actual etching as you describe it so nicely.
Tape works best for me overall it just takes a bit of work cutting the pattern into it and peeling it of.
Wax might be a good alternative but might stick too much even scratched away so that the electricity cant reach the metal where its supposed to, might even melt since etching creates a bit of heat.
Click to expand...
 
The scotch magic tape is what I would use to get precise lines when doing acrylic painting...at first the paint would still bleed under until my art instructor told me to burnish the edge. If you use your thumbnail (the top not the edge) or the rounded end of your paintbrush and rub along the edges of your tape stencil it squeezes all the air out from under the edge and forms a liquid-tight barrier. You can tell when you've got it because it goes from milky white to clear. You seemed to get pretty clean lines; is this a technique you use?
 
Absolutely! I agree. That is why they are called "pressure sensitive" tapes. That is an excellent observation not many people know:thumbup:
Carhold Arms said:
The scotch magic tape is what I would use to get precise lines when doing acrylic painting...at first the paint would still bleed under until my art instructor told me to burnish the edge. If you use your thumbnail (the top not the edge) or the rounded end of your paintbrush and rub along the edges of your tape stencil it squeezes all the air out from under the edge and forms a liquid-tight barrier. You can tell when you've got it because it goes from milky white to clear. You seemed to get pretty clean lines; is this a technique you use?
Click to expand...
 
For better or worse, I have an enormous vat of knowledge lodged up here ::taps head:: sometimes it's the scum that rises to the top, sometimes it's the cream. Looks like we all got lucky on this one, eh?
 
Rubber cement sounds worth a try.
The tape I had used wasn't magic. It was simple scotch packing tape heavy duty. Any tape should work as long as it sticks nicely and doesn't leave bubbles at the edge of the mask. I rubbed bubbles out after finishing peeling off the segments.


Joke from our physics teacher:
What is a vaccum? I have it in my head but I cant recall it at the moment.

btw: tried AC on half a blade submerged in water. The blade stayed quite cool but the door bell transformer overheated :)
Another observation was that only the tip of the blade changed its color (was a very tiny bit closer to the opposing electrode than the rest of the blade) How can one fix that?
and that it didn't turn black but became ugly red rust. Yucky

Back to q-tips and smaller areas I guess. Also hoping that the transformer will work again once cooled down.
If not then I will get mooorree pooowerr. Any suggestions on a good device below $50?

Thank you
 
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