Jim Wilson wrote in message nk.net...
Galileo wrote...

I am currently in love with the look of 303 stainless steel jewelry
and I would like to experiment with etchinig designs into the steel.

Does anyone have a recommendation for deeply etching 303? I have read
David Boye's book which recommends bee's wax masks and nitric-muriatic
acid baths for tool steel. I have also read that PCB etchant, ferric
chloride, and PCB resist, also works. I would expect a deep etch from
FeCl to take a very long time. Galvanic etching perhaps?

I would appreciate any advice the group may have on etching 303 in the
small shop.


Your best option may be electrochemical etching. It's an easy and safe
process, and I have had good luck with it. Beware the commercially
available equipment for it, though, it is ridiculously expensive. The
process, materials, and equipment are quite simple, but information is
closely guarded within the industry. Bob Warner, a knifemaker, has from
time to time posted some useful information about the process and
equipment on various knife forums. His tutorials page (check out
"Electro-Etcher" and "Stencil Exposure unit") provides a good starting
point:

http://www.warnerknives.com/tutorials.htm

Some Google searches should fill in the gaps.

Good luck,

Jim

Thank you for the link, it looks like a great process. I would rather
use electricity than strong acids any day.

What did you use for your resist? I am thinking of using bee's wax
and asphaultum as Boye recommends, but it seems like there must be
some modern improvement from 1970's tech. I saw a passing reference
to floor wax tinted with food coloring.

Almost time to stop reading and start "doing."

-Galileo.