Wootz surprise on one of my blades!

[FenrisWolf]

Out of curiosity, would some of you with experience buying and selling wootz blades mind PMing your opinions of the value of this piece? I don't plan on selling it; at the moment it's the only one I have (though I have suspicions about one more). I'd just like to get a better fell for what is and isn't a reasonable price for one of these. Thanks!

[Sikh_soldier]

can you only reveal the pattern on polished steel

[FenrisWolf]

Originally Posted by Sikh_soldier

can you only reveal the pattern on polished steel

I don't know; in my case the blade had already been cleaned prior to it coming into my possesion so it wasn't a big step to take. I do know that by polished I don't mean mirror polished on a buffing wheel. I went over it by hand, using wet sandpaper with a fine grade of machine oil, finishing with crocus cloth, It takes longer but there's less risk of damaging the blade or destroying the temper.

Try searching the forum using 'wootz' as the key and read some of the threads. I'm sure someone with more knowledge has commented before.

[BBJW]

How did you use the lime juice? Soak? How long? Or did you just rub it on and use elbow grease?

bbjw

[FenrisWolf]

Originally Posted by BBJW

How did you use the lime juice? Soak? How long? Or did you just rub it on and use elbow grease?

bbjw

I mixed just a dab of dish detergent into the lime juice to reduce its tendency to bead up on the metal, then applied it using a cotton ball as a swab. I kept movingit around the surface to allow the lime juice to work. It took about 20 minutes to bring the pattern up to the point you see. A longer soak may bring up the pattern further.

Since then I've ordered some of the ferric chloride that others have recommended; I haven't tried it yet, apparently distilled water is supposed to be used to dilute it for best results.