Etching Blades

[Federico]

There is the possibility that the braze job was done by locals. It is not unheard of, for kris and other Moro swords to be damaged and then repaired with a metal with a lower melt point, such as brass or copper. If it were an American braze job, I would expect to see a more common welding rod for steel used, rather than brass.

Anyways, one of the after effects that is visible of the before and after of using Maas is the loss of pattern. It is visible in the before pic, but by the after it becomes faint. Realistically, this happens whenever one sands a blade, but if one is not planning on re-etching it can be a loss that will never return. However, one note about etching, it can remove rust. I tend to use an initial lemon juice etch to remove any cached on rust, and get a good look at what Im dealing with before taking further action. So if you plan on etching, I would go ahead do one cleaning etch, before sanding away. You may be surprised how well it turns out after just one etch.