GT_84

So coffee retains the color. Would fade off when washing the knife after use or would it ever transfer to food ? like when cutting lemons, meat or vegies ?

Well the black turns to gray when cleaning it with a scotch brite. Should i reduce the concentration of the etchant ?

Thank Frazer. That explains the natural patterns. So I want etch it completely black. what would be best. I am not a knife maker in anyway but i have a PVC tube, Ferric chloride, a heat and some cooking oil. Would heat treating make any pattern ?

Attached here is the knife.

Hello All, I have some Ferric Chloride laying around from my previous work with PCB etching. So yesterday i came to know that Knifes can be etched too. I watched couple of video on YouTube and saw the patters on the knife and tried it on my stainless steel knife that i bought from a grocery store. Not taking care of the ratios of water to etching solution, i dipped it for a minute and the whole knife turned black. I pre-treated it by cleaning with soap water and then with isopropyl alcohol. Should i had to heat treat it or maybe sand it ? to get a pattern. The patter i was after is not anything fancy or done with stickers. Is there pattern that form naturally after heat treating ? Heating it to red hot and then quenching it into cooking oil ? Would appreciate some help with the pattern and etching.