Pitted Ebony Covers

Modoc ED

Modoc ED

Gold Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2010
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Awhile back, I posted a picture of my Radio Knife that had some mysterious pitting in the mark side ebony cover. I didn't have an inkling as to what caused the pitting but yesterday a dim light went off in my dim mind and the words "Muriatic Acid" flickered like a neon sign.

I had cleaned up some years old grease and oil stains that were soaked into my shop floor using muriatic acid and while doing so, I picked up the Radio Knife (wearing heavy rubber gloves) with an acid soaked rag to trim a piece of plastic. It took some time to trim the plastic and tape all the while holding the knife in the acid soaked rag.

Here's the Radio Knife along with two other #15s that I've worked pretty hard over the last 6-months.





The pitting is in the area where some heavy pressued would be applied by the finertips while holding the knife in the acid soaked rag and I think that caused some saturation of the muriatic acid into the ebony cover. Anyway, other than the pitting, the covers are just fine. No separation from the liner, no cracking, etc..
 
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Interesting Ed, I've never heard of muriatic acid before. Knives look OK though don't they? :)
 
One of the uses for muriatic acid is to clean concrete, brick, stone, etc.. My shop floor is concrete. We used to use muriatic acid to wash brick and stone to clean excess cement and dirt from them. That's why I'm thinking the muriatic acid may have been a bit much for the ebony.

The knife/knives are fine. Oiled up and ready to go.
 
Sounds like the culprit Ed. I prep concrete floors with Muratic acid, power wash then apply an epoxy shop floor paint/coating. I used a little CASE stag lockback to remove the tin foil cover under the cap...wiped the blade quickly and re-pocketed.

Later that evening I had noticed it had an adverse effect on the blade, no chrome finish on the blade tip at all:mad:
 
Jack, you might know muriatic acid as hydrochloric acid (HCl).
Strongest inorganic acid that I'm aware of :o

Fausto
:cool:
 
Jack Black said:
Interesting Ed, I've never heard of muriatic acid before. Knives look OK though don't they? :)
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You likely know it as "hydrochloric acid".

Wiki:
Hydrochloric acid was known to European alchemists as spirits of salt or acidum salis (salt acid). Both names are still used, especially in non-English languages, such as German: Salzsäure, Dutch: Zoutzuur,Northern Sami: Saltsyra and Polish: kwas solny. Gaseous HCl was called marine acid air. The old (pre-systematic) name muriatic acid has the same origin (muriatic means "pertaining to brine or salt", and thence muriate means hydrochloride), and this name is still sometimes used.[1][3] The name "hydrochloric acid" was coined by the French chemist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac in 1814.[4]
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typing too slow on a Saturday morning.
 
Thanks for the info guys, much appreciated :thumbup:

When I was a kid, my dad was at work one day when he got a small splash of acid on his arm. He got what was supposed to be the neutralising agent out of the first aid cabinet and poured it up his arms. Someone had put hydrochloric/muriatic acid in the bottle! He had six months off work, still bears the scars, got around $300 in compensation :(
 
Pipeman said:
Carefully applied you could jig the scales ;-)))

Regards

Robin
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I think Robin is on to something ED. ;-))

The good thing is they still function and aren't falling apart. You just added some character to them. :thumbup:
 
paulhilborn said:
Sounds like the culprit Ed. I prep concrete floors with Muratic acid, power wash then apply an epoxy shop floor paint/coating. I used a little CASE stag lockback to remove the tin foil cover under the cap...wiped the blade quickly and re-pocketed.

Later that evening I had noticed it had an adverse effect on the blade, no chrome finish on the blade tip at all:mad:
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Yeah, the steel liners and bolsters are pitted a bit on this knife too Paul. That is one drawback about steel liners and bolsters - you have to watch them when using them around most chemicals whatever chemical it is.

Pipeman said:
Carefully applied you could jig the scales ;-)))

Regards

Robin
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That's an idea. I think I've even got a stash of glass eyedroppers in the shop.
 
That stuff is some pretty nasty caca. A home I have in Bangor went through a several year renovation, and the capstone of the project was restoring/cleaning the old wide plank oak floors, and muriatic acid was used. It took a long while for that stench to disappear, even after the finishing stain was applied. Sorry about your knives, but it is what it is when you use them as you do.
 
I'm not complaining about what happened to the Radio Knife. Merely giving my explanation as to how the ebony cover became pitted. I had posted about the pitted cover some time ago and other members were curious as to how the cover became pitted and frankly, I had to tell them I had no idea - now I do and thought I'd pass it along.

All three knives shown above have been spiffied up and are ready to go to the dance. They are users (a concept not held by some here) but they are just as nice looking as any other knives shown here in Blade Forums. Sure they're marked up a bit but that's what makes them unique among the sea of knives shown in this subforum.
 
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Agree 100%, and good for you. Knives don't lose value, they gain character. Personally, I'd much rather see a well used knife that has a story or two behind it, than a brand new safe queen.
 
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