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11th April 2005, 10:03 PM
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#18 |
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Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 116
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Hi Jens
if you have a sort of blotchy area .....it can sometimes result from the way the blade way polished.... I find to get a decent etch you have to avoid burnishing the metal... this is why I like to use abrasive with a lube to wash away the cuttings...... if you load the abrasive up with metal it will intern burnish the surface and make the etch results inconsistent. -- it is somewhat the same as polishing a japanese sword.... if you burnish the surface it will be extremely hard to see the hamon.... the blotchy areas can also be a result of overheating.... you can over heat a blade in local areas and it won't pattern as well..... or even loose pattern...... it could also be that there is a local area of decarburization... ? -- sometimes you can have an incomplete melt..... by this I mean that all the charge ingredients you started out with aren't fully melted but are incased within the ingot...... this is a cruel surprise.... that you will only find out when you finish etching the blade at the end.... -- another critical problem is etching.... if the blade is not totally degreased.... and spotless.... you can have really weird streeks and odd irregularities if your etch is not nice... then I think you miss the beauty of wootz... I don't think of it as a super steel..... because it just works as good as my regular steel knives... but where it excels.....is the beautiful patterns.... and this is it's true magic the above blade looks good..... it maybe that the steel was abit burnished in areas before the etch... (but this is just a guess) the major blotches look like the blade was pulled out of the acid....and the drops of acid on the underside of the blade weren't wiped away.... so the drops kept etching...... this will give that blackened pattern... - it doesn't look at all like cracking...... so it is a good blade Greg |
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