Rasdan I have had a conversation with a friend who is somewhat of an expert on wootz.
His advice for etching is NOT to touch ferric chloride, he claims that the chloride can damage the steel in the long term --- first time I've heard this, but apparently wootz fanatics believe it to be so.
His recommendation for etching is a 5% nital solution applied with a cotton swab for a brief period of time, starting at 10 seconds and working up.
Rinse off, kill the nital with a slurry of bicarb of soda, rinse, dry, oil.
He did comment that it would be best if the blade could be demounted and immersed fully in the solution, but he recognises that this is not always possible.
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