an khanda sword

[RobT]

Hi All,
Rick's comment made me look at the pattern more closely and wonder whether it is the result of an acid etch on a wax resist rather than wootz. I have a kard whereon that technique was applied. If indeed the pattern was produced by acid etching unwatered steel, how was such a subtle pattern produced? From the looks of it, manually scraping away the resist wouldn't achieve such an intricate, random, and smoothly curved pattern of swirls (at least not cost effectively). So, if this pattern is a product of a wax resist, the question becomes, how was the resist etched to produce the pattern?
Sincerely,
RobT