It's the same old story

A. G. Maisey · 10th August 2008, 11:30 PM

Rick, that blade will be difficult to get a satisfactory result on with ferric chloride.

You need to get a blade absolutely 100% clean before you begin any staining. It must be white. Your blade has a few spots where rust will still be there, even after a really thorough soak and scrub. Those spots where there is still rust will give a dirty yellowish tint to the blade when you stain with ferric chloride.

You could give it a try and see if its acceptable to you, if its not, you just clean off and do something different. Spotting the rust areas with hydrochloric acid can help in preparation.

Something else that can give an almost OK result is a wash with dilute nitric acid.It works OK, but it is absolutely horrible stuff to use.

In fact, there's really no need to dwell too long on the advisability of any staining:- if you feel like doing it, just go ahead and do it; if you don't like the result you just clean it off, you can't hurt the blade no matter what you do---barring things like soaks in aqua regis.

10th August 2008, 11:30 PM	#19
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,991	Rick, that blade will be difficult to get a satisfactory result on with ferric chloride. You need to get a blade absolutely 100% clean before you begin any staining. It must be white. Your blade has a few spots where rust will still be there, even after a really thorough soak and scrub. Those spots where there is still rust will give a dirty yellowish tint to the blade when you stain with ferric chloride. You could give it a try and see if its acceptable to you, if its not, you just clean off and do something different. Spotting the rust areas with hydrochloric acid can help in preparation. Something else that can give an almost OK result is a wash with dilute nitric acid.It works OK, but it is absolutely horrible stuff to use. In fact, there's really no need to dwell too long on the advisability of any staining:- if you feel like doing it, just go ahead and do it; if you don't like the result you just clean it off, you can't hurt the blade no matter what you do---barring things like soaks in aqua regis.