Etching wootz, opinion needed.

[thomas hauschild]

Water and some spoons of instant coffee. It is a very slow etching. You can put a blade in for some hours without a big risk to remove too much steel. But it will etch to a deep black and you can feel a structure after a day on damascus blades. I use it everytime for damascus blades. Some weeks ago I have found a pamor lancehead on a fleemarket and the coffee worked better than ferric acid. To bring out a deep structure on my damascus I start with sulfuracid to „make the structure“ first. But the colour is often gray with that and the coffee afterwards brings out a deep black on the none nickelsteel. I do not know what the coffee makes with the surface. But the black colour seems to be relative stable against new rust. With ferric I have sometimes the first slight red rust after seconds and you are not fast enough with cleaning it. I have made some copper/iron mokume gane some weeks ago and the coffee is able to make the iron black without etching the copper. So it is a wide field for testing.


My experience with antique wootz blades is , of course, a minor experience. I do not have so much of them. 😢And as I said , each blade will etch different.
Hope I can help a little bit.

Best Thomas

[mariusgmioc]

Originally Posted by thomas hauschild

Water and some spoons of instant coffee. It is a very slow etching. You can put a blade in for some hours without a big risk to remove too much steel. But it will etch to a deep black and you can feel a structure after a day on damascus blades.

Best Thomas

Very, very interesting! Definitely worth a try.

Thank you!

[ariel]

Thanks!!!

[Kmaddock]

Hi
There is tannic acid in coffee, and seemingly 30 other organic acids as well ( according to my quick google of “tannic acid in coffee”) I assume it is these that are doing the etching?
Ken

[mross]

I know this is kinda old but I am getting ready to etch a possibly wootz blade with nital 3%. For those of you that use nital 3% what do you do afterwards? Baking soda or a acid neutralizer?

[Kmaddock]

I use baking soda and never had any issues at all
best of luck
ken

[Battara]

Same here. Baking soda directly on the blade after you rinse it off in water.

[mariusgmioc]

Originally Posted by mross

I know this is kinda old but I am getting ready to etch a possibly wootz blade with nital 3%. For those of you that use nital 3% what do you do afterwards? Baking soda or a acid neutralizer?

Where did you get your Nital from?

I am desperate to get some but without any success.

[Kmaddock]

Hi Marius
Why not make it yourself

it is just Nitric acid, Methanol/ethanol/or methelated spirits
I used work in a university chemistry department so i just made it myself, I have a thread on making it up on the forum

we conversed before on this

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ighlight=nital


if you go to your local university or perhaps secondary school and explain what you want it for you may be lucky
I can explain process to you if you can get materials
regards

Ken

[mross]

Originally Posted by mariusgmioc

Where did you get your Nital from?

I am desperate to get some but without any success.

I have not received it as yet but ordered it here;

https://etchantstore.com/

[JT88]

Originally Posted by thomas hauschild

Water and some spoons of instant coffee. It is a very slow etching. You can put a blade in for some hours without a big risk to remove too much steel. But it will etch to a deep black and you can feel a structure after a day on Damascus blades.

Sorry to revive this thread but I have been attempting to etch an old Turkish Pala and have had a couple of issues that maybe you guys can answer.

I have now tried both 2% nital and ferric chloride. The nital seems superior as it does not rust as quickly, but as others have pointed out it is very non-uniform in its etch. I apply with a paintbrush. I've also tried applying with cotton pads but it doesn't seem to work as well.

Ferric chloride mixed 5:1 almost immediately rusts the blade, prior to even bringing out any pattern. So it has been retired from use.

I have been mixing a large amount of baking soda with water but it seems ineffective in neutralizing the acid. Though from what I have read it seems you guys are rinsing the blade and rubbing baking soda directly onto the blade if I read that correctly? So not mixing it prior.

Finally, I'd like some more info on the instant coffee method, are you simply leaving the blade in water mixed with instant coffee for many hours? Seems like there is good feedback on this method and I'd like to give it a go.

Regards,
Jack

[Ian]

JT88, it sounds as though your ferric chloride solution is too strong. I would suggest a 1:20 solution of FeCl3 in water and see how that works for you. It may take several minutes to bring out a pattern but you should be less likely to go straight to rust. Warming the blade can accelerate the process when using milder solutions.

A lot of this is trial and error. Fortunately the blade can always be repolished and one can start over.

[JT88]

Originally Posted by Ian

JT88, it sounds as though your ferric chloride solution is too strong. I would suggest a 1:20 solution of FeCl3 in water and see how that works for you.

A lot of this is trial and error. Fortunately the blade can always be repolished and one can start over.

Thanks for the response after reviving a long dead thread.

I did dilute it more last night and give it another go, looks pretty decent now. Still a bit of a brown tinge overall, but not too much. Wondering if stop now or keep trying to go darker.

I am still very curious about trying instant coffee, one of the other posters said they would do it after using ferric chloride. Hope they will respond with a process for it.

Has been an exhaustive process, many re-starts. I think the pattern looks better now than when I got it, but less uniform overall.

[Drabant1701]

Originally Posted by JT88

Thanks for the response after reviving a long dead thread.

I did dilute it more last night and give it another go, looks pretty decent now. Still a bit of a brown tinge overall, but not too much. Wondering if stop now or keep trying to go darker.

I am still very curious about trying instant coffee, one of the other posters said they would do it after using ferric chloride. Hope they will respond with a process for it.

Has been an exhaustive process, many re-starts. I think the pattern looks better now than when I got it, but less uniform overall.

i think it looks good. It is hard to get good results with ferric. As for the instant coffe. I had som good results etching pattern welded, but never wootz.
You could try vineger, or a lemon. Takes a long time but I find it easier to use then ferric. Every blade is unique so you never know what will get you the best result.

[David R]

Believe it or not "Lea and Perrins Worcester Sauce" works on Wootz. Recommended to me by a retired museum conservator, and it worked for me on an old blade quite nicely.
There are other brands, but I have not tried them.

[JT88]

What method do you use with Worcester sauce? Can’t believe I’m asking that 😂