EdCaffreyMS
"The Montana Bladesmith"
After more than a year of trying to figure out just how to get a crisp, clean mark with an electro-etcher, I think I've finally figured it out....even for Damascus!
Previously, I had always left the etch/mark as the very last step, once the knife was completed. That always had issues, and just never worked well.
Today I considered something different. I'm building an EBK out of Mosaic, and due to the tapers/thinness of the blade, stamping wasn't possible. I decided to try etching the blade prior to etching the Damascus and see what happened. I hand finished the blade to 600 grit, then gave it a good cleaning with acetone.
I prepped the blade as normal. I then cranked the etcher (Personalizer Plus) to it's highest on the ETCH setting. I held the pad on the stencil for a count of 10, lifted it off for a couple of seconds, then did it again, for a total of 10 cycles. This "burned" the mark in deeply. I then switched the etcher to MARK, and did the same thing.
There were black halos around all the letters, but the mark was deep and clear. I lightly hand sanded the blade with 600 again, then cleaned and etched.....it worked out great!
I'm going to finish this one out with baking lacquer, and if my thought pattern is correct, the mark will fill with baking lacquer, and once it's finished out, the mark should look even better....we'll see.
After all of my stumbling around with etching, all it took was to change WHERE in the process I etched the mark on the blade. Damascus is always the most difficult material to get a good mark on, so I would imagine that straight steels will be super easy now!
Previously, I had always left the etch/mark as the very last step, once the knife was completed. That always had issues, and just never worked well.
Today I considered something different. I'm building an EBK out of Mosaic, and due to the tapers/thinness of the blade, stamping wasn't possible. I decided to try etching the blade prior to etching the Damascus and see what happened. I hand finished the blade to 600 grit, then gave it a good cleaning with acetone.
I prepped the blade as normal. I then cranked the etcher (Personalizer Plus) to it's highest on the ETCH setting. I held the pad on the stencil for a count of 10, lifted it off for a couple of seconds, then did it again, for a total of 10 cycles. This "burned" the mark in deeply. I then switched the etcher to MARK, and did the same thing.
There were black halos around all the letters, but the mark was deep and clear. I lightly hand sanded the blade with 600 again, then cleaned and etched.....it worked out great!
I'm going to finish this one out with baking lacquer, and if my thought pattern is correct, the mark will fill with baking lacquer, and once it's finished out, the mark should look even better....we'll see.
After all of my stumbling around with etching, all it took was to change WHERE in the process I etched the mark on the blade. Damascus is always the most difficult material to get a good mark on, so I would imagine that straight steels will be super easy now!
