Stonewashing AEB-L ?

sgmtino

Well-Known Member
I am going to attempt to stonewash a blade for a customers knife the blade is AEB-L. I have some ferric chloride and some rocks. Can some one walk me through their process? I do not have a tumbler so I will be shaking by hand. I need to know what ratio of FC to water or straight FC also does it need to be heated ? How long to etch, etc. I have never done this before any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Also how much rock should I put in the container when I do the tumbling? I will be doing by hand in a plastic container
 
I seen you asked the question in my thread about stonewashing.

https://knifedogs.com/threads/stonewashing-aeb-l.48018/

The mix I use I honestly cant remeber if it was 3:1 or 4:1 distilled water to Ferric. Like One Armed said dont put to much tumbling media or it wont work very good by hand. I usually tumble it around for 10 minutes or so and check then maybe tumble it more, it's all personal preference. I like a dark finish so I dont tumble it forever.
 
thanks for all the replies just wanted to make sure I was starting out in the right direction
 
Let us know how it does sgmtino.

Oh also if you are wanting to do a test etch and tumble on a scrap piece of Aebl know that an un heat treated aebl steel does not etch worth a crap.
 
So should I start with 2:1 and then increase if I dont get good results? My customer also prefers a darker finish so I wont have to tumble as long. I read somewhere that you put soapy water in the blade when you tumble ,also saw a DIY where they used WD40 on the blade. What should I use with the rock anything? nothing?
 
Here is what turned out
 

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