Etching Damascus

[HELLGAP]

The damascus is 5160/1018/15n20 nickle I heat treated in the canola got it cherry hot and dipped it tip down . Then sanded to 400 grit, I took the Muriatic Acid from the bottle that was 32% strong as the bottle says and placed 24 oz of water in a plastic tub, I then added the acid about 8 oz . I placed the knife in for 30 min and swished it around every 10 min . the etch is so faint I can barely see the pattern . should I add another 4 oz Acid to the mix. I took it out for the night washed it off in amonia then wd 40 . I will try again tommorrow. It should turn dark and show the pattern with in 30 or 40 min RIGHT???

 

[Robert Mayo]

I have never had any luck getting a dark etch with muriatic acid i use ferric cloride for good contrast. You can get it here if there is none at your local radio shack.
http://www.be-electronics.com/ they are in Regina.

Bob

 

[HHH Knives]

I have tried a few things, and have to agree with Mr. Mayo. Ferric is the way to go. I get good results from it on almost all combinations of steel.

also, some steels dont take a etch very well or very fast, And then others are rapidly etched. 10 minutes or less.

 

[Mike Blue]

The 5160 and 15N20 you have in your billet are both resistant to etching due to the chromium in the 5160 and nickel in the 15N20. They will still etch but not as much as a carbon steel. These are meant to be the shiny layers in the contrast.

The 1018 won't give much contrast due to low carbon content and low manganese. Carbon and manganese give that dark look you want. This is why you are much better off using something at least in the hypoeutectoid range like 1050 or higher.

 

[SBuzek]

Mike is right.1050-1084 with 15n20 will give you the best contrast.Try etching with ferric it may give better contrast.
Stan

 

[EdCaffreyMS]

+1 for what Mike and Stan said.
To add, that combination of materials isn't a good candidate for damascus.....it's just not going to produce a strong contrast, and to be honest, in my experience, 5160 just doesn't play well with others....I'm surprised that you didn't get some delamination during heat treating.

 

[HELLGAP]

Ed and robert you others who took the time to respond. I have to go into regina tommorrow and will pick some up. The blades look
excellent. I Soaked the blades i n the acid for 7 hours added another 8 oz of acid to the water so its like 50 /50 and all it did was darken the damascus so little even 7 hours wow youd think it wouda done something but no.

 

[HELLGAP]

ETCHING finished

The ferric chloride worked very well it etches very fast so I know its very dangerous it took from 10 to 15 min to deep etch I tryed 5 min but that wasnt deep enough and when I sanded to 600 sanded off the etch so I re did 2 knives for 15 min and they are deep and nice.