- Joined
- Jun 11, 2006
- Messages
- 8,651
I finely got around to etching a small chunk from the wrought iron chain i have had for a year. I had gotten other wrought iron with the chain but the pattern is to fine and it does not show up when etched so i thought the chain would be the same but i was wrong. I cut off about a 1/2" from the end at a 45deg angle and sanded to 600 grit and was amazed at how reflective it was. I showed some people at the shop and thy where very suprized it came from 600 grit. but any way i etched it for about 1/2 hr and pulled it out and washed and scrubbed it, i could see a pattern but very faint. so i repeated this 2 more times and still was not getting a deep pattern. you could see the pattern when the light was just right. So i decided to try and bead blast it very lightly to see if it would remove the silica slag and produce a deeper pattern. i blasted it very lightley from like 1.5' away and bam there it was clear as day. so back to the feric chloride for another etch then a wash and a light polish with 600 grit paper and this is what i got. I etched the 45deg angle as i wanted to see a cross cut etch through the material to kinda give me an idea of what it was like. It looks absolutely amazing to say the least, i was shocked at how beautiful the pattern was. I am going to try another chunk tomorrow but only etch it for one 1/2 hr then blast and then another light etch for 5 min then polish. I think this will get rid of the little pits from over etching. but so far so good don't you think.
here is a picture of the chain, you can see the hand forged hammer blowes and welds on the links. Its very cool.
here is a picture of the chain, you can see the hand forged hammer blowes and welds on the links. Its very cool.
