9 Volt etching discovery!

[Murman]

Nice!

 

[Béma]

Excellent work!
I need to get my etch on..

 

[Hard Knocks]

Ok fellow Hogs, Dogs and Rats. I discovered something on my own with 9v etching. After several blades the thought came to mind to reverse the poles after an etch to see if the black "carbon mud" would actually adhere to the blade to achieve a "blackout" looking etch. And by golly....I think I did pretty well for a guessing attempt. Thought I'd share guys. Not sure if this is a new discovery in general....but it's new for me and was really easy. Just etched it...left a little black mud on the last run...reversed poles...then ran over it as usual a few times til I felt comfortable with it....super happy with this B8 etch and strip. Rock on Hogs and stay groovy.

I got a better etch using this method than last time when I tried the battery charger (A/C) method. My etch didn't come out black though, maybe because it's on SR101? But it did etch nice and deep on this Regulator Appreciate you posting this up!

 

[dogboye]

I got a better etch using this method than last time when I tried the battery charger (A/C) method. My etch didn't come out black though, maybe because it's on SR101? But it did etch nice and deep on this Regulator Appreciate you posting this up!

So how long does it take to get a nice defined etch like that?

 

[Hard Knocks]

So how long does it take to get a nice defined etch like that?

I don't remember the exact number of Qtips I burned up, but no more than 6-8. I dipped one end into the salt water solution and used the wet end to perform the etch until it got very 'muddy' and began to dry up. Then I used the other end of the Qtip to clean off the residue, and threw that one out, before starting again with a fresh Qtip.

I didn't really go by time, just kept etching until it was obviously drying up and getting too muddy. I think the 9V battery is the way to go over the battery charger method, at least I've had better luck on these last two etches using the 9V battery. I stripped and etched a dog soldier 6 last night and it came out good too. I used more Qtips for it because 'INFI' is etched very tiny and I was concerned it might not come out, but it did, no problem.

ETA: If I had to guess time-wise, I don't think I spent over 30 minutes and more likely about 20 just on the etching.

 

[Hard Knocks]

Also, just something I noticed that I thought was odd and must have something to do with the polarity. If you switch wires, the color of the 'mud' changes. With the wires one way I got a very brown, copper-looking mud, but swap the wires and you get a very black mud. They were noticeably different. I don't know what that means, but maybe it will prove noteworthy or useful down the road.

 

[dogboye]

Thread bookmarked, for future reference. I'm sure i'll be stripping another Busse or Swamp Rat, and will try the 9V etching again. With directions from this thread.