Two hand made blades.

[Fred.Rowe]

I have been following the threads on different etching techniques and have found some of them to be informative. I etched this twelve inch bowie with a 6 hour soak in vinager followed by three one min. dips in 50% ferric chloride, then hand sanded to 2000 grit. NO buffing.
I found the leaf blade at Buckeye lake, in central Ohio. I admire the work they
did using flint knapped with bone and stone. I wish I had their skills. Anyone else have another etching technique to share? Fred

 

[Fred.Rowe]

just changed the pictures, so they look better.

(bump

 

[Chiro75]

That looks nice! I'm going to try it on some cable damascus for a knife I'm STILL working on (started it in April, I think) for Kim Breed. I etched the cable in FC and didn't like it at all. I wanted to re-HT it anyway, so I'm going to try a long vinegar soak on it and see what happens. That knife looks great! I have been playing with the viinegar on some knives and not been 100% blown away by it, but I have noticed a difference if I do a vinegar etch, clean off the oxides, clean the blade, then do a quick (under 5 seconds) dip in my ferric chloride (stuff is probably 3-4 years old, so I have no idea what concentration it is!) and clean it up again, and it comes out different than it would in either vinegar or FC. Lots to play with!

 

[Fred.Rowe]

That looks nice! I'm going to try it on some cable damascus for a knife I'm STILL working on (started it in April, I think) for Kim Breed. I etched the cable in FC and didn't like it at all. I wanted to re-HT it anyway, so I'm going to try a long vinegar soak on it and see what happens. That knife looks great! I have been playing with the viinegar on some knives and not been 100% blown away by it, but I have noticed a difference if I do a vinegar etch, clean off the oxides, clean the blade, then do a quick (under 5 seconds) dip in my ferric chloride (stuff is probably 3-4 years old, so I have no idea what concentration it is!) and clean it up again, and it comes out different than it would in either vinegar or FC. Lots to play with!

Morning Chiro, I would like to take a look at the cable damascus piece you are working on after you complete the etch. I'm starting a cable piece soon. This will be the first one in cable and I'm looking for feedback on this project.
Fred

 

[jhiggins]

Fred, what grit did you sand those blades before etch?

 

[Fred.Rowe]

Fred, what grit did you sand those blades before etch?

Hi Jeff, I sanded to an 800 grit A.O. finish before I put the blade into the vinager. I sanded with 1000, 1500 and 2000 after the ferric chloride
using a leather pad under the paper. I complete the finish using the edge of a
10 oz. square of leather then follow that with a piece of levi material. The levi really seams to brush away any of those small surface "'fuzzys", you know what I mean.

 

[ddavelarsen]

Dang Fred, don't know how I missed this one. That's a beautiful blade. It's always good to hear how people finish their blades, and it's obvious that it's time well spent.

I like the obsidian blade too! I read about ice age people (cavemen ) a lot, and always enjoy looking at old knives. It's amazing, but some of their knives were a hell of a lot sharper than steel knives can be - they just don't hold an edge worth a damn.