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Post by Brendan Olszowy on Jun 16, 2007 3:32:37 GMT
Hi All. I just thought I'd show off my latest project. Acid Etching the fuller of my Hanwei Practical Hand and Half. These are my first couple of attempts, If there is anyone reading this that has much experience at etching I'd like to hear from you, see your work, and ask some tips, etc. Cheers Brendan
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2007 11:07:12 GMT
Those look great. Excellent work. Got any how to or etching process pictures?
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Post by jpfranco on Jun 16, 2007 11:37:25 GMT
That looks very neet my friend. Karma to you for the work and thanks for sharing
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Post by Brendan Olszowy on Jun 16, 2007 12:06:49 GMT
Those look great. Excellent work. Got any how to or etching process pictures? I could put a few together, If you are interested. I'm not master but a bit of trial and error has helped me learn a few lessons in what to avoid. Its not hard but very tedious.
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Post by Dan Davis on Jun 16, 2007 12:25:06 GMT
Those look great. Excellent work. Got any how to or etching process pictures? I could put a few together, If you are interested. I'm not master but a bit of trial and error has helped me learn a few lessons in what to avoid. Its not hard but very tedious. Please do. Maybe we should talk to Paul about putting up a "Tutorilas/How-To" forum.
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Post by Brendan Olszowy on Jun 16, 2007 15:32:30 GMT
Good idea you should pop it in his suggestions thread. Somewhere to gather all the sharpening, customisations, maintenence, how to type tips.
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Post by Brendan Olszowy on Aug 15, 2007 13:38:41 GMT
Hey all, I’ll put a brief step by step on how I did my acid etching, for those of you who are very patient and creative.
I haven’t learnt any proper technique, this is just what I found worked through experience. If someone can offer a proven technique that would make it easier for me I’d love you to post it. Please!
Step one: Warm the blade up if it’s winter over a low gas burner, to about 30 degrees C, 90 degrees F. In summer not necessary. This helps the wax to smear on nice and smooth, not clumpy.
Step two: Smear a candle onto the blade completely covering a wide area around the area to be etched – any gaps will get eaten into. The fuller works well as the acid can just pool there and stay, whereas it just runs off the bevels – be sure to get the ridges covered. Try and get a solid coating with no holes. If it leaves gaps or goes on clumpy see step 1.
Step three: Use a sharpened pencil to draw the design you want into the wax, make sure you go through all the wax. If you make a mistake use the back of your finger nail to firmly press wax back onto the steel. You may have to sharpen the pencil again if the tip gets too broad. Metal tips are too fine and sharp – wood feathers – pencils are best.
Step four: once you are happy with the design its time to drip the acid on. I use rice wine vinegar, to which I add a small amount of fish tank acidifier to increase its acidity – don’t go too acid or it will strip the wax too fast. Put your finger over the hole and just run a string of drops along the design. Then get a tiny drop of dishwashing detergent on a piece of fine wire or a heavy pin; this is used to break the surface tension and alow you to smear the acid evenly over the design – only drag it over the vinegar’s surface and don’t disturb the wax, it will pull the vinegar out over the patern. Make sure the blade is level or the vinegar will run out the end of the fuller. (you want to avoid acid running up past the guard onto the tang - you can seal the junction with epoxy, or temporarily with a smear of grease.)
Once it’s right walk away and stop fiddling with it. This will also make it less interesting to cats, who will hopefully leave the job alone over night while it eats away.
If you do this in the morning you may like to check it in the afternoon. It will be bubbly – you can use the pin to drag the bubbles away, but you might stuff it up. If it’s warm the vinegar may evaporate, so you may like to add some more.
After about 12 to 15 hours however the wax will have broken up and lifted. Get a cloth and wipe the blade completely clean. Don’t use any polish or you’ll scrub the design off. At this stage the design will be a blackened etching on the metal, but won’t be engraved in. You can oil it now and hang it up which will add a picture, but it will polish off if you polish the blade.
This is the bit you’ll love: Go back to step one and repeat. Now you have the design there as a template you’ll be able to see through the wax. You will actually need to do the process about 5 times to get a good engraving which will endure sanding, polishing or scrubbing. It gets easier after two goes as there will be a channel forming which will help guide your pencil.
If I think of any more tips I’ll update as I think of it. If anyone does it please share some pictures with us, and let us know what you learned.
Cheers:)
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Post by Matt993f.o.d on Aug 15, 2007 14:27:21 GMT
Cool. What sort of wax do you use, in general?
