quote:

Originally posted by mete:
I would hesitate buying anything from ebay as there's too much chance of problems. There are good forums for serious info I'm on Knifeforums.
One of the best mix for knives is 1080/15n20 where the nickel in 15n20 etches lighter .And it makes a good knife .
Speerchucker should remember in the 'old days' the shotgun barrels made with Damascus.
Recently you could get a 1911 pistol made with Damascus !

quote:

Originally posted by 2152hq:
Weak soln of ferric chloride,,5% or even less.
Use at room temp.
Rust brown the piece. LEave it brown if you want a brown/white pattern.
Boil to turn (rust) blue if you want black/white damascus pattern.

Then dunk the piece in the etch,,in and back out,,don't let it soak.
Then under cold running water lightly but completely card with steel wool. This'll remove the color (brown or the black/blue) from the steel portion of the damascus and leave most of it still on the softer iron part.
Back to the beginning and recoat w/rusting soln again and go for cycle #2.

You can often rust (and boil) the part 3 times or so before etching to build up a bit more color, just takes some experimentation.
It's a slower overall process than rust bluing alone as you do remove part of the color you just put on each time,,3 steps forward and 2 steps back kind of thing.
The pattern will emerge after a few cycles and build in intensity.
The surface & pattern will remain smooth with this method and not get that heavy deep techtured look to it.
You can get that by a longer initial etch bath if you want it.

(If you use this etch when doing bbls, plug the bores or coat them to protect from etching.
I use a heavy coating of shellac, it holds up even in the boiling water tank but I recoat them 1/2 way thru the entire process just to be sure)