Chinese Jian

[josh stout]

Very nice looking blade. We can stay with the Early Republican/late Qing dating, but as you know the blade could be older. As for etching, there are many opinions. Here is what I would do: Scrub the blade with soap and water, be very careful not to get any on the fittings. Remove any residual oils with Windex and perhaps finally acetone. Then when it is perfectly dry, put clear nail polish over the stars. They could fall out with etching otherwise. I etch mine with vinegar in a PVC tube as this gives an even result. I leave the tube next to the furnace so the temperature is about 35 C.. Then I leave it there for 18-24 hours. I take it out, neutralise it with baking soda, then scrub it again. This makes a clean shiny blade where once again the laminations are difficult to see. (they would be dark before the final scrubbing.) Now what you have done is create a bit of contour with the etching. I take 4000 grit paper and go over the blade. This highlights the lamination, and turns the high carbon steel bright and the low carbon dark. Without this if you just left the blade dark from etching, the high carbon is dark, and the low carbon bright. I prefer bright edges on a Chinese blade. I have not seen this particular approach described before, so I would be interested in others comments. I showed a blade I had treated this way to Scott Rodell, and he liked the way it looked very much.
Josh

[Gavin Nugent]

Hi Josh,

Can you show images of this blade in detail here please. I would like to see the final effect you speak of. I too would like to hear what others think of this method.


regards

Gav

[Flavio]

Yes Josh, please if you can post some pics thank you

[Gavin Nugent]

Can any readers post a list of essential reading on the matter of Chinese swords?

regards

Gav

[josh stout]

Originally Posted by Flavio

Yes Josh, please if you can post some pics thank you

I have a backlog of pictures that need taking, but I will try and get to it as soon as I can. The technique is great for very active patterns and inserted edges, but only highlights the edges if the patterns are more subdued. Strangely it does not seem to work well on Tibetan style pattern welding where I thought the high contrast piled construction would show up well. I have had more luck on Tibetan things with the more normal approach of just a few hours in vinegar to darken, and then just a quick cleanup with 4000 paper. I am wondering if nitric might work better. Vinegar etches seem to bring out greys while I think nitric brings out more contrasting colors.

Here is a Tibetan style blade I did in the more normal method of etching. I think it turned out well, but the contrast is not as strong as would have liked. More of a pattern of greys than a true light and dark.
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...duation278.jpg
Josh