Etching a polished sword?
 

Hello all,
I could use some professional advice here. :o I recently purchased a Kampilan where the previous owner buffed and polished the blade. Laminations can be seen in the blade...but laminations on a shinny polished blade is not to my liking. How can I dull the blade out to take the shine off. I would like to etch the blade as well to bring the laminations out further. Could I just etch the blade with it being polished?..or should I dull it out first? Sorry if this has been discussed previously. I did a search and couldn't find anything relative to my issue. Any help greatly appreciated. :)

You are probably safe with etching it as is. The etch will dull it a little as well as darkening the color. If you can already see laminations, then you will do well to try etching first. Make sure you take off all oil, wax, etch first.

I cannot echo Jose's statement enough about getting the blade absolutely clean .

This is critical to acheiving good results .

Sounds good. Thanks guys! :)