Preserving an etched finish on a W2 blade

[Carterwhopkins]

I am making a 10" chef knife for a customer out of differentially hardened W2. He wants the blade to remain black, or basically left "as is" after the etch in ferric chloride. Is there a way to preserve or increase the durability of the etched blade, or even a way to seal it?

I messed around with the same thing on a 52100 blade a few years ago and sprayed it with some light oil and heated the blade, not enough to damage the temper, and I got a finish similar to a seasoned cast iron pan. The etched finish was somewhat shiny and slick.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[milkbaby]

Tell him to never use it.

 

[Natlek]

I am making a 10" chef knife for a customer out of differentially hardened W2. He wants the blade to remain black, or basically left "as is" after the
I don t know how much last . Is there a way to preserve or increase the durability of the etched blade, or even a way to seal it?

I messed around with the same thing on a 52100 blade a few years ago and sprayed it with some light oil and heated the blade, not enough to damage the temper, and I got a finish similar to a seasoned cast iron pan. The etched finish was somewhat shiny and slick.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I don t know how much last finish with etch in ferric chloride but you call it parkerizing last much ,much longer then etched in brine blade .I do that with clean phosphoric acid but I read that there was are phosphoric acid with manganese for black finish and phosphoric acid with zinc was it for gray finish..........https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/phosphoric-acid.1654333/

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

If he uses it the black will come off.

 

[Carterwhopkins]

I know the finish will wear away, that is the purpose of the thread....below is a photo of his knife during construction, the bottom knife, with a handle mock-up and an early etch on the blade..he liked the dark blade with the ebony handle. The 2nd & 3rd photos are of a 52100 blade that I etched and mentioned in the original posting. I have not experimented with Parkerizing or other techniques, they may work well...we would like to preserve the hamon. Perhaps this is something we should bail out on or maybe I send it to him with the etched blade...he is a very savvy collector and is a gifted blade polisher, so he could take off the etch and complete the blade as he sees fit.