Acid Etching Stainless Steel Knife

Rub the q tip around the stencil working the acid into the steel.

Acid etching stainless steel knife.

Apply the acid to the steel in the stencil. Don t worry 9v is enough. Regular carbon steel acid etches well but stainless is much harder to darken. This was an experiment to darken stainless steel.

Time tested methods like acid etching and stonewashing are frequently used by major knife manufacturers and with a little practice and around 100 in materials you can use these techniques as well. In the case of carbon steel the etching provides protection for the blade from corrosion. This instructable covers how to etch a knife blade. Same timeline or just feel with the q tip for when the acid starts to bite the steel.

To encourage etching electricity can be used. Modern knifes are often made from stainless steel and other corrosion resistant materials. I ve ruined a few knives with the odd drip somewhere it wasn t suppose to be. The handle on this zero tolerance 0630 is made from finely stonewashed titanium.