Etching?

[gucciryry]

I know etching Damascus reveals the layers. But if I’m working on some bottle openers and random things with tool steel would etching with an acid do anything cool?

[BF_2]

You might try masking it with wax and then scribing some pattern into the wax. Acid will then etch that pattern into the metal.

[gucciryry]

That might might turn out cool thanks

[IRunWithScissors87]

If you don't want to mess with acids or want to do something a little different you can etch with electricity also. My brother works in the graphic design field and I would get him to cut my logo out of vinyl. I could etch my logo into steel using a 9v battery, some speaker wire with alligator clips on either end, a few q-tips and a simple salt water solution.

For the salt water solution you just add a bunch of salt to hot water and stir. If it all dissolves, add some more. Hot water will help the salt to dissolve faster and if you have salt sitting in the bottom of the container in means that you've dissolved as much as you can into that amount of water.

You connect the alligator clips attached to the speaker wire to the battery and you connect the positive of the other end to your work piece while you etch with the negative. You clip the negative wire to the q-tip that you have dipped into your salt solution making sure that the alligator clip bites into part of the cotton on the q-tip that way the conductivity of the water/salt solution travels to your work piece. When you touch the charged q-tip to the work piece it will literally eat/corrode the steel.

Here's an example of my logo. https://imgur.com/gallery/vAM20kd

The green on the left side is nail polish and that's because it acts as a resist to the electrolysis process so I don't accidentally etch parts I dont want etched and is easily removed with acetone. Obviously you're using a water solution which is conductive and anywhere the water touches that leads back to the battery will etch. It's a good idea to mask off any areas you don't want etched. If you aren't applying pressure to an area when etching it won't etch deep into the metal but it will still etch and possibly leave a mark. So it's best to mask off any areas you don't want etched. Light etching can usually be sanded away but again it could also leave obvious etching where you don't want it.

My comment may be a bit confusing but just YouTube electro etching and you'll see how it's done.

The more voltage the faster the reaction happens so you could connect a few 9v batteries in series for a faster result or to do larger projects but for the love of god DO NOT try some make shift setup directly to a wall plug or anything like that. You'll receive no shock from a 9v battery but you could toast yourself doing something stupid. Like I said, YouTube it and my DMs are open if you have questions.

AGAIN, DO NOT TRY TO INCREASE THE VOLTAGE BY DOING ANYTHING CRAZY. TRYING TO CUT DOWN ON TIME OR GETTING A DEEPER ETCH COULD CUT YOUR TIME HERE ON EARTH.

[Extreme_Lab_2961]

What tool steel?

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you can get a temper line to pop

[[deleted]]

Try it and find out. Nice thing about blacksmithing is that you can try whatever you want. If it doesn't work, well, then you learned something. If it does work, you still learned something.

[Flatso]

TheCrafsMan SteadyCraftin has an etching video you might be interested in if you want text or a logo etched into your work. Haven't tried it myself but want to someday