Villager BAS etched then phosphated

[Noah Zark]

A Sher Villager BAS that I recently purchased inspired me as an experiment to etch the blade with muriatic acid and then phosphate it while doing controller programming at a client's plating shop Friday evening.

This is the blade degreased in hot alkaline solution, then etched in 25% muriatic acid for five minutes:

The hamon is somewhat visible in the photo above, starting less than in inch from the tip, getting very wide in the belly, then tapering in the lighting glare to the edge about an inch and a half or so from the cho.

I held the blade in the 190F zinc phosphate bath for 20 mins, slowly "stirring" the blade around. After rinses and a hot inhibited final rinse followed by a 60 minute "cure" and oiling with Corrosion-X, I treated the unfinished satisal handle to several coats of Watco Rejuvenating Oil. The result appears below:

The dark unpolished and phosphated blade is really set off against the oiled satisal handle, and accented by the fittings and the Sword of Shiva brass inlet. This BAS is the sharpest HI blade out of the box that I've bought to date; even after the acid and phosphate I can shave my arm and I haven't put steel or stone to it yet. Darned thing looks too nice to use now, not so?

Noah

 

[Dave Rishar]

By phosphated, do you mean a phosphate finish? (Parkerizing or the like?) If so, I'm amazed that the hamon is still showing afterwards if that's what I'm seeing.

The muriatic acid seems to do a very good job of bringing out the figure of the steel. I see a lot going on there in the pic...I can only imagine what it looked like in person.

Very, very interesting.

About the sharpness: one of the things that I've always found odd about etching is that it doesn't seem to dull the existing edge at all, just about the opposite of what I'd expect to happen. I can't adequately explain this. Perhaps an expert can.

 

[Noah Zark]

By phosphated, do you mean a phosphate finish? (Parkerizing or the like?)

"Parkerizing" is a trademark for a zinc phosphate process marketed my the former Parker Chemical Co., now part of Henkel Chemical.

The zinc phosphate that my client does is identical, but the chemistry is from someone other than Henkel. The X-ray thickness measurement machine indicated a thickness equivalent to a mass of 900 to 950 milligrams per square foot. Not thin by any means, but not really thick like that on an M14 magazine either. The blade all but stopped "fizzing" at 20 minutes in the bath, telling me it was "done," so I rinsed it.

The phos will hold oil like crazy, but is not particularly durable to impacts. The first time I chop with it the phos crystals will "burnish" from impact. In fact, if the sheath was a tight fit the blade would already be burnished and shiny in spots.

Noah

 

[Noah Zark]

For a "before" pic of this particular BAS, it is the fourth from the right in Yangdu's photo below:

Noah

 

[Kevin the grey]

Man you guys gotta get out more ! L:O:L I must admit that while it was a fine looking knife right out of the box your treatment of it has done you proud .

 

[munk]

Working with the khuk, modifying it, perhaps a repair or finishing the handle in True Oil, just makes it more your own.




munk

 

[ferguson]

Well that's just cool! I expect with the coating and additional oil holding abilities, it will make a great user. Looks great too!

Steve

 

[Noah Zark]

I appreciate the comments and input. I had the knife in the car and the idea popped into my mind when I saw that the plater was running zinc phos last Friday eve, so when the crew was at lunch and I was finished with the PLC programming, the BAS got a bath, so to speak.

Thanks again,

Noah