Electrolyte for etching stainless steel

M

Mike Fennessy

Joined
Dec 19, 2005
Messages
326
I told a friend I'd etch a blade for him and forgot that it's stainless steel. He want's to give it to his girlfriend this weekend so I don't have time to order a special electrolyte.

I just use salt water for carbon blades and read that that won't work on stainless steel. Is there something around the house or local stores that will, like vinegar or something?
 
Mike Fennessy said:
I told a friend I'd etch a blade for him and forgot that it's stainless steel. He want's to give it to his girlfriend this weekend so I don't have time to order a special electrolyte.

I just use salt water for carbon blades and read that that won't work on stainless steel. Is there something around the house or local stores that will, like vinegar or something?
Click to expand...

I use salt water for my D2 blades. It works good for higher voltages (12 - 18 V). I know it isn't real SS but it has good amount of Cr. I tested my salt water solution for other cheap SS blades bought from market, now every knife in the house has my signature :D . I know these have at least %.17 Cr as these mostly are made from 321 series...

I suggest you try your current etching setup on a cheap SS knife. If it works it will most probably work on SS blade steels...

Emre
 
I have the Chris Crawford homeade etcher. I etch cpm 154 stainless and everytime I just put un measured amounts of vinegar, salt, and hot water in a bottle and use it. I don't know anybetter but I've never had any problems with it. It gives good clean etches.
 
I use vinegar and salt as well for ats34 and cpm154. 4oz vinegar 1 tbls salt. works best if you warm it up in the microwave frist.
 
Great, thanks. It's hard to search for etching+stainless seel since every tutorial on etching talks about the stainless steel piece you wrap with cotton or whatever.

I'm also using a Chris Crawford home made etcher. Hopefully I'll get to it tonight. Thanks again.
 
Hey Mike, try using a Q-Tip instead of the stainless steel wrapped in cotton, that is all I ever use and it works just as good and there is a bonus to it. The heat doesnt build up as much because you have to move the tip so much and it saves your stencils. The stencil Im using now has etched about 10 or more knives. and still looks new. And when you put the machine on A/C to mark the etched area the carbon that has built up on the q-tip makes it alot darker than the felt covered pads I have used.
 
I have used salt and water on a 440 blade it worked ok but I didn`t have much practice like it sounds like you do.
 
I just etched a 440c blade with salt water, nuked, and a 12V, 500mA dc power supply. gator clips and Q-tips. worked great!
good info on the AC- i'll have to try that!
 
I also use a Q tip as I found too much heat build up with the felt covered SS. I also find I have more control with the Q tip.

--nathan
 
So, I'm new and interested about learning a bit more about the etching process. Is it basicly the opposite of electroplating? When using the q-tip process, does the positive go to the q-tip, and aligator clip to the blade...
 
I am no master knife maker but I have experimented a lot recently with etching and I would use vinegar with as much salt in it as will dissolve and then add 1 part Hydrogen Peroxide with 4 parts vinegar. Yes, etching is the opposite of electroplating. As for resist I have used a lot of different things....axle grease, tar, scotch tape, chapstick, beeswax...experiment on scrap before you hit the blade....good luck !
 
Thanks! I was actually wondering about wax and maybe even gluestick, as it would be easy to work with. Puting together me etching machine tonight. Don't have a camera, but I'll figure out a way around that.

I'm hoping to be experimenting buy tommorow,
Again, Thank you for the input!! :)

_________________________

"That's not a knife, THIS is a knife!"
 
JoshTKnives said:
I just etched a 440c blade with salt water, nuked, and a 12V, 500mA dc power supply. gator clips and Q-tips. worked great!
good info on the AC- i'll have to try that!
Click to expand...

This sounded like a good way to start, so I went with this setup. It works, but either I didn't clean my surface area enough, or something was wrong with the fingernail polish I used as resist medium. It all came up fairly quickly as soon as I started etching.

