Sword Etching

[SirNathanQ]

Does anyone here know how to give a sword a light etching? I hear it involves covering with wax and then stenciling out a design, and then apply an acidic substance. But what should that substance be, and what do you do after that? Let it sit? and how long?

[Sir Edward]

I've never done it myself. One of the videos out there that shows Albion's process shows the etching of their maker's mark, and it looks pretty quick. It would be cool to do a custom etching, but boy, I'd hate to screw it up.

[Sir William]

Same here...but if you have a sword for which you don't much care for- that's your guinea pig.  I've heard of people using lemon juice as an etching agent...if I come across where I read that I'll post it, altho the odds are a bit long on that happening, just so you know, Nathan. 

[Sir James A]

Muratic acid (in the pool chemicals section) is what I've heard before. The rest is as you said, basically covering the steel completely, etching out the design, then submerging in the acid so that it eats away the 'unprotected' metal. Fair warning, though, this is based off memory and having never tried it, just filed it in my 'when I retire I will....' mental list.

[Sir Robert]

Oh so you want to do etching? Well take a seat on that stump and we will just have to give it a talk.

First you must KNOW your metal, nothing we hold today is just steel, or whatever, they are all very sophisticated alloys. But dont let that bother you too much, we just need to know how to attack it.

Acids and Alkaloys all will etch metal, some faster than others, almost all are dangerous as they work through a reduction reaction where (typically) hydrogen is displaced from its compound- Nitric Acid (HNO3) will etch just about anything, even glass, but the reduction reaction frees Elemental Hydrogen which can easilly explode, as well as salts. It is very toxic, and very dangeous to use, yes it works well and is excellent of your catious.

Muratic Acid is better known as hydrocloric acid- same warnings here, its very week in it pool low molar form and really you would want it much stronger to etch well.

So what are the alternatives??? There are metallic acids rather than being true acids they are only acids to metals, still toxic, but generally they are much safer to handle and dont explode. There is electro-plating and hard anodization, also there is poweder coating, and mechanical etching (sand blasting)

Of all of these sand blasting is the safest and maybe easier to obtain as you can rent a sandblaster- its not what I use but its effective and very fast.

Yes lemon juice, nettle sap, and lime all work as etching agents, just very slowly, they were traditional etching agents and used in gilding.

The most impoirtaint thing is your masking agent- it has to hold your design and stand up to whatever your using as the etching agen- wax is ok, bees wax is better, but they all have limited use in detailed patterning, they are also time consuming to use but clean-up is easy.

You do have to consider how to get not only your design in the agent but how to then safely remove the agent without marring your design or the metal your masking. Piant may be a obvious choice but how will you remove it? Unless of course you dont want to. Burning it of is not a choice for many reasons.

So what- specifically do you want to etch and with what? Whats your design size?

[Sir Rodney]

I am very interested to hear more about acid etching.  Sir Nathan's project sounds like fun!

[Sir Patrick]

Would it be possible to etch it with an electric current like they use on circuit boards?  I've seen guys use the method for belt buckles and the like on YouTube.  It looks like all you need (aside from the masking agent) is a tub of salt water, two strips of copper and a car battery.

[SirNathanQ]

well I was thinking of the Tinker Pearce Hanwei Swords, they disassemble quite nicely, so I think that would make the job much, much easier.  And the design would be small. I'd start off with simple Geometric stuff, and then proceed into outlines of more complicated things. The trouble wouldn't be my stenciling ability, but a safe substance to use.
So how long does one leave he part in the substance if they are using lemon juice?
I was thinking to try it on some scrap metal an engineer whom I know has lying around first. 

[Sir Robert]

Lemon juice will take forever, if it even is effective with our alloys, and electro-etching works well but its more complex than it looks.

Here is what I would reccomend, two processes one safe- one sage if you take precautions

1. Create stencil (blank) out of my secret material, self paper, I prefeer white, I make paper stencils out of repete designs and trace them on shelf paper then cut out the negative.

