To update Rays knives
I tried to etch the two blades the other day with a very dissapointing result. Seeing as this was my first damascus I went to a good friend, who has done quite a bit of (carbon) damascus work to make sure I got it right and to learn the correct way to do the etching. There is a difference between the carbon and stainless but in general it should ony be a matter of time in the etch but not aways and this was the case with this particuar type of stainess damascus.
I had taken the blades to a 600 grit finish and after cleaning them with isopropyl alcahol they were suspended in the warmed ferric chloride with checks every few minutes initially but when there was little change we left it for longer each time. After a half hour there was a visible change to the center core which was exposed by the bevel grind but nothing was showing on the rest of the blade. and after an hour in the 4 to 1 ferric chloride we gave it a scrub with a tooth brush to remove any scale build-up and highlight the already darkened center core but still nothing on the remainder of the blade. After a full 2 hours etching we tried a mirror polish and a further 10 minutes etching with the same negative result except for deepening the etch on the center core and still nothing on the blade.
I am on two knifemaking forums so put the question to the experienced stainless members and if the ferric chloride dose not etc then it is near boiing hydrochloric acid that is needed so I bought 5 iters of the acid and a large glass jar to hold that will sit in a water pot over heat ti it is near boiing. The fumes of this acid are bad for the body and any steel it comes into contact with so made a small bench that will sit in the shed doorway with a fan to blow the fumes out into the atmosphere.
Will have to regrind the bades to remove the heavy edge etching then re hand sand so will get to it after a day away tomorrow.
This was the two blades after trying it in the ferric chloride
