Marked the first knife I made

Fletch Helical

Fletch Helical

Joined
Sep 29, 2009
Messages
1,614
Last night I marked the knife I did as a WIP on here. I think it turned out alright although I would've liked to see it be a bit darker. It may have had to do with the fact that when I switched my machine to "mark" I forgot to go passed the center off position :o. However even after about 3 passed after finally switching it to "on" is still wasn't as dark as I would've liked. It is however imprinted into the steel you can feel it so I doubt it's going anywhere.

Also is it common for the stencil to look like hell after you've used it? I did a test run with a stencil and then went and marked my knife. The lettering on the stencil looks nowhere near as crisp as it should. The back of it has almost like a white halo all around where I put the pad and some of the letters look like they've bled together. :confused:

Again I have a fairly crappy camera still so this was about the best I could get as far as a shot goes. It actually looks considerably clearer in person but I had to take it on a bit of an angle so the flash didn't reflect off the blade. It should hopefully (finally) get a sheath in the coming days.

marked.jpg
 
Using DC will typically etch into the metal but not give you much darkness, going to AC will then darken. I get a few marks 3-4 from a stencil and it still looks pretty good although I toss it, you may have built up too much heat. Etch for 10 seconds or less and then let up and allow a second or two for gasses to excape and for it to cool a bit. Looks pretty good overall. You may want to take a piece of scrap and practice a few time to get a proceedure, I have one written on my etcher that I follow every time/
 
I went a few passes at AC but still not as dark as I'd expect. I used the Q-tip method and just dabbed the stencil overlapping each one as I went. The amount of time I held it there each time I touched the stencil was the equivalent of throwing a jab in boxing. As soon as I hit, I pulled the Q-tip off. My etcher is still wired for 24V, a member who helped me wire it said he runs his like that no problem. So I gave it a dry run on a piece and the etch came out alright so naturally I had to jump right to a knife :D

Maybe I'll try a pass wired up at 12V and see how that goes too.
 
Technique sounds good, qtip takes a little longer, I touch the qtip and let it set a second or two and then dab the next spot. Make sure its not too wet and then a little more time will darken w/o getting fuzzy. Carbon steels will darken quicker than stainless so the steel matters as well.

I tape my stencil on all four edges and I can carefully pull up one corner a bit and see if its dark enough and lay back down if needed.
 
Guys, fyi, if you need a stencil made for a etching machine use these guys,the have an artist to do your artwork for you,will give you ideas sizes ect ,i have used them for years,in my opinion the best out there!
www.lectroetch.com
i use a small cheap etcher not a pro model and you can see how my stamps turn out!
 
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