Acid etching stainless steel

[Vladimir]

I was reading something that said you could use permanent marker, like a sharpie, as a resist for acid etching stainless steel.

That sounds a heck of a lot easier than trying to use wax.

Has anyone tried it? Are there acids that it works with and others it does not? Time limits? etc.

[losthelm]

Yes they sortof work, I used ferric chloride and had some success.
The issue I had was the new layer of sharpie does not cover the old layer well.
I ended up with an interesting streak effect.

Some paints, wax, asphalt, some glues work well.
The right choice changes depending on the effect you after.

Paints work with stamps and stencils and do wonderfully if you have a circut machine or skill to cut your own.
Wax can be applied thing and scraped and carved with lots of detail.

[PatternWeld]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vs0nFNqQDI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCOgEEGkR4Q

[Garreth]

I'd contact Armstreet, they do a lot of etched stainless armor with some amazing detail work.

[besserai]

I have had lots of success with a combination of an asphaltum-type resist & ferric chloride.

I paint on the resist then scrape off with a needle.




Another technique that I have not tried yet but will be very soon is instead of using resist use stencils.
http://usaknifemaker.com/etching-suppli ... 5-x11.html

This company sells a photocurable stencil which should theoretically produce details that are only limited to the resolution of your printer not the pensmanship one may have with a scraping tool. Once I have the stencil I plan on using an electrochemical process to etch as detailed on other parts of that website I just linked above.

[Johann Lederer]

I wonder if one of those scrapbooking cutters (cricut) would work with that material. My wife has one, and I can see the utility there....

[Smilingotter]

A buddy of mine uses a cricut (or something similar) to make masks for sand/bead blasting. Works wonders. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it worked for etching metal.