The Armour Archive

I have this cool PDF I got detailing the saltwater/battery charger method of etching. I'm skimming it, and I'm thinking, and I'm scheming...

Has anyone tried etching a welded piece with this?

Has anyone tried etching over a weld (assume a butt weld, ground flush on the 'show' side)?

If so... what can be expected as far as results and snafu's?

We've done it both on 1050 and stainless but I can't recall if the etched design actually crossed any of the weld lines. I suspect you might get a slightly different depth of etch in the weld area do to the different micro-structure.

I have. No noticeable difference. Transition from mild to stainless made a difference, though.

Unless its a very poor weld you should be all set.

You may see some differences in the weld area if the alloy or rod are significaly differnt then the base metals.

Sometimes you will still see differences along the crystal structure in the steel.

I have and it brought out the welds as a different color and texture. I suspect it was the alloy of rod I was using as opposed to the sheet. This was with hot rolled that had been de scaled already. The etch took beautifully and deep, but the weld looked like silver sharpie marks. I hit it with scotchbrite and it all blended back together.

can anyone recommend a good resist for salt water etching.
I have tried a bunch of different ones to no avail.

protip: NOT latex paint.

Oil-based spray paint worked fine as a blanket resist for me, and I detailed with a fine brush and some rustolium I had laying around. If your needs are more detailed than that... can't help ya.

Cool.

Thanks guys.