Thread: Engraving restore question

Gentelmen of restore abilities;
The pic below shows an engraving of eagle on a blade that has been rubbed with marker pen and then polished with rouge on 3" wheel.
If you look closely the wording is black and eagle slightly red. If i use metal polish the ink disolves.
What i would like to have is the engraving to be darker or even in color in the grooves.
The pics show the engraving darker than it accually is.
Any and all suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks

I know that some have used gun blueing to darken engravings. You try to restrict it to the engravings as much as possible and then buff the surface lightly to neaten it up. I've experimented with it but didn't play with it enough to perfect it.

You have hit on a great catch 22 as they say.
Anything that you use to blue or darken the engraving will more than likely be taken away by any polishing or cleaning that you do to the whole blade.
Gun blueing, like Utopian mentioned, will last longer, or you might try liver of sulpher.
I'll look through some of my references and see if I can find anything else.
As far as colors, black or blue are doable, but other colors will be difficult or impossible, I'm afraid

Possibilities:
>Gun browning>see blueing without shining before oiling.search threads on patination.
>Gun blueing Both this and the above require a bit of wax or nail polish along the edge to prevent the etch from destroying the cutting edge.
>enamel paint
>Crayon "enamel sticks" used for renewing the markings on precision measuring tools and cameras. Similar to the sticks used to hide screw and nail holes in woodwork. warm the blade first to shaving water temp.

I have used all of them at one time or another.

All of these may or will work and, after curing/drying/setting, they may be removed from the surface with micro-mesh abrasive sheet of 6000-12000 grit and water with a drop of soap/detergent to allow the removed darkener to flow free of the surface.
~Richard
edit:
The reason for the abrasive paper is that it will not enter and scoop out the material in the etching or stampings. Any soft material will enter the fine depressions and remove most of the filler material.

Gun blueing works but it will fade away sooner or later as you use your razor. It is the same with other chemicals as well.

Once you have polished the blade, make sure you've cleaned the bottom of the engraving as well. Do not touch the engraving with your fingers after you've cleaned it. You can use some heavy cleaner (brake cleaner etc) to remove all the grease from the engraving.
Add gun blueing (etc) very carefully with some extra fine hobby paintbrush. Try to add it into bottom of the engraving only. Let it dry and clean/polish the blade carefully by hands only using little metal polish or wax. If you polish it with some electric fast rpm gizmo then the color will be gone.

Thanks for the help guys. The pics below are after spraying with enamel and then slowly sanding away the excess.

By the way anyone know where I can get an acrylic block in Red, White & Blue?

Well, here is a place to obtain un-obtainium.
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