2. Clean your steel with acetone, remove all and any oils from it, repeat this right before you mask to remove oxidation.

3. The stronger the acid the more detailed the design, and the less time submerged.

4. Create acid bath, you will want a bath deep enough to submerge your piece, or at least the area to be ectched

5. DANGER read up on acids, but Never dump water into an acid, put water in bath tub THEN ADD ACID, doing this wrong can cause an explosion as hydrogen can be release imediately.

6. Acid is highly poisionous read all warnings and wear protectice gloves, aprons, and eye wear. ONLY DO THIS OUTSIDE a respirator is also a good idea.

7. Put heating pad under acid bath, ideally you want the bath as warm as possible- DO NOT USE ANY OPEN FLAME can cause explosion

8. Ok mask your item wherever YOU DONT want to etch.

9. Place your design and make sure it sticks very well

10. submerge item, time? Depending on depth desired can take 20 minutes to more than an hour but at an hour you are running against the adhesive limits of the mask....

11. Wash off your item once completed


So how do you use electricity? Well its a anode/cathode process, simply you do the above usually with Hydrocloric acid, but you use a car trickel charger and hook one lead to your object and another to a simular metal plate in the bottom of your bath:

Acid Etching formula:

The recipe is:
- 15 cc hydrochloric acid,
- 5 cc nitric acid and
- 100 cc water

OR a metallic acid for stainless:
35 - 40% ferric chloride solution

OR:
Copper Chloride in Aqueous Hydrochloric Acid Solution (my preference- Root Kill and Muriatic Acid) This is I think the best and safest but its still very toxic, it is less explosive and generally wont cause bad burns but you still need to do it outside and with all the safety equipment.

This is how aluminum adodizing is done- electo etching is the same process just without the color boil.

http://www.thefintels.com/aer/homealuminumanodizing.htm


THE SAFEST METHOD:
 same masking but use a sand blaster in a hood, its very comtrollible and can be as artistic as a paintbrush

I will post my work to show you results of all the acid etching I do- I even used it as a demonstration for Boy Scouts to make coins- oh yeah I used to teach chemistry so that figures

[Sir Rodney]

... oh yeah I used to teach chemistry so that figures

There's one guy I know locally who has done some very nice acid etching on his kit, and he's a chemistry teacher as well.  You guys have access to all the fun toys!  I can't wait to see your projects. 

[Sir William]

I look forward to seeing them as well.

[Sir Robert]

The question is so are you going to try etching?

Etching a sword brings up a couple of questions, like what type, how curved, what kind of materail? I am not sure I would want to etch a combat sword too much as I would not want the design to be ruined. Most etched pieces were more cerimonial than anything, not to say that they wern't actually used, but just they were given a better degree of care.

One thing I believe is that a true sword has a soul, and deserves a name. It is importaint I think, to know who forged it, what kind of a person they are/were, and that a sword presentation is a unique ceremony that should be significant to the knight and sword. Ok that sounds weird but a sword was far more than a chunk of steel and would be treated as such.

I do offer this, if you really want great designs then seek out a car letterer, a business that makes vinyl letters or decals as they will have a label cutter that can make very clean and intricate designs that you can use for etching.

[SirNathanQ]

Yeah, since it's gonna be something that involves dangerous acids then probably not. 

If it was more a matter of patience and less of a matter of pureeing the wall with your flaming innards if done wrong then I would go for it.

[Sir Edward]

How large of a design were you thinking? I know the Albion mark is done by applying the mask and the acid in just the one spot. I think they use something strong and quick, which probably works OK for something small. For blade-length engravings, that might be a different story... unless it's runes or lettering or something where you might be able to do one character at a time.

[SirNathanQ]

I was thinking about finally getting a nice sword and belt and such. If my budget forced me to go cheap and buy another tinker/hanwei I was thinking about maybe a cross or something on the pommel. Since Darksword can do a whole set (that looks nice too) I think I'm gonna go with that.