So.......How do I do this

Ernie Swanson

Ernie Swanson

SASSY PINK LUUNCHBOX KNIFE MAKER
This is my first time etching for a hamon, I etched 4 time while cleaning and sanding in between then the last etch I just cleaned, It was dark and beautiful but then when I went to polish it it took all the darkness out of it. I am guessing just cleaning all the oxides off.
You can really see the line but I was wondering how I would go about getting them to stay dark like the ones on this thread.....
http://knifedogs.com/showthread.php?t=10541
Mainly like MrNewberrys, Burchtrees, and Chuck Gedraitis's Amber stag snubnose.
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Ernie the only time I have been around this , the person etched then polished with Flitz. He did not remove the oxides.
 
So, can I etch and not polish?
I know that would give me the darkness I am looking for but will it eventually rub off?
 
Ernie,

How long are you etching for and what is the mixing ratio? I etch for 10 min and the mix is 50/50.

I have 2 methods. I either etch and then lightly buff with no scratch pink. This gives me the polished hardened area and the dark soft area.

The other method is to etch and I polished with mothers mag wheel polish and a cloth. It takes off some of the oxides but leaves the piece dark.

One method I have not tried is to polish like they do on Japanese swords. You etch and then polish the edge with triple fine pumice. This will turn the hardened area white and polish the rest of the steel.

Here is an example-

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Ok so I did a 12 minute(lost track of time I was going for ten minutes) Etch.
Then polished with Mother's

It came out darker but still not like some that I have seen. Plus it almost looks dirty.
Could this just be from the steel? its 1095 and it was heat treated by Peter's.
I cleaned the blade very good before the etch.

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Ernie Swanson said:
This was heat treated by Peter's Heat treat!
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Did Peter put mud or clay on the blade to create the Hammon?
I think the etching just brings out the hammon that was created during the heat treat. Or are you just trying to etch a hammon onto the blade?

Im just confused when you say they did the heat treat. :confused:
 
I sent the knife to Brad at Peter's heat treat. He did a differential heat treat to the blade using clay.
I am just trying to etch the natural hamon that is formed from the differential heat treat.
 
Ernie Swanson said:
I sent the knife to Brad at Peter's heat treat. He did a differential heat treat to the blade using clay.
I am just trying to etch the natural hamon that is formed from the differential heat treat.
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Copy that Ernie.
I didnt know Peters heat treat would do differential heat treating. Cool.
Good luck with it.
 
Tod Lowe said:
Copy that Ernie.
I didnt know Peters heat treat would do differential heat treating. Cool.
Good luck with it.
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They didnt :D

I send the knife for Brad to try it out. You can read about it in the clay tempering thread in Peter's heat treat sub forum!!
 
Ernie Swanson said:
When I got the blade back I started sanding at 180 then went to 220, 320, 400, 600,NOW ETCH AND SAND TO > 800,NOW DO IT AGAIN TO> 1000,AND AGAIN TO> 1200 then etched and sanded with 1200 4 times.NOW START ETCHING AND USING "FLITZ" OR "MAAS" CREME and Etch and Polish until you get what you want
Click to expand...

Look at the above edit of your post. Longer etches than you think will make a difference. You will start seeing some crazy happenings with longer etches and polishes. This helps me a bunch in my feeble attempts. Hope it works out for you.

Robert
 
Ok. so...................
I went out to the shop after work, I started at 220 grit and worked my way up again, I did every grit going each direction.:D

I then etched for about 10 minutes and gave it a light polish.
I was still getting quite a bit of black on my cloth so I kept polishing. Its almost mirrored now:eek:

Here are some pics, The first is with the light polish then the full polish then cleaned up with windex. Its hard to see the hamon but you can see it.

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the last pics looks better.you have to have the blade clean. If you want darker color then after etching just use 0000 steel wool that will keep the hamon line more pronounce. There are lots of ways to get different looks.great knife... Steve
 
Ok, I am pretty happy with myself now. I was getting a bit frustrated but thanks to everyones help I tried a few different things and I am happy with the results.

I sanded it back down to 600 then etched, then sanded to 800 and etched then sanded to 1000 and etched. I etched for about 2 minutes each but the last one I left it in for about 8 minutes. I then cleaned the blade and polished it out with 0000 steel wool.

I like it!!2thumbs

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