You, sir, sound as if you have a reasonable amount of experience with various methods of etching. Which brings up some questions I have, due to an etch I have that is endangered because of corrosion.

Ferric acid is not available locally. So after a bit of web-fu, I came across the method of using muriatic acid & hydrogen peroxide as a substitute. Info sourced from the following link...
Stop using Ferric Chloride etchant! (A better etching solution.) - All

For a muse, I have the thread started by fellow member Lewy...
http://straightrazorpalace.com/custo...cations-3.html

My biggest concern is the difference in materials between the author and myself. He seems to make a thorough point of having copper in his etch solution. Since I would be etching carbon steel instead of copper PCB, would I need to add bits of scrap copper to make the solution properly? Steel, instead? I am even less of a chemist than the author of that article, so your help would be very much appreciated!