Does anyone know where a person can buy Mercuric Acid to use for etching metal?? I have no idea where to even begin. I tried to google but no luck.


OOOppps meant muriatic acid. No wonder I wasn't having any success. Now I am probably on a DEA watchlist ..... LOL. I guess they use Mercuric Acid for Meth ..... LOL. My bad ..... I'm glad you guys steered my right.


Mutt

Do you mean Muriatic acid like masons use to clean up brick? It's a dilute of HCL and should be available at building supply places like Lowes' or Home Depot, or the local concrete/brick dealer.

By "etching" do you mean to clean off scale or actual deep etching like engraving? I used to use 50% Nitric acid for cut wax etching back when there were "real" drug stores and it didn't require an act of congress to buy "dangerous" materials.

Begin with ing that does not contain mercury!
MERCURIC CHLORIDE
Note that a hazard rating of 4 underhealth is the highest the assign to poisons.

Hello:

Muriatic acid is also know as "pool" acid as is available by the gallon at pool supply stores...

Mercury of almost any kind, flavour or type is quite toxic..I wouldn;t even allow it in my studio anymore...

JPH

Hydrochloric acid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
WikiAnswers - What is mercuric acid
WikiAnswers - Is Mercuric nitrate an acid

I'm confused too. I don't think I want mercuric acid around me to be honest.

Muriatic acid, about 37% hydrochloric acid is less than $10 per gallon at most home improvement stores and many other places.

Phil

Edited September 10, 200916 yr by pkrankow
typo

go the bucket of salty water, 1 stainless electrode and a battery charger?

Ferric Chloride.. printed circuit board etch... also good for etching for damascus work....

Given a choice.. I probably would use Hydrochloric acid, Sulfuric acid, or Nitric acid, in that order... or Aqua Regia, which I beleive to be a mix of Hyrdrochloric and Nitric acid....

good luck
cliff

I

home depot or lowes

In chemistry class, the professor was talking of "Hydrochloric Acid" and saying how powerful it was. At then end, I went to him and asked "Is it more powerful than Muratic Acid?"

He replies: "Your father is a plumber."

I was floored! Apparently only plumbers refer to hydrochloric by that term. Score for the professor!

-Doug

Wow .... I meant Muriatic Acid. I am so glad you guys steered me straight. I do plan on using it on Damascus ..... so, what would be preferable, Muriatic or Ferric Chloride???

Edited September 10, 200916 yr by Muttt
rotten spelling

Both! Seriously, different folks prefer different etchants for different combinations of steels. You'd probably be best-off just experimenting. Ferric chloride is a very common etchant for pattern welded steel, but it's by no means the only one.

my prefered method is, table spoon of salt per litre of water, a lead or stainless st. electrode ( i use s/s), a car batt charger, and a resistive coating or blocker and some time, for name etching or stensil cutting, but for damascus no blocker. it will eat the softer materials quicker. and i have an adhd kid so didnt want the hcl around. need the current so i use the biggest peice of electrode i can fit in the bucket.
ive sent you some links for the process and what you can do with it. althogh you dont need to chemicaly etch tiny machine arts some of the photos and the depths acheivable with salt water and a battery, sold me.

its not quick, and hydroxy is the byproduct so a ventilated area for safety. the lower flow makes it not so dangerous but just be aware of a closed room, 100 projects overnight, and walking in lighting a smoke the next morning!

its not the chemical answer you wanted but this may help if you get ....no other solution.

Edited September 11, 200916 yr by double_edge2

Shoot, most of the time I just use vineager. Takes a while. To speed it up I put it in the microwave for about a minute and a half. It will etch damascus in just a few minutes, heated to about 140-150F.

Fred

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Mutt

lol .....ratel10mm mentioned vinigar to me a while ago too... i think if i was just doing damascus id have gone vinigar if id have thought of it.......lmao
thats the trouble with being a pre school dropout....lol

I believe I got hydrochloric acid from autozone back when I was using it to strip plating from metals. Nasty, nasty, serious stuff. Use with good ventalation. You need rubber gloves, respirator, face mask shield, and plastic/vinyl apron. You'll also want some vinyl sleeves.

Always add the acid to the water. Otherwise the acid can splash you and get on your skin. Also, as it is a concentrated acid, as you dilute it, a lot of heat is generated. Thus you want the larger volume of water to be able to absorb that heat. Adding water to acid can cause the acid to explode or spray out all over due to a flash overheat. Clearly this would leave any unprotected skin with burns as well as cause huge cleanup and property damage. Be safe.

