I have not heard of using coffee as a staining agent on mechanical damascus. Interesting.
I've made and stained a lot of mechanical damascus, based on iron or mild steel and 01 steel, sometimes with the addition of nickel. I have usually stained this with ferric chloride, but on occasion I have used other acidic substances such as dilute hydrochloric acid, or ordinary household vinegar.
To test the efficacy of a staining agent it is necessary to begin with new material to be stained, if you do not begin with a new blade, you are not testing the staining agent, you are testing the blade.
With old keris blades, I have had satisfactory results using a variety of staining agents, it seems as if almost any acidic agent will give some sort of result on an old blade, with the result depending more on the blade than on the staining agent. However, the only consistently good results that I have ever achieved have been with arsenic, in one form or another.
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