So, 2 questions: What have you guys found that stands up as a DIY resist and won't "boil off"? Also several people have mentioned stencils...who do I ask about these, and can I make them out of somethng for myself? My biggest setback is currently budget.
 
grlangr,

When I first started I used a piece of packing tape that I can carefully cut out a design in with a razor. Then I had some custom vinyl stencils made by a local sign shop. The professional way to do it, and the way I do it now, it to have your stencils made. Ernie Grospitch is a highly recommended guy and will work to get your design right. True stencil material is kind of like a silk screen with a very fine mesh between two layers of resist material. It is photo-developed and creates a very sharp and detailed stencil. You tape this to your blade, and when you etch over the stencil design, the etching fluid is able to pass through the screen and contact the steel, etching out that area.

When I was using a battery, I clipped the legative lead to the etching pad/q-tip, etc, and then attached the positive lead to the blade somewhere.

I also found that salt water was more than enough to get what I wanted, and I had several instances where vinegar discolored the steel excessively around the etch. It's fairly normal to have a very light cloud around the etch that you have to sand off. If it's excessive, it's because your etching pad is too damp.

My recommendation is to scratch together $37.50 when you are able to and have a sheet of your designed stencil made by Ernie. Until then, you can play around with tape of vinyl. You may also try a PCB resist or something similar that's used to prevent etching of PC boards. It may hold up a bit better than nail polish. Also, heat is probably what's getting your resist. Make sure you only use very brief contacts with a second between touches to allow heat and gas to escape.

--nathan
 
Thanks Nathan! I think maybe my q-tip was to wet and I was holding it on the surface WAY to long. Does the size of the stencils "open area" effect the outcome? I am thinking that possible the lines I put in the nailpolish where to wide.

Really, thanks for the feedback!

Gabriel
 
A larger open area will generate more heat. So just use brief, repetitive contacts to the steel, working over the area several times in a systematic fashion. You should hear a faint sizzle, but you shouldn't see fluid boiling out of your etching area. I dip the q-tip, and dab it on a paper towel to remove excess. I'll start to etch, and if it's still too damp, dab it again to remove excess fluid. The etching fluid just serves to transmit the electricity more than anything else.

Here's Ernie's stencil webpage, BTW. There's some good general information there:

http://www.erniesknives.com/knifemaker_stencil.html

--nathan
 
Nathan's advice is good advice. Try a dryer Q tip, faster touches and maybe even dilute down the etching fluid with water. If you are not using stencils but are "freehand" drawing in your design through the resist, you will need a sturdy resist that dries hard.....nail polish is still a good choice but if your design is detailed, try mixing one part melted beeswax with one part tar (asphaltum varnish as it is called in the art world), paint it on the blade while wet, let it dry and then scratch in your design with a scribe or pick of some kind ( small nail, needle, etc ). Then do the q-tip treatment. I have not tried it but I bet another ready source for resist is the black tar gasket cement mechanics use.....it is by its nature made to tolerate heat.
 
drlozier said:
Nathan's advice is good advice. Try a dryer Q tip, faster touches and maybe even dilute down the etching fluid with water. If you are not using stencils but are "freehand" drawing in your design through the resist, you will need a sturdy resist that dries hard.....nail polish is still a good choice but if your design is detailed, try mixing one part melted beeswax with one part tar (asphaltum varnish as it is called in the art world), paint it on the blade while wet, let it dry and then scratch in your design with a scribe or pick of some kind ( small nail, needle, etc ). Then do the q-tip treatment. I have not tried it but I bet another ready source for resist is the black tar gasket cement mechanics use.....it is by its nature made to tolerate heat.
Click to expand...

It was good advice! Worked well worked well using electrical tape, But I think your idea about the gasket cement. I have ready supply to this at work so I'll give it a go sometime this week. I havn't yet decided on an exact makers mark but do want to get as much practice as possible.
Anyway, I am going to hopefully have pictures up soon...
 
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