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The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need.

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Old 01-15-2012, 12:17 PM
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Eli Jensen Eli Jensen is offline
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Etching different metals

So some of you have seen some of my recent knives with "dot-eyes" embedded in the blade made from brass, copper, and silver. So far its entirely mechanical, no soldering, and flushes nicely with the steel. I'm working on a W-2 blade that I want to do a hamon. My instinct tells me the diluted ferric chloric acid will ruin my perfect flush on the doteye, maybe eating it away faster than the steel?

I was planning on doing some tests but the doteyes are time intensive so if I can verify that instinct here that would save me some time. Maybe a hamon etching isn't long enough to make a difference on the non-ferrous?
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Old 01-15-2012, 01:33 PM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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I guess it would depend a lot on which metal was used for the eye. I doubt ferric chloride would etch brass much but it might turn it black. Silver doesn't seem like it would be affected but copper obviously would be eaten away.

You could try masking the eye with something like fingernail polish. That might create a 'halo' around the eye but you could patch that later after the mask was removed by using a cotton swab....


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Old 01-15-2012, 01:44 PM
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That's a pretty swell idea Ray. Thanks!

Last edited by Eli Jensen; 01-15-2012 at 04:05 PM.
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Old 01-16-2012, 07:32 AM
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Be careful about what materials you introduce into your etchant. Just about any non-ferric material you put in the etchant will contaminate it, and will cause all kinds of strange things to happen.....brass will cause reddish streaks and splotches on any other blades you put in the contaminated etchant...copper, aluminum, lead, etc. will all do the same thing, although each will produce a different hue/color. The trouble is that it will not be something even or controllable.

If your going to etch any kind of non-ferric material, I would suggest doing it in a separate etch tank.....or be ready to change etchant ever time you do it.


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Old 01-16-2012, 09:41 AM
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Good to know, thanks Ed. I think I'm going to pace myself and learn to do hamons right BEFORE combining it with other techniques, especially those with no functional purpose. It will be interesting to try eventually though.
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Old 01-18-2012, 06:40 AM
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FeCL will react with silver and brass.....both contain copper. The brass will react much the same as copper just a bit slower, silver (contingent on copper content) much slower.
I'd set the eye after the etch and then go back with a Qtip and swipe the "eye" to match up the edges to the rest of the etch.


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