Tenacious acid etch project - First attempt at acid etching! EPIC fail

joeyza

joeyza

Joined
Feb 27, 2013
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Will post pics once its done, or once I've completely messed up the blade :eek:

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So it was an epic fail:eek:
Left the blade in pcb etcahnt over night, which I now know is way way too long. Ate away the nail polish and then proceeded to complety shred the edge.
Oh well, live and learn!

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:eek:

Wow... I bet there isn't much useable steel left underneath that.

I guess what I'm saying is.. well... damn...
 
Do you have a link to the instructions you followed? I wasn't aware PCB etchant was a viable choice, I've been interested in trying a few older knives and then maybe a nice one if it works well. I have zero artistic skill so it would be a way to get me a cool look that I couldn't butcher.
 
The etchant sure did a number on that blade. Cudos for posting the results, even when it didn't go as planned.
 
PBC etchant is the same thing as ferric chloride I believe. I've used it a few times and it doesn't take that long to get a nice dark finish. Overnight was kinda overkill imo.
 
Awe crap! We learn through experience, though, right? I think the vids I've watched on YT showed people leaving them about 10 minutes or so... can't remember. Like mrdeus said, thanks for sharing even though the results were bad.
 
That sucks. But if it's any consolation it probably would have looked lame anyways :p

I suggest a dip, then stonewash.
 
Cereal_killer said:
Do you have a link to the instructions you followed? I wasn't aware PCB etchant was a viable choice, I've been interested in trying a few older knives and then maybe a nice one if it works well. I have zero artistic skill so it would be a way to get me a cool look that I couldn't butcher.
Click to expand...

Didn't really follow any instructions, just thought I'd try it out. I actually tried it on the pocket clip first and I really liked how it came out, gave it kind of a 'nuked' looked. The strange thing is the etchant didnt eat away the nail polish on the clip at all, just the surround metal which gave it that raised feature as you can see in the video. Don't know why it didn't work on the blade. I think it woulda looked great if it had worked, the edges of the blade would have been slightly raised like the middle part of the clip

[video=youtube;mjpFH3ssgJY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjpFH3ssgJY&feature=youtu.be[/video]
 
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That really was an epic fail! Thanks for sharing the cool photos! Usually ppl talk junk and exaggerate how bad something came out leadi g to a boring thread. This one produced something I haven't seen before and thus interesting!
 
Honestly It may not have away the nail polish. Remember you left it in the etching solution over night. It may have ate the metal next to where you put the nail polish and then the acid started attacking the steel underneath it once it etched deep enough. Then just disolved after it wasnt clinging to anything anymore. Also not all nail polish is created equal. Some of the cheap stuff isnt a good masking agent. Also the clip would be made from an entirely different alloy of steel and therefore isnt a good indicator of how the blade would turn out. In my experience the higher the carbon content of the steel and less chromium the faster the etch will eat away the blade. No matter what I dont think there is a blade I would trust in ferric chloride overnight. Sure its a slow acting acid as far as acids go. But not no 8 to 12 hours
 
wow...that's a serious prison shiv you got there. Better luck next time. Experimentation is the best way to learn, and sometimes you stumble upon unexpected, new and unique techniques/results. As a fan of spyderco blades, I might use a less quality blade for the more preliminary experiments.
 
Ouch that gave me the shivers.

Is it salvageable? Did it eat away at the pivot area and détente hole?

At least it was a Tenacious and not a Southard or something.
 
Oh lawd! I puckered pretty hard when I saw the "after" pic.

I etched the logo into my Busse a few months ago by leaving ferric chloride on overnight. The logo is almost half a millimeter deep... And that is on somewhat-stainless INFI.
 
That's an impressive amount of steel removed. Looks like you had it hooked up to a battery during the soak. I've never seen that much gone from just etching solution and would not have guessed that would be a result in a still, room temp sit.

Whoah!

Regrind the bevel, media blast it, do a chrome or silver plating on it and have a different pimped knife from what was planned.



Joe
 
Wow! You should grind the bevel a bit and leave that amazing edge like it is. Remove all rust and pits and then just reinstall the blade. Then pretend as if nothing is wrong when you show it to people.

Not sure why the underlying steel would be ruined? It's all one type of steel and I imagine through hardened. Even so I'd try it.
Fe Cl is nasty stuff to steel. It attacks it by attaching the iron end to the steel and then releasing the Chlorine ion producing an electric charge which eats directly into the Steel. It will pit anywhere it can get an advantage in attaching.
 
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