stupid simple finish.

[JTknives]

well the other day i got the crazy idea to use my home made electro etch to etch the whole blade. what i did was just soak the pad that was around the stainless steel bolt that is my etcher. i soaked it in salt water and just started etching the steel, the steel was finished to 80 or 120 grit. but the etching soon removed all the scratches and i was left with just a mat finish that was very very smoth. i think you could hit it with a 1500 to 2000 grit sand paper and it would glass right up. from now on this is how im finishing all my stuff. i will post some pictures of it so you can see how good it works. also the etcher i used to do this i talked about in my post that was titled "stupid simple etch" search for it. this will save me hrs and hrs of hand rubbing

 

[CanDo]

Sounds awesome. I was hoping to try that out, but figured it wouldn't be great on a throwing knife (all that I've made so far).
How durable is the finish (can you scratch it off easily)? Sounds like it should protect the blade from rusting as well.

 

[JTknives]

what i would do is do the etch and then let it soak in some vinager to get a nice deap dark protection. that will protect from the rust and other stuff

 

[MSCantrell]

Have you tried polishing the steel after etching the whole thing? If you have, post pics! This could be great.