The Armour Archive

Hello everyone. What a terrific site this is, and what beautiful work you guys do here. I am not myself an armourer but have a question that I'm hoping one of you talented folks can help me with. I'm making some handsaws and would like to etch some decorations on the sawplate that is reminiscent of raised etching like I've seen on some 16th century armour. My problem is that the steel I'm using is proving difficult for me to etch. It's 1095 spring steel, and I clean it very thoroughly with acetone prior to applying the resist. For resists I've tried asphaltum, bees wax, sharpie marker, testers paint, and some other metallic marker someone recommended. They all lift off before I get a good etch. I'm using ferric chloride for my etchant.

I've searched the old messages here and have read lots of posts, but they've all dealt with etching other types of steel, or brass. I think some of you use 1095 for certain items and I'm wondering if you can tell me what is the best way to etch it. I would be very grateful for any advice.

Thank you all very much.
Andrew

Are you diluting the ferric chloride or using it full strength? I only use it diluted approximately 4:1 with water (distilled, rain, or well, never tap) for etching damascus.

For etching my logo into blades (some of them are 1095) I use an electro chemical etch.

Have you tried the salt water etch with current? (I believe there is a post here with that information, otherwise it's on the net.)

Jamie

Thanks for responding Jamie. I've been using the ferric chloride that you can buy at Radio Shack and have not been diluting it. Is this the strength you are then diluting 4:1?

Could you tell me what you use for a resist? I've been really pulling my hair out with that. I need something I can paint on in the shape of vines and leaves and such, and that I can also scrape finer details into once it has dried a little. Next up on my list of resists to try are fingernail polish and roofing tar.

I have read a lot of posts about etching with electricity but just haven't tried it yet. I thought I would exhaust my options with the ferric chloride first, since that is the setup I presently have. Is it a little easier on resists than acid etching is? Thanks again Jamie.

Andrew

Have you tried a good primer paint?

Thanks for the response James. No I haven't tried a paint like that. Do you have a particular type or brand that works well for you? Do you mean a primer like Rustoleum? Thanks again James.

Andrew

I use a stencil instead of a resist. It's an electrochemical reaction though. The stencil itself is like silk screen material.

The damascus I etch doesn't have any resist. It's completely submerged. I use the bottles from Radio Shack as well, and that's what I dilute ~ 4:1.

I know some makers that use fingernail polish as a resist. I'm not sure what color, though, maybe what matches their shoes?

Jamie

Regarding sharpies.....

Sir Haroun does a lot of etching. I think some of his stuff he uses sharpies for the resist.

Smething clicked in my head today, and I remembered that he told me that red and black sharpies work better than other colors.

Right off the top of my head I *THINK* he said that red works even better than black.

Most black has a signifficant quantity of red. Old scanners and color copiers would very often pick up blak ink as red.

Jamie, thanks for the info. I think I'll try diluting the ferric chloride like you do. Maybe it's just too strong for the resists right now.

And I'll try fingernail polish... when my wife is gone.

Thanks again for your time, Jamie. Lots more experimenting to do here.

Andrew

Matt, thanks for your input about the markers. I've heard that as well about the red markers but didn't bother trying since my black Sharpie went so badly. My etches using it had pretty much zero depth to them; just a bit of a shadow where the marker had been. Maybe it will go better once I dilute my ferric chloride a little. Just like you point out, others are having success with Sharpies--it's made me wonder if there's a noteworthy difference of some kind between my 1095 spring steel and the other metals people are etching. But then maybe my mordant has just been too strong. We'll see. Thanks again Matt.

Andrew

Hey,

I used ferrochloric acid a lot for elctronics & also for etching steel....

What came into my mind whats causing your problem - do you use HOT ferrochloric acid?

Never had problems using edding felt-pens or wax or even molten candle (parafine) - even radioshack etch resist feltpens....

Only had problems in the past when my etch was to hot.

Just room temperature is ok.

AND- last but not least.... if you leave the piece your're dooing too long in the etch, you will get bad results...

So, 20- 40 degrees Celcius must be ok, use a etch tank and use aquarium air-pump (connected to a hose with holes pierced, mounted on the bottom of your tank makes good bubbles) - be sure the etch is moved around with airbubbles or by some movement by hand...


So, temperature must be ok 20- 40 degrees Celsius,
Move the etch around,
Must etch no longer then 1 - 2 hours Must be enough.

If it doesn't work, just tell me step by step what you did...

Along the line of the bubbler, a fine spray of the FC works well. I used to work in a place making clothing heat transfers and they used FC to etch the steel dies. We used plexiglas tanks sealed to be leak proof with metheline chloride, nice stuff. The resist was some tiype of photographic emulsion that was exposed with a pattern over the steel. Once it was wxposed it was dipped into a developing solution just like a picture. The part that was not being etched was painted black, don't know with what, and then put into the etch tank. Since these were round dies, they were rotated in front of the spray head. When finished, the FC was nuetalized and dried of and then used for printing. BEWARE THe FC is very corrosive. The vapors will corrode anything in the room that is ferrous based. Screwheads, lightbulp sockets sheet metal, armour sitting around. Oh they did use fish aquariam thermometers to warm the solution. don't know how stong the solution was.
Gene