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Etching?

Hi All

Could somebody give me advice as to a good (cheep) way of etching metal?

I have been making swords for a while now, and would like to etch a small logo and serial number onto each new one I sell, What would be a good way of going about this?

I assume I would do it in two hits (one for the logo and one for the serial) but more than this I have no idea. I've read a little about acid and laser etching but without knowing much about it it's difficult to do much further research. I have considered manually engraving but I don't have an overly steady hand, and I don't think I could manage the logo flawlessly every time.

Any ideas or suggestions?

-Mex

Reply to
The Knight of the Woeful Countenance
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I suggest you look for a local shop doing trophies or engraving for plaques. Most now-a-days have a laser engraver which operates as a printer to a computer, so you could getting your logo would be no problem. If you can't find a trophie shop to do it, look for a promotional products distributor, they have contacts who do it. Bill

Reply to
Bill Osmun

Check out my site, the Household Cyclopedia of 1881

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The following headings may be found there:

Etching, Materials, etc, Solid Etching-ground, Liquid Ground, To Lay a Solid Ground, To lay Liquid Ground, To Transfer the Outline to the Surface, Etching, Biting Hard Steel, Biting Soft Steel, To Set and Use the Graver, Aquatint Engraving, MEZZOTINTO ENGRAVING, TO ENGRAVE ON WOOD, To Prepare Box-wood for Engraving, Chiar' Oscuro, To Secure Copper-plates from Corrosion, To Choose Copper for Engraving, To Etch upon Glass, Glass in Imitation of Muslin, To Transfer Engravings to Glass, To Engrave on Precious Stones, CLEANING AND PRESERVATION OF ENGRAVINGS

Reply to
Matthew Spong

hi mex i'm no expert on etching, having only etched my own circuit boards using ferric chloride that doesnt work on steel but i think you'de be looking at something like nitric acid as AFAIK will eat most metals. This is nasty stuff and i dont know where you can get it, a laboratory supply company maybe? but for your purpose you might want to check out spark erosion which is a technique used to make dies and plastic moulds and i seen small ones used for removing sheered off bolts you could possibly make your own one with a car battery and headlamp bulb to limit current and make a copper logo as the other guy said in reverse this is all immersed in parafine (kerosene to americans) i think the copper part is the anode so you'de connect that to the positive terminal and the work to the negative terminal. Anyway do a google search on it as maybe there are some companies around that do kits for this, i know of one that does plating kits so you may get lucky. Keep us posted on this as i'm sure other people must be interested in it. HTH cheers - john(uk)

Reply to
kontrare

Laser engraving is a good solution, but there are size limitations as these generally work in enclosures.

S
Reply to
Steve Zadarnowski

Hi All

I don't know answering my own posts.

I've been given this URL:

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And it looks ideal, does anybody have any experience with this product/company?

-Mex

Reply to
The Knight of the Woeful Countenance

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