Treating Damascus

[Burchtree]

I'm making a damascus knife, a piece of Turkish from Ealy Knives. I put it in the etchant and it looks great -- it has the high contrast that I want. After I neutralize it with window cleaner, and clean it off, it gets a dull glaze look to it and the damascus doesn't stand out as well. What do I need to do to keep the contrast and keep it looking good? Do I need to buff it a little after I'm done? Use a different neutralizer?

 

[Osbourn]

Use something like Simichrome on it. If you don't have any polishing compound like that, or silver polish, then toothpaste will do almost as nice of a job.
You just put it on and rub it off, no power tools needed.

 

[J. Neilson]

Don't buff it. You'll blow out your etch. After I etch and neutralize my damascus I spray a little WD-40 on the blade and lightly go over it with 000 emery. This seems to bring out the etch without disturbing the pattern. Then polish with Semi-chrome or something similar.

 

[Bruce Bump]

Damascus looks best if it is hardened and polished before the etch. Be sure to take your time etching. I etch several times about 10 minutes each and sand with 600 in between. After it is deep enough just let it dry for a few minutes until the black oxide sets up. Neutralize and polish the high spots with 2000 grit. I sometimes use a buffer anyway.

 

[J. Neilson]

Hey Bruce, I'm curious, how do you use the buffer on damascus? I've haven't been able to do this.

 

[Burchtree]

Thanks for the replies -- one more question -- does the hardened steel etch differently than the rest? It seems like it etchs quicker and gets darker along and below the temper line. Should I dilute more, and etch longer to solve this? Or just leave it?

 

[Bruce Bump]

If there are scratches left on the damascus the etch will make them deeper and cant be buffed out but if sanded to about 1000 grit and buffed before and after the etch it only takes a minute to shine the dull low spots and mirror polish the high spots. Again, this works best on hardened damascus. On edge quenched blades this makes the temper line show better. It is possible to wash out the etch with over buffing. I only use the the buffer to polish. Hope this helps.

 

[Arthur Washburn]

Burchtree,

You do not specify what the two materials in the Damascus are and what is going hazy on you. If the material is a carbon steel and nickel mix the nickel should stay very bright and the steel should darken. A 50/50 mix of ferric cloride and water at about 70-80 degrees should work well. I etch two to three times for about 10 mins each cycle.

If it is a double high carbon mix such as 1095 and 15n20 a 5 part water and 1 part ferric cloride mix should work. You will have to do multiple etches and hand sand with 2000 grit in between etches until you get the depth of etch you want.

Properly heat treated damascus will be much darker than annealed damascus. If you have done an edge quench with the spine being soft it will be near impossible to get an even color on the blade by etching it. The edge will be dark and the soft areas will end up being a light grey color.

If you want an even color you can try cold bluing the blade after etch and sand the high spots with 2000 grit sandpaper or you can send it to a gunsmith and have it hot blued. I perfer the hot blue method. It looks paticularly nice if you deep etch and polish the blade and then send it out for bluing.

 

[Burchtree]

The damascus is Ealy Knive's Turkish pattern with 1095. I've used a 5-1 ratio, neutralized with baking soda, and the hardened edge and tip are perfectly contrasted and the annealed part gets a dull look to it -- especially if you look at it from different angles. It's almost a crystalized look. It's really started to annoy me. I want to go for that deep contrast look.