Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil McCracken
So had a bit of time today, and decided to try an acid/rock wash blade. Had this one (1084 Carbon Steel) sitting around for awhile, so what the Eh!...
What I would like to know is your preferences on acid wash, satin, or polished blade?
One thing I found out through this process is that the blade, depending how long you soak it, then the rock tumble, "almost...almost" looks "kinda" like a Damascus.
Thanx for your input... 
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Acid etch will also show where the heat treat line is, if there is a differential heat treat. That is why some makers will create a "hamon" line. If you heat treat the entire knife you won't see any difference in the etch but if you heat treat just the blade and immerse the whole knife in acid, the tang will not etch as deeply as the blade (the blade will be darker than the tang).
There is a market for them all J. Personally, I prefer polished the least. It shows every finger print and any scratch. It also takes the most time to produce. But there is definitely a market for polished knives. Most of the knives on sale at the Lethbridge gun show last week were mirror polished. These were all from local knifemakers. That gun show was hugely attended, 4 or 5 knifemakers were there along with the usual suspects. I'm going to make more etched and stone washed knives but the satin finishes will be my primary focus. I'm going to get on with heating and beating some steel as well, knives that will show some brute-de-forge above the bevels. There is a market for that too
I etched this axe head after heat treating the blade portion only. The entire head was etched in acid. You can see the change in colour (darker to lighter). Darker at the blade end and lighter at the butt end.
