nail polish & damascus ?

[J. Neilson]

I posted earlier about loosing my etched logo when etching my damascus. A few folks suggested doing the logo first, covering it with clear nail polish, then etching the blade. I tried it today but, I guess I screwed it up. When I etch a blade, I leave it in ferric chloride for 10 min., then take it out, clean it with windex w/ ammonia, then etch for another 10 min. I tried the suggested method by first mirror polishing the blade and etching my logo. Then I tried taping off the logo and putting the nail polish over it. The polish smeared as soon as I tried to pull the tape off. Still wet. So I tried to put the polish on free hand. Couldn't do it, too many drugs in High School, I guess. . So I tried the tape again but, waited for the nail polish to dry before peeling it up. Seemed to work fine, so I went ahead and etched the blade for the first 10 min. When I pulled it out of the bath it looked ok, not great. When I went to wipe the blade down with the windex the polish came off like a snake scale. I think the etchent got under the polish somewhat during the first etch. It may have (the polish) pulled up at the edges some when I pulled the tape off after it dried. Not really sure. Any ideas or tips here?

 

[Mike Hull]

James, look up B.Buxton(Bill) here at BFC. He does his blades like you are trying to. The mark on his damascus blades is about the best I've seen. I am sure he would steer you in the right direction.
camper@yhti.net
Maybe he will see this and jump in.

 

[Bruce Evans]

One suggestion is to use a colored polish so you can see were it is on the blade and if it pulls up.Don't sand over the polished area inbetween your etches unless you are going to reaply the polish or etch over the first non etched section.I have always free handed mine so I am not sure if the polish stuck to the tape.Tape by itself will also work as a resist,Some people have used the rub on letters you get at craft stores to set there name on the blade before etching,that looked really cool also.
Bruce

 

[Chuck Gedraitis Knives]

J.
Mask around your logo with clear scotch tape. Leave a little extra room around it, not too much, just a little. Then paint with nail polish. You can put on more than one coat, sometimes the thicker the better. LET it DRY! Just forget about it for 10 min or so. Then pull off the tape. I overlap the tape so it comes off in one piece with the logo hole in the middle. Now etch your blade. 10 minutes is plenty long enough, espically if you warm up the etchant and the blade. Use a hair dryer to warm up the blade and you will get a better etch with one try. When you pull the blade out neutralize and your done. Some window cleaners contain acetone and ammonia so you don't get streaks, this will remove the nail polish. I use clear nail polish but like bruce said, if you use a colored one you can make sure that you covered your whole logo.
Hope this helps,
Chuck

 

[B . Buxton]

Thanks Mike for the compliment.

J. I do like Bruce stated. I etch my name in, then sand lightly with 2000 grit, I then wipe the area of the blade down with acetone first, then I apply the nail polish free hand, I use a clear express nail polish ( stole it from my wife) it dries in about 5 minutes. I do like you, I etch 10 minutes and then lightly sand the blade with 1500 - 2000 grit under running water to remove the black oxidation, I don't neutralize with window cleaner until after my final etch. I use a 5-1 etching solution, so its a slow etch, and I might etch 3 to 5 - 10 minute peroids before I get the look I want. Just be sure and avoid the nail polish when sanding between etching peroids. I like to use clear polish , so I can see my name under the polish and make sure I haven't applied polish over to large of an area. After I get the look I want etching the pattern, I lightly sand using 2000 grit and window cleaner w/ ammonia, then rinse with clear water, dry and lightly buff useing a soft muslin wheel and green compound.

Hope this helps,

Bill

 

[Colin KC]

See if you can get some sticky paper dots the same shape as your logo area (they do some oval ones) & discard the dots, use the surround!

Take it up just before the polish dries & it shouldn't smudge, as it's a complete thingy. Just make sure that the area is completely clean (I use a spray ethanol for cleaning blades & stuff, something like that should work, take all the oil out )

 

[Plain ol Bill]

I really like to get the blade ready to etch w/o the logo then put it in the etch for about 45 seconds. This give a VERY light etch to the blade surface. I then neutralize, and etch the logo on. I then neutralize the etchant, clean w/ acetone, and mask the logo area w/ red finger nail polish (Nick Wheeler robbed his girlfriends stash and gave me a bottle of it). Now etch the blade normally - I use a 3 to 1 solution, etch for 10 minutes remove and clean w/ a toothbrush to remove the black gunk (careful around the finger nail polish) and re-etch in ten minute increments until the desired depth. Finally clean the black gunk off, neutralize and remove the nail polish w/ acetone. Polish a little w/ 2000 grit paper. This makes the background of the logo have a very slight etch where you can see the pattern but is not really etched. Hope that makes sense. Anyway it is a look I like. My logo has an elipse around it as part of the stencil that etches in and gives a very good line to use as a polish guide.