Etching logos on a DLC coated stainless blade?

G

GlockMonkey

Joined
Sep 8, 2002
Messages
84
Thinking of picking up another Cold Steel Broken Skull and removing the DLC and the ugly logos. I was thinking about trying to etch the small Cold Steel logo and the steel type before stripping it. I've never tried electric or pcb etching, but I've read a little and most of the examples are carbon steels with epoxy type coatings. Will either of those methods work on something like XHP or S35VN with a DLC coating? Also, is there any way to chemically remove the DLC? I'm assuming I'm going to have to sand it off, right?
 
I can't imagine WHY you would want to remove the DLC coating, but you're going to have a hell of a time trying to do so.
 
Well, I slightly prefer a plain blade to a black one and I've already got several black cold steels, but really the main reason is to get rid of that huge BROKEN SKULL!!! logo on the front :)
 
If you're lucky, the white/light-colored logo is just 'inked' (or painted, essentially) on top of the DLC. If so, it might be a little easier to remove with chemical stripping agents or whatever.

The DLC itself is electrostatically bonded to the steel and extremely hard, and can only be removed by grinding or sanding the surface. And even that might not be easy without powered grinding tools.
 
Last edited:
The logo is probably laser etched. DLC can be mostly stripped electrolytically (still needs a little light sanding), burned off with plasma or just mechanically abraded. Knocking it off with a belt sander isn't very difficult as although it's extremely hard it's almost universally a very thin coating.

I removed the DLC coating from a Pro-Tech knife once when I wanted to thin the blade behind the bevel. It didn't take but a few seconds with a belt sander. Had I not wanted to thin the blade I would have kept the coating for sure, it's good stuff.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top