Wrought Iron for guards

[Steve Nuckels]

I recently forged some wrought iron flat for guard material, my question is should I anneal after forging or just allow to air cool before working it for fitting? Or does it matter?

Does it need to be hardened/tempered?

Also, will an acid etch improve the look of the finish?

Steve
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Potomac Forge
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IN GOD WE TRUST

[Lin Rhea]

No need to harden. Not much carbon anyway. I would etch it and spray it down with amonia, then oil it. Good to go. We want pictures.    Lin

[kbaknife]

Originally posted by kbaknife:
What Lin said.
It's not hardenable and requires no special attention other than forging at a yellow heat!!
If you don't it will de-laminate.
Get your piece completely done.
Just because it's wrought iron doesn't mean it doesn't need to look nice!
This is something that even applies to Damascus - take the piece to as high a grit as you have in the shop before etching - your etch will be that much better and more consistent.
I take my wrought to at least 1500 and sometimes 2000 grit.
I've used a LOT of it.
Etch for about 45 - 60 minutes cleaning off the oxides every 15 minutes.
You'll end up with:
 

 

[4runr]

That's down right beautiful Karl!

[Steve Nuckels]

Thank you for the information, very helpful!  

Karl, I have "Archers Etchant" from Radio Shack should I use it full strength or diluted with H2O?

Lin, will Window cleaner work?

Steve
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Potomac Forge
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IN GOD WE TRUST

[Lin Rhea]

As long as it has amonia. A lot of folks use Windex.

I dont mean to butt in front of Karl, but the etchant (Ferric Cloride) does need to be diluted with distilled water. Not tap water. 3 parts water to 1 part FC. Lin

[Steve Nuckels]

Thanks Lin!

Steve
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Potomac Forge
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IN GOD WE TRUST

[kbaknife]

Thanks, Lin!

[Lin Rhea]

I have began to use 4 parts to 1 lately and like it better. It slows things down a bit, but gives a cleaner etch. Lin

[DANA HOLMAN]

I have a question, how long do you hold a blade of 1084 in the etching. i thought Lin had told me 1 min. is that right. this is to etch a harmon line
good looking knife Karl
dana

[kbaknife]

It doesn't take long of it's a mono steel like just 1084.
A minute is about right.
Etching wrought iron or damascus is entirely different!
You're leaving it in long enough to actually "EAT" away one or more of the components.

[DANA HOLMAN]

Karl
I put the etching in one gallon of distilled water. the lines did not come out very good, should i do it again?
dana

[kbaknife]

You probably won't like this answer - I have no idea.
You can't blame the etchant!
Did YOU do the proper steps to arrive at a result that WILL SHOW?
If there's nothing there for the etchant to expose, you can't blame the etchant.
If you've done your job right, and properly created a hamon or quench line, then only a few seconds in the etchant will show it.
This will show how well you did your job.
Proper steel, (meaning one that WILL show a line like 1084/1095),correct post-forging steps for grain refinement, accurate temp control during hardening with the correct quenchant, and good finishing techniques of the steel surface, and cleanliness!
If you haven't got all those ducks in a row to actually create the quench line or hamon, there's no etchant in the world that will "etch" what isn't there.

[DANA HOLMAN]

Thanks Karl
What i did was, forge the blade, normalized it, put the sanite on to make the harmon line, then heated the blade and quenced it, when i took the sanite off you could see the harmon line very good. I then tempered it, took it out and sanded to final shape and edge, cleaned with aceitone. etched it for 1 min. and took 1500 grit sand paper to finsh it off.
thanks for the help
dana