Gotcha Ray. Thanks for the info. The very first soak I did did seem to etch very quickly. The etchant lost it's potency pretty quickly, to my inexperienced eyes atleast. I did a total of 7 soaks between 2 knives and by that last one it seemed to be working very slowly. I'll try the ferric chloride when I can get my hands on it. The closest radio shack to me is a poorly stocked corner of a hardware store
While the etching turned out nicely, I wouldn't mind if it was a lighter gray, more of a bead blasted/frosted look to it. Do you think that's from the harshness of the muriatic? my timing? or maybe just the 1080 I used?