You may even want to try this Caswell Inc. - Pickle #4

You can always call caswell and ask them about your specific questions. They have a lot of info on pickling tanks (stripping/cutting/etching) in their books and are very well informed. They won't steer you wrong.

for Damascus u can use pcb etchant solution u can find at radio shack i think it 5$

for Damascus u can use pcb etchant solution u can find at radio shack i think it 5$

Just an added note. That would be printed circut board etchant not the nasty toxic pcb found in transformers.
Ken.

Just an added note. That would be printed circut board etchant not the nasty toxic pcb found in transformers.
Ken.

I have used muratic acid a bunch to power wash stains off of drive ways, great for rust and oil spots, cost under 5 bucks a gallon at lowes/ home depot. in the cleaner sections,

I have used muratic acid a bunch to power wash stains off of drive ways, great for rust and oil spots, cost under 5 bucks a gallon at lowes/ home depot. in the cleaner sections,

Oh as a side note, you'll need to be over 18 to buy it as it is a main ingredient in a aluminium foil/draino bottle bomb that kids blow up mailboxes with.

Guys, etching metal is easy using the right product/mordant;
Aluminium = 3pts water 1pt hydrocloric acid
copper & brass = 3pts water 1pt nitric acid
sterling & nickel silver also Pewter/ Zinc based alloys = 3pts water 1pt nitric acid
Monel = 1pt Nitric acid 1pt acetic acid
Stainless steel = 2pts Nitric 3pts Hydrocloric acid
All these work better when warm, sometimes slower is better. this recipe for s/s will etch 1mm in 30 secs. if hot? Always add acid to water and mind the fumes.
Good luck Ian

I know most of this has already been said, but here's what I have found.
You can get muriatic acid at WalMart, pool supply stores, most hardware stores, Lowes, Home Depo, etc.. as concert cleaner or for cleaning swimming pools. Muriatic acid works fine for etching just about any metal, in my experience, as well as cleaning rusted/oxidized steal. Sulfuric acid can be gotten at just about any hardware store, WalMart, Lowes, Home Depo, etc.. in the form of drain cleaner just read the labels. I don't know the molarity of either of these found through these suppliers since it's not on the label or on the MSDS, but I'm sure they can be found by some research online. I have not yet been able to find Nitric or Phosphoric acid sold through any general retail store, only online and through chemical suppliers and even then not of all of them have it. Most chemical supply warehouses, that I have been to, require you to fill out paper work to purchase it due to it being used to make explosives and illicit drugs. As a note not all Radio Shacks carry PCB etchant (ferric chloride), I have only been able to find it at the franchise stores not the independently owned stores.
I have had good luck with electro-salt etching using warm sea-salt water solution (2tble spoon per 1/2 cup of warm water), stereo wire, alligator clips, 12v battery, cotton ball/batting, and scotch/clear packing tape for 'small' etchings up to about 5x5 inch and it works pretty fast, I've done this on a 2x2 inch etching in stainless steal it only took about 10 minutes to etch about 1/16th of an inch in depth. But I did find out you want to put the positive clip on the steal to be etched and the negative clip on the cotton ball/batting. Use a Sharpie to draw out your design cover it with with the clear tape (your resist) making sure its as smooth as possible and you have plenty of tape going past the design (I normally do about 1/2 inch), cut along the outside of the marker lines with a zacto/craft knife, and apply the cotton ball/batting with negative clip to the steal. Make sure to give each part of the same amount of time under the cotton ball/batting so as to get an even depth to you etching, check often (every few minutes) to be sure you don't etch deeper than you want.
I hope this helps some.

... I have not yet been able to find Nitric or Phosphoric acid sold through any general retail store, only online and through chemical suppliers and even then not of all of them have it....

This might work depending on the application

http://www.amazon.com/Aquamix-Phosphoric-Acid-Cleaner-Quart/dp/B000GFUTUU

Just FYI...

Mercuric acid - no such thing Hg(OAc)2 is Mercuric acetate or the mercury salt of acetic acid. If I remember correctly Muriatic acid from Lowe's is 37% (33-40%) which is concentrated hydrochloric acid, about 12 molar. If you get percentages molar conversions aren't too bad.

Electrolysis in salt water (sodium chloride) will generate chlorine gas, so be aware of that. Might post more later, got to go for now.