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I Forge Iron

etching


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i have a piece we made out of some pattern welded nickle and 1060...gives a good contrast after its etched..the prob i have is when i etch I put it in the ferric chloride for a bit...then i dip it in a baking soda solution...then regular water...i then hand dried it and even used a hair drier to realy dry it...thne i clear coated it it. After I etch something and dip it in the baking soda it should not immediately rust...am I correct? I would think it should only rust if I wouldnt nutralize the acid...
Its actually rusting under the clear coat...bummer cause it looks so cool out of the etch...but it dulls afterwards. How do you keep the original colors after you etch...they r so dramatic...I am trying to perserve the drama

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Welded billets look better when you etch them after they are heat treated. And I do not see a mention of oil. Did you oil the billet after you cleaned off all of the etch and baking soda? If not you may want to try another etch and see if that removes the rust then clean and oil. I have a pan of motor oil I drop them into and go do something else for a while then I just wipe most of the oil off. I clean the oil off for handle fitting and as soon as that is done I apply a couple of coats of ren wax. One last thought. rust starts easier if it has something to bite into. A finer grit grind reduces that. course grinds rust really fast.

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well .... the billet was pressed into a paperweight...so no grinding....we left it in Vinegar for a couple of days and he then annealed it....so when i got it i put a wire wheel to it and got all the soot off...then i etched it ....looked realy good...i want that look....really good contrast
so oil works like the baking soda? neutralizes the acid in the etch? thats what i think happened , i didnt neutralize the acid enuff...right or wrong?

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I do not use baking soda. I use windex and then clean water and then into oil...if you used baking soda then yoiu most likely took care of the etchant. that steel needs oil. Clean all of the oil off of any piece of carbon steel and it will rust. The rougher the surface the faster it forms. Oil prevents rust.

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Ferric Chloride is not an acid*. It is a corrosive salt. Baking soda won't "neutralize" it. Niether will isopropanol* (aka Windex).

Instead of "dipping" the piece in water, try rinsing it off really well - even scrubbing with a soft cloth or brush.

Edited by mod07
*Science does not agree with either statement, but each is allowed an opnion
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Ya'all made me think on this one so I googled the msds sheets for ferric chloride: says it is an acid. Msds sheet for ammonia says alkaline. Maybe that is why windex has worked for me for well over a decade of use. And then again it may be due to the item that thing maker m entioned,,,water. I use a large bucket of water and a tooth brush to scrub with plain water, then same with windex, then again with water. Then into oil. I wonder a bit if I stopped using the windex would the water work just as well. But I am likely to go ahead with the above routine.

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Ya'all made me think on this one so I googled the msds sheets for ferric chloride: says it is an acid.

Now you've got my curiosity piqued. (Tit for tat, eh?) I browsed a few MSDS sheets myself as a result. Most did not contain the word "acid," but one did say "inorganic acidic salt."

Additional surfing turned up several kinds of Windex.
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Cold or melted wax on warm

i got min wax but its dark...butchers wax and thats auburn....bees wax... never used it, so i am not sure of what color it will be...but i possess some
maybe i should go get some carnuba car paste wax or ....what?

Edited by fat pete
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