MMMmm Acid and stone

S

somebodyelse5

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Apr 24, 2013
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I like rock climbing, long walks on the beach, multi-variable calculus, and sharp things....

Check her out... Got 'er in da mail on Friday and tore into my new project this morning!


I used PCB Etchant from Radioshack, full strength, in a small coke bottle with the top cut off. I used nail polish to protect the pivot area and the edge and the sides of the lock back. After removing the nail polish I dripped some acid on the clean edge to darken it a bit, so that there was not such an abrupt line.

Stone washing consisted of some quarter to pee (the vegetable!) sized smooth river rocks in a nalgene type bottle with about 2 tablespoons of water and a squirt of dish soap. 30 minutes in the dryer. I think she looks purdy!

I etched the heads of the bolts and sleeves and then scratched them on a rock by hand to make them look "somewhat" stone washed.

Watcha guys think!? Im still working on my sharpening consistency, dont be too harsh :(












For those who may be curious, here is the what the blade would look like if you stone wash with the exact same method, without the acid etch.


You guys want me to try and do a write up with how i did this? I did a lot of experimenting today and definitely have some things I would have liked to know before hand!
 
That looks great! I would be interested in hearing more about your learning experiences getting this right.
 
Cool, I will put a write-up for this on my list :)

Main things I would suggest,
- Look at your blade open/closed and carefully determine what should be masked to avoid etching. This includes the lockback in my case.
- If the parts are shiny and not the blade (different steel) etch longer, my bolt heads, sleeve ends, and lock back did not come out as I would have liked (not dark enough).
- White vinegar does not work with VG-10 (idk why) PCB etch worked great. Dont etch too long! I did it for about 10 minutes twice. It likes heat.
 
The word you're looking for is "pea" :) I need to try that dryer + can/bottle wrapped in a towel stonewashing method sometime.
 
Just wanted to say that I now have the bug....i am doing my best to resist the urge to acid etch and stone wash ever blade i own hahaa
 
I think it looks sweet! I've been thinking about trying this on a couple of my folders but as of now I only have a sharpmaker for sharpening and I'm afraid that after doing this I may need to reprofile the edge which I think would be a nightmare on that system. I really like the heavy stonewashed look though. It looks sick and hides scratches nicely.
 
By the way if your going to sharpen the edge anyways because the stonewash will beat it up pretty bad you might as well skip the nail polish on it. Just my 2 cents.
 
Thanks man! I have really been enjoying it.

As far as the nail polish goes, I would definitely use the polish during the acid etching process. The will mean you have to take off less material when resharpening, since you will not have to remove the etched portion to expose the parent material (get the mirror edge!). It didnt seem to do much to protect the edge during the stonewash. The damage to the edge due to stonewash was much less than I expected, definitely a dull blade, but I think some quality time on my sharpmaker would have restored the edge.

I do sharpen with DMT dia-sharp stones (coarse, fine, extra fine) and I love em :)

I should really get the write up together, i guess ill have to do another blade so I can have some step by steps to go along!
 
For what it's worth, I use NP on the edge when etching, then glue a split piece of wire cover on the edge for the SW.

We were brainstorming how to keep the edge in a thread and someone threw that idea out. Worked pretty well, but the sleeve did start to come off after about 3 minutes. 3 minutes, however, was plenty of time to get a good finish. ;)
 
Strigamort said:
For what it's worth, I use NP on the edge when etching, then glue a split piece of wire cover on the edge for the SW.

We were brainstorming how to keep the edge in a thread and someone threw that idea out. Worked pretty well, but the sleeve did start to come off after about 3 minutes. 3 minutes, however, was plenty of time to get a good finish. ;)
Click to expand...

OOO I like that, ill definitely be doing that next time
 
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