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Post by Brendan Olszowy on Aug 15, 2007 14:44:51 GMT
Just a big green candle that was laying around. I just break chunks off it and rub it on firmly. Are you gonna have a go? The first application takes about half an hour or so. The subsequent ones about 25 minutes (coz the drawing is done), given I was doing about 5 inches of pattern. I'm pretty finicky so its tedious. If you've got parkinsons disease you can forget it.
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Post by tajima on Aug 15, 2007 23:45:29 GMT
Great advice. Thanks!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2007 16:13:21 GMT
Looks awesome. Thanks for posting how you did it.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2007 4:31:37 GMT
Nice work Brenno those etchings look professional. I appreciate the "How To" info it might come in handy one day. I like to personalize my things it just makes them mine.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2007 3:42:58 GMT
Some additional notes on etching. You can use just about anything as a resist: sharpie marker, tape, paint, laquer, wax, etc. Possibly the best acid to use on steel would be hydrochloric (H2SO4), but you would need a heavy duty resist and a good deal of caution. PLEASE DO NOT try this on a sword first time out as I haven't tested it yet. Something less drastic would be ferric chloride. Remember that if you have to stop the process you can't just wash it off with water; you'll have to neutralize the acid with a base such as ammonia. That's all I can say without digging though my books...
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Post by Brendan Olszowy on Sept 7, 2007 9:38:25 GMT
Hey Dan, thanks. Have you done any etching on armour / weapons? Would love to see your creations.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2007 20:45:08 GMT
I've only done etching work on non-ferreous metals, but the principles still apply. Sorry I can't be of more help.
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Post by Dan Davis on Sept 10, 2007 18:45:56 GMT
I Strongly recommend AGAINST using hydrochloric acid!
For the reasons why do a google search on "chloride stress cracking"
It does work well on non-ferrous metal though.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2007 15:04:30 GMT
There is a way that is quicker and since it only requires one application is more likely to end up looking good (though brenno's blades came out looking quite good. I have not done it myself so the description is coppied from www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41757"Firstly you will need the following items. 1.PP9 9 volt battery. 2.Battery connector. 3.2 Crocodile clips. 4.Cotton buds 5.Table salt 6.Water 7.Plastic bottle top. 8.Nail varnish 9.Needle Method. 1.Clean metal surface, degrease, and leave to dry 2.Put a thin coat of nail varnish onto the metal surface and let it dry. 3.Place some salt and water into the plastic lid. 4.Connect the Positive (Red) battery lead to the metal with the crocodile clip. 5.Connect the Negative (Black) lead to the cotton bud with the crocodile clip. 6.Gently scratch the pattern onto the metal surface using a needle. 7.Dip the cotton bud into the salt water, then gently wipe the scratched surface with the wet cotton bud. Note: The crocodile clip on the cotton bud must touch the wet bud. The cotton bud will start to go black as metal is removed. Stop every now and then and remove the blackened salt water so that you can see what you are doing. Try it out on a piece of scrap first, it's really quite effective. " I know it is a little different from acid etch (and maybe the acid is the whole point) but it is still homemade. Josh
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Post by Brendan Olszowy on Sept 15, 2007 1:14:56 GMT
Sounds very interesting and something I'm keen to try. Thanks knifemaker. Have you done any work that way, and can you post some pics?
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Post by Dan Davis on Sept 17, 2007 16:03:46 GMT
This is a version of electro-chemical etching; it is effective and is also fast. I use one of these units myself: Personalizer Plus
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Post by Brendan Olszowy on Sept 18, 2007 16:57:22 GMT
I've been researching the electrolytic etching process, and thanks to Dan at Wild Wolf Forge for steering me in the right direction. The following are some insightful revelations on the project donated by Dan:
"The stencil material is pin-feed computer paper (wax-coated tissue paper); I have an old but very high-quality 24-pin dot matrix printer I use to print the images onto the stencil and then I tape the stencil(s) directly to the blade using electrical tape. Etching is done directly onto the blade through the stencil.
The electrode is a block of graphite that has a felt pad on it.
The felt pad is dipped into the etching solution and then pressed down onto the stencil. The stencil prevents solution from reaching the metal except in the places where it is cut away, so the solution is pressed onto the metal and the current is applied simultaneously.
You want the felt pad to be damp but not soaking wet, as any excess solution will run under the edges of the stencil and blur the lines. The ground clip is attached to the metal piece to complete the circuit.
Also, DC current will etch the metal, AC current will mark but not etch."
So now I'm onto another project. I am making a power supply, a tip, and ordering some electrolyte. Watch this space.
In the mean time I'm doing some acid etched Nordic Runes. I'll have pics in a day or two.
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