Etching mark in Damascus

[Bladepeek]

Well, senility reared its ugly head again last night. I went up to the shop with a damascus blade that I was going to stamp with my name and then harden and let it temper while I was working on another.


 I accidentally skipped the step to stamp it. Now I have a nicely hardened and tempered blade that I don't want to anneal and start all over with.

I have a stencil and electro-etching outfit, but never seem to be able to get a nice, deep etch in Damascus the way Lin Rhea does. It comes out nice on highly polished stainless, but just gets lost in the damascus. Perhaps my letters are too fine?

Lin, do you use both DC and AC in getting your etch? And if so, which one to cut it deep and then which to color it black?

Thanks,
Ron

[Lin Rhea]

Ron, All I do is this: I etch the logo three short sessions of 30-40 seconds each, cleaning before and in between sessions simply by folding the stencil back on it's tape hinge and cleaning with denatured alcohol. My setting is 3 of 6 on the dial. I use the Personalizer.

[Bladepeek]

Thanks Lin. Do you have DC and AC settings, and which do you use?

[Lin Rhea]

I Do not have that setting.

[Bladepeek]

Thanks again Lin. I have a home-brew etching machine that I bought from Bob Engnath 20 or so years ago. It doesn't have a variable power setting, but does have both DC and AC outputs. I googled some Personalizer web sites and saw that the DC setting removes metal giving a deep etch. The AC setting colors the etch black. I guess I should have been able to figure that out.

I'll play around a bit with some etched damascus scraps and see if I can't get a better etch. I may just need to get a stencil with larger/thicker letters. Thanks for your help.

Ron

[Doug Campbell]

The DC side makes the depth Ron and on Damascus the AC putting the "black" in probably doesn't benefit you that much. When I etch it pretty much negates the AC step. I think your onto something with the larger letters etching deeper and bolder. My stencil is pretty small, I got it originally for folders. While it amazes me the detail you can etch into a blade I just can't get the depth with it...

[Bladepeek]

Thanks Doug. I think that's a big part of my problem. I think I will have a new stencil made with just my last name, PEEK, like my stamp. The other stencil has my full name and Greenville, MI on it and it comes out really nice on a mirror polish but just vanishes on the texture of etched damascus.

[Bobby Urban]

I have a home brew electro etcher that I made from a cell phone charger but find etching my mark while soaking the Damascus blade in the etchant works really well.  I have vinyl stickers that I put on the blade after polishing it to 600 or so and stick the whole thing into the acid.  Just another option.

[Bladepeek]

I'm taking it that you all etch the damascus pattern before etching your mark in the steel, right?