Thread: Hydrochloric acid for Damascus?

Any hardware shop should sell it, its used for cleaning down brickwork.

Al

Depending on just what sort of 'damascus' you are etching, good results on wootz can be had with ferric sulfate, while nickle/iron pamour (kris iron) traditionally was etched with lemon juice and arsenic (yummy!) - apparently you don't absorb enough thru' the skin to kill you, you just look very well preserved in you old age (check Herodotus on that).

Hydrochloric is OK for DIY iron/steel mechanical 'damascus' but it will cause ongoing corrosion if there are any cold shuts or other defects in the steel unless you neutralise it.

If you still want Hydrocloric acid, just bludge some off any of your mates with a pool.

They'll have gallons.

I use Sulphuric from old batteries.

Thanks guys.
From what i have read, i should use a mix of sulphuric (which i can get from work) and Hydrocloric.

Its a bar of 1095 mild steel btw

Ta.

i think the standard used acid is feric chloride. usually in a mix with a little water i think 1 part feric to 2 water sounds about right.
you can get it from dick smith or tandy, they use it to etch printed circuit boards, its not that expencive either.
if you wnt an exact method check out KNifenetwork.com do a search and youll find oodles of info.
brett

Originally Posted by holmsy2000

i think the standard used acid is feric chloride. usually in a mix with a little water i think 1 part feric to 2 water sounds about right.
you can get it from dick smith or tandy, they use it to etch printed circuit boards, its not that expencive either.
if you wnt an exact method check out KNifenetwork.com do a search and youll find oodles of info.
brett

Yep, I vote the ferric chloride, safer than HCl and more controlable. You can sit and watch the HCl for some time and not much seems to be happening so you go go away and leave it and when you come back you can end up with holes everywhere or even no metal and a pile of sludge in your tank.

The damascus has to be sanded up to 600 grit min or the etch will not come out with much contrast. Ferric can be had as electronics board etch.
Rinse with a base like backing soda when finished your etch to stop the acid.
Cheers Ron

did you maske the damascusing yourself ? please post a pic.

Sorry its been awhile and for the lack of photos. I'll post them when the blade is finished, which it nearly is.

I tried an etch using Ferric chloride on a scrap and that seems to work.

Ben

Originally Posted by Zed

did you maske the damascusing yourself ? please post a pic.

And no. I bought the bar from an Ebay shop.