Time to etch! Before etching
the steel must be 100% clean.
Any oil, grease, wax, etc will
prevent the acid from doing its
job and will leave an ugly
blotchy finish.
Etching brings out the hamon
line in the steel. Hardened
portion of the blade will etch at
a slower rate than softer
portions...this results in the
two tone look. I use a ferric
chloride solution mixed 1 part
ferric to 3 parts water. This
provides a nice crisp etch.
Soak times vary from
1-30minutes depending on the
desired results. The first
picture shows my etchtant
tank with knives suspended in
it. The second tank shows
blades removed from the etch
tank and washed off. The
streaks are from towel drying it
and will come off in the next
step.
I now rub the blades down
under running water with a
soap soaked piece of fine
steel wool or use a cloth
imbedded with fine buffing
compound(on these knives i
used the steel wool method).
This will remove the excess
smoot that forms during
etching and will provide the
final finish.
The picture shows what the
final finish looks like
Time to wrap the handles. On
4 of these knives i decided to
use colored satin cord
underwrap and on one knife a
bright yellow stingray underlay.
After a bit of work i get them
wrapped and ready for the
overwrap. The splotches on
the blades are just fingerprints
and will wipe off.
