mokume finish

[chuckM]

My present project involves a piece of damasteel- "odin's eye" which will be mated with some walrus ivory, i wanted to put a unique guard on this so i purchased a piece of mokume,in a ladder pattern. to best bring the pattern out is this material is it etched? will it respond to heat with colors or is this not practical.Should it merely be ground with bevels to display pattern? i have never worked with any of these materials so its quite exciting- altho due to the expense of the materials im being very cautious.this one will take some time.

 

[Tracy Dotson]

i either etch or polish and let it age (tarnish) naturaly i etch in feric cloride /archer etchant from radio shack

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Tracy Dotson
Dotson's Custom Knives
"Think sharp"

 

[Armin]

chuckM,

you can find information on mokume and how to finish at
http://www.reactivemetals.com/

 

[Gerome Weinand]

to etch mokume use liver of sulfer it will color it instantly

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All that is not Given Is Lost

 

[chuckM]

gerome- please forgive my ignorance but what is " liver of sulfer"? is that an old name for sulfuric acid? what kind of color (s) could i expect? Reactive Metals suggested a ferric chlouride etch followed by an application of "Baldwin's patina to get the most of this material

 

[Claude Marquis]

I may be late on this topic, but you did not mention which metals have been used in the piece of mokume that you have bought. Silver, gold, nickel, brass, copper, bronze, etc., are commonly used and each one will react differently to a given colouring solution. Also you should know the final colour you want to achieve, since it can vary from bright orange to red, yellow, green, all shades of blue, grey and black depending on the solution. You might be interested in reading "The Colouring, Bronzing and Patination of Metals" by Richard Hughes and Michael Rowe (Thames and Hudson, London). The book is expansive, but it is definitely THE BIBLE of the colouring techniques.
Hope this helps,
Claude