I'm not sure what reaction you'd get out of a true stainless, but i got a really nice matte grey finish on a polished D2 blade I etched once. Ireally liked the subdued finish it gave me.
It depends on the grade of stainless.....more specifically the percentage of chromium it contains. At 12-14% you can get a little etching action (but it takes a while)..... Once you get to 16+% it's difficult to get anything other than a few streaks. I've seen some makers get a unique finish by blasting with coarse silicon carbide media, then etching. Aside from that, the only recommendation I can give it to try it and see what happens.
I did a blade of Elmax, the top one in the photo. It took an hour and a half. The other two O-1 & A2 took 5 minutes. The elmax did get a couple pits in it's .