Thread: Etching razors

Does anyone know the original process used by vintage makers to etch razors. In general step by step.

Depends on how "vintage" you want to go.

There are basically 5 different ways to etch.
1. Stamp. Use a die with the imprint you want to put on the blade. Put the die on the blade. Be the crap out of the die until the blade is deformed.
2. Manually engrave. Use hand gravers (little chisels) to shave away the metal. It's faster to do than you might think.
3. Chemical etch with ferric chloride (or nitric acid) by painting the blade with shellac except for the area to be etched.
4. Electrochemical using electricity and salt water with a disposable die.
5. Laser guided by computer (not exactly vintage).

I'm curious about all of them but which one do u think was used for blade etchings such as those on wade and butchers

i have had some success wiith both the ferric chloride, and electrochemical. done a few little test with both to see what would happen, for a few no name razors.

i found both hard to get clean edges, but the electrochemical is quicker.

I'm hoping to re etch an original etching soon, do you have any recommendations on which method would work best

Most of the W&B I've seen had hand engraved work on the blade and stamped work on the tang.
So it depends on which part you are remarking.

Hand graving will give you the best results, but it requires a lot of practice before doing steel and some specialty tools to accomplish.

For a deep etch you need nitric acid followed by a cleanup etch with muriatic acid. That will give you good clean edges, but you've got to deal with the chemicals and the fumes. Safety becomes an issue when doing it this way.

Ferric Chloride or Copper Sulphate or Muriatic acid are commonly used in hobby etching since they are easy to access and not as dangerous as using the nitric acid. They work slower, taking 30 minutes to an hour to do the etch.

Electrochemical with a 9 volt battery, salt water, and a q tip is probably the safest way. It is slow and the edges are a bit rough, but you can clean them up with a deburr tool. Or you can up the voltage to get a cleaner edge. I often use a stick welder with the ground clipped to a sponge type paint brush. There is a bit of chlorine gas and some hydrogen given off, so do it outside and don't breathe the fumes.

Good, cheap, or fast - pick any 2!

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!

I've never used other chemical material than ferric chloride. This solution is really ok for eching the steel.
I still have got a first s.razor reeched this metod and no any additional corrosion in place of eching.

Muriatic acid (available at swimming pool supply stores) will etch carbon steel. Adding hydrogen peroxide (available at a pharmacy or beauty supply store) will make it etch quicker and allow it to etch into stainless steel. No copper is needed for etching steel.

With muriactic acid and hydrogen peroxide mixed correctly and agitated with an aquarium bubbler, the etch rate is about 0.001 inches per hour for carbon steel and about 0.0005 inches per hour for stainless steel.

With stainless steel there is always a chance of the reaction creating hexavalent chromium (nasty stuff) so disposal of the acid solution becomes a problem. I usually pour off the waste acid into disposable plastic containers and the put in a few handfuls of cement mix. The acid reacts with the lime to neutralize it. Then add a bit of water and stir the mix up. Let it dry and you have a concrete brick with all the nasty waste stuff bound up in it.

Ferric chloride is available online. When mixed with water it becomes a weaker hydrochloric acid than muriatic. Lots of artists use it for aging metal surfaces and lots of electronic hobbiest use it for etching circuit boards. It's slower than muriatic acid, but it is also not as likely to chemical burn you.

Ferric chloride is fast enough for me. About 20 minutes for carbon steel. Not so long.
If want made only dark etch without deep engraving effect, enough less than ninute.