Damascus blades etching for folder???

[B. Buxton]

I was wondering, when you all use damascus or pattern welded steel for the blades, do you etch the whole blade or do you protect the area where the detent ball and washers ride so they don't get etched, making the opening and closing action smoother. I made a liner lock and etched the whole blade and now the action is rough. You can feel every layer as the detent ball slides across the blade and I was also wondering if the etched area was causing problems with the nylon washer life. What do you suggest? Etch or no etch of this area.

Thanks,

Bill

[Jon Christensen]

Bill,
No etch. After the blade is completed I clean the blade well and paint the areas to be protected with fingernail polish. Let it dry thoroughly and then etch. I paint the pivot hole, washer area, detent trail and hole, and spots where the blade contacts the stop pin. After I have it etched deep enough I remove the polish at the stop pin points and do a quick etch so these spots don't show up bright. This way you won't change the timing of the knife.
Hope this made sense,
Jon

Almost forgot the lock face, I mask this area also, then quick etch it like the stoppin points.

[Ray Rogers]

Bill,

No etch. I do mine similar to the method Jon described except that I prefer not to use any more paint on resist than necessary. Since the primary area you want to protect is the pivot area where the washers sit, I take some heavy masking tape and stick it to some thin plastic (I have .005 teflon but a garbage bag would probably do). Then, I use the same punches that produce my washers to punch circles out of the tape. Peel the plastic off and stick the dot on the pivot area. Making the dot a little larger allows you to cover the detent ball track. Everything else gets a little DyKem, which makes a pretty good resist. I find the tape method works better for me mostly because my blades have bronze bushings and I don't want to subject them to too much external chemistry....

[Dave Kelly]

Hey Bill,
I do mine like Jon but will probably try Ray's method because I do use bronze washers sometimes. A word of warning if you clean between etching, make sure your resist is still completely intact before etching again, ask me how I know.
Dave

[B. Buxton]

Thanks Guys,

Bill

[Brett Schaller]

If you use the fingernail polish (I do), make sure you paint the INSIDE of the pivot hole as well.