Subject: Re: ETCHING MILD STEEL

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 09 Jul 1996 16:07:57 -0600

>Is anyone out there doing etching of steel.  What acids are you using, and
>what resists?
>>Bill Hornaday
>
I have etched a few knife blades.  I used about a 40/60 mixture of nitric
and muratic, respectively.
Got along OK with it.  Sure better than muratic alone.

For ground I have tried regular liquid asphaltum but didn't like it much.
Probably didn't know how to use it.
Mostly I have used plain old beeswax with enough cold-roofing asphalt
(non-fiber) mixed
in to get a good dark color.

I think surface prep prior to application of ground is most important,

Mike George 
Alva, OK

---

From: Jim McCarty <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 10:02:56 -0500

> >Is anyone out there doing etching of steel.  What acids are you using, and

Bill, see if you can find a copy of Step by Step Knifemaking. It has a 
lot of information and designs for blade etches. 
The author does some wild stuff with his blades, dragons and the like. 
Think he used wax as the resist and ethed with acid, hydrochloric 
perhaps?
-- 
Jim McCarty
Father Helias Forge
Taos, MO
Editor Rural Missouri Magazine
Newsletter editor, Blacksmiths Association of Missouri

³Foolish consistencies are the hobgoblins of little minds³