Etching with iron(III)chloride hexahydrate

spiral · 21st October 2014, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martin Lubojacky

Very important was the piece of info from Spiral "to have uninterrupted time, turn your phone off & don't answer the door!". But when I cut my finger and the result was not "slightly yellowish", but "reddish", it was like phone ringing and at the door knocking etc altogether.

And Here are the requested close ups - but as I said, no "damascus".

Ahh that's only flesh though... that heals... the blade is what matters!

Mmmm so the hilt straps are re built by the same chap who made the scabbard it seems?

If blade was mine Id give it a little go with pineapple juice to see if that brings anything else out.... not all etchants work equally on all blades in my experience.

spiral

A. G. Maisey · 21st October 2014, 10:41 PM

Here are three knives that I made.

My apologies for the slight reddish cast, these are super-quick pics and I'm wearing a red checked shirt.

The blades are mechanical damascus, the Marbles ripoff is 01+mild, the puuko and the trout/bird are 01+mild+nickel.

The topographic etch was done with hydrochloric acid (pool acid).

The colour stain was done with ferric chloride (FeCl3 - 42%).

After the colour stain they were let sit with a brushed on slurry of bicarbonate of soda for about 10 minutes, this was washed off, they were thoroughly dried and sprayed with WD40.

They were all brought to a high hand polish prior to the topographic etch, and polished again before the colour stain.

After the colour stain with ferric chloride they were lightly polished with worn 1200 W&D paper, then 0000 steel wool.

They were then sprayed with WD40, allowed to dry overnight and waxed with Antiquax.

The stain job was done over the laundry tub with a glass of ferric chloride and a toothbrush, the water was left running, the ferric chloride was continually applied and washed off until the colour I wanted was reached.

They were made about 20 years ago and have been sitting in a drawer wrapped in cloth since then, which I think demonstrates that we can store blades for extended periods unattended if the preparation is correct.

I've etched and stained more damascus, like this stuff shown, than I can count. I've cleaned and stained more keris and other SE Asian blades than I can count. I've never stained any Indo-Persian blades, but I cannot imagine that the process would be much different to that of staining any other mechanical damascus. Wootz might require a different technique, I don't know about this stuff, I've never cleaned nor stained it.

Pineapple juice, when it is good, is a great cleaning agent. It is a lousy etchant and a lousy staining medium.

21st October 2014, 10:41 PM	#2
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,015	Here are three knives that I made. My apologies for the slight reddish cast, these are super-quick pics and I'm wearing a red checked shirt. The blades are mechanical damascus, the Marbles ripoff is 01+mild, the puuko and the trout/bird are 01+mild+nickel. The topographic etch was done with hydrochloric acid (pool acid). The colour stain was done with ferric chloride (FeCl3 - 42%). After the colour stain they were let sit with a brushed on slurry of bicarbonate of soda for about 10 minutes, this was washed off, they were thoroughly dried and sprayed with WD40. They were all brought to a high hand polish prior to the topographic etch, and polished again before the colour stain. After the colour stain with ferric chloride they were lightly polished with worn 1200 W&D paper, then 0000 steel wool. They were then sprayed with WD40, allowed to dry overnight and waxed with Antiquax. The stain job was done over the laundry tub with a glass of ferric chloride and a toothbrush, the water was left running, the ferric chloride was continually applied and washed off until the colour I wanted was reached. They were made about 20 years ago and have been sitting in a drawer wrapped in cloth since then, which I think demonstrates that we can store blades for extended periods unattended if the preparation is correct. I've etched and stained more damascus, like this stuff shown, than I can count. I've cleaned and stained more keris and other SE Asian blades than I can count. I've never stained any Indo-Persian blades, but I cannot imagine that the process would be much different to that of staining any other mechanical damascus. Wootz might require a different technique, I don't know about this stuff, I've never cleaned nor stained it. Pineapple juice, when it is good, is a great cleaning agent. It is a lousy etchant and a lousy staining medium. Attached Images