How to highlight lamination marks?
 

Hi all,

I've been combing through the old threads that touched on etching but I can't seem to find the tip which I recall seeing before.

The tip is about a certain wax or chemical that you apply as sort of icing on the cake after the whole etching process is done. And said final touch is supposed to make the lamination marks stand out more visibly.

Can somebody please kindly comment on what that secret is? :)

Thanks in advance!

PS - By the way, this and this are some of the related posts I've stumbled upon.

Hi, Is it Renaissance Wax that you are referring to using after etching the blade or are you talking about staining?


Robert

Ren Wax is good as an "icing on the cake" when working on a blade but it won't help to see laminations better (that would have to be done in an earlier etching step).

After oiling you can either store the blade "wet" when wrapped in plastic foil but never in the scabbard since the oil will stick to the wood (or, even worse, leather!) and start making problems sooner or later. So you need to wipe down the excess oil from the blade; still, oil will tend to attract dust which also will harm the blade (e.g. faster corrosion).

When you do a wax finish over the oiled and wiped down blade, you'll get a fairly inert finish which also helps to protect against thumbprints getting corroded into the blade (this is not granted but if you wipe down any touched blade ASAP, it usually works nicely). You have to redo the wax finish depending on the handling, climate, and other factors though.

Regards,
Kai

Hi Robert. Yes I think that's what I've read before in the posts here. Thanks! But the concept of staining would be quite interesting also. In that case then, what would be the chemical/s that can be used?

Hello Kai. Thanks too for the additional info and tips. I will certainly try the "wet" blade technique. Would you also be aware of any staining technique, that will make those lamination marks stand out even more? Thanks in advance.

By the way, yesterday I've experimented using a local fruit called kamyas [come-YUSS], as suggested by Kino and the others.

Said fruit is the one on the plate in one of the pics.

The result is encouraging. Whereas before that kampilan's blade doesn't have conspicuous lamination marks, after rubbing the blade with the kamyas for about 20 minutes, the laminations stood out much clearer.

The scientific names of kamyas are Averrhoa bilimbi and Hedychium coronarium. And the active agent in kamyas is oxalic acid.

I think I'll try kamyas again on some other blades and will find out whether the effect is consistent.

That level of etch is fine in my personal opinion . :)
The contrast levels are what they are sometimes . :shrug:
Nice pattern .

Rick

That just makes my mouth water!

Thanks for the comments, Rick :)

Kino, don't you miss the delightfully acrid taste of kamyas? ;)