Applying a design to a knife (by etching). By order.
The young man brought a folding knife. He said: “I want...”.
Khochukha meant:
— remove scratches;
— harden (if necessary);
- polish;
- polish;
- sharpen;
- apply an inscription or design to the blade. 
Initially it was a Magnum folding knife. Quite a well-known and “promoted” brand. This is what it looked like when folded. 
Photo of the other side of the knife. 
This is what the Magnum looked like in the open position. 
View of the second side of the knife. 
We begin to fulfill the customer’s wishes. Let's disassemble the knife. 
There are much fewer parts in a folding knife than in an automatic knife. This has a positive effect on its reliability. In addition, the knife has its own brand and is made more accurately than the Chinese “nonames”. Sanding is cleaner. Heat treatment of the blade, in my opinion, is not required. The blade of the knife has sufficient hardness. But adding a couple of Rockwell units to a folding knife, and thereby increasing the fragility of the blade, is unwise. Therefore, we do without hardening and immediately proceed to coarse and fine grinding. This process is described in detail in other articles on the site. For example: or How to improve a Chinese-made knife (part 2).
There are plenty of photos with comments there. I'm just posting the results. 
In the photo the blade is already polished. This is necessary for further etching of the pattern. The better the polishing of the steel, the less scratches there will be. That is, during etching of the design, the acid will not seep through the unevenness of the blade or poorly polished marks under the protective coating. In addition, high-quality polished steel resists corrosion better.
Next stage. We come up with a design that will be on the blade.
I came up with an eagle, the customer came up with a memorable inscription, then I came up with fire, and the customer came up with a panther... Sketches, drafts, email, telephone dialogues... Quite a long and fascinating process... As a result of joint ideas, a fiery eagle was invented.
We outline the blade with a pencil, aim with a drawing and... 
... in time we draw attention to the fact that the side of the blade is not the same. The photo shows that next to the hole for the axial screw, there are two more holes of smaller diameter. They are needed to attach the pocket clip to the body of the knife. It will cover the design in this part of the handle. An eagle on a blade is flying somewhere. Here is an image of this “somewhere” that the clip could have closed. Well, at least I noticed in time... The drawing should be done on the other side of the blade.
We cover the “right” side of the blade with a protective coating. This is a tricky varnish with a tricky name. Inexpensive, but quite decent quality. 
After the varnish has dried, scratch the eagle design over it.
But before that, let's practice on paper again. I draw without carbon paper and various devices. The hand trembled a little and the drawing was ruined. We would have to start all over again. Therefore, it is better to practice. Besides, I noticed my mistake again in time. The eagle's beak is longer and more angular. And on the back of the head there is a small tuft. In the previous drawing (on the wrong side of the blade) I lost sight of this... It was not a proud fiery eagle that could have settled on the blade, but an angry scorched dove. 
We completely cover the blade with construction tape and varnish, so that the acid will etch only the design without spoiling the wedge itself. Then we’ll send the blade into a jar of acid. 
I did not take any photographs of the etching process. Firstly, it was necessary to take off the rubber gloves (nobody canceled the safety precautions). And secondly, while you are jumping around the can with a camera, you can miss the right moment and the acid will “eat up” too much, the pattern will turn out to be too deep and loose inside the grooves. Here is the result of the etching. The blade has already been washed and cleaned. 
But the photo shows one of the flame petals (closer to the tip) with a yellow coating. Before etching this blade (stainless steel), I etched brass with the same acid. Dissolved copper from the brass sat on the steel of the blade. The photo is not of very good quality, but visually the effect was quite beautiful. I don’t understand why the copper shrank on only one petal... If anyone has encountered such a curious effect and can share their thoughts, I would be very grateful. It would be very beautiful if the tips of all the petals of the flame had the same golden hue. I will experiment...
Now we etch that “somewhere” on the handle of the knife where the eagle is flying. The fiery element into which he strives... Or returns... I didn’t ask him.
The process is similar. Degreasing, applying varnish, drying, scratching with a cunning scratcher, etching, cleaning. Here is the result. 
Now, using very fine sandpaper, we remove the copper coating from the blade, grind the blade, grind the spine of the blade, grind the handle, grind the entire knife around the perimeter. In the future it will look something like this. 
We polish the wedge, the handle, the knife itself around the perimeter and in general everything that can shine.
Let's see what happened. 
We partially assemble the knife. Straighten the cutting edge. We reduce its angle. Sharpening. Making the knife vicious and sharp. If you go back a few images, you can see the difference between the cutting edge before and after sharpening. 
We finally assemble the knife. 
We bring it “to the razor”. 
We admire the polishing of one side of the knife. 
Let's look at the reflection in the picture from the other side. 
We fold the knife. 
Let's compare what it is like now and what it was like before. 
All.
The knife is ready.
He shaves his hair.
The wish is fulfilled.
The customer is satisfied.
Hello, dear readers! Today in this article the author of the video will tell us how you can apply any image to metal yourself at home in a fairly simple way.
To begin with, I suggest watching the video of this homemade product, which is presented below (it consists of two parts):
So, as you already understand, today the author will tell us how you can easily apply any image to any metal, which can no longer be removed in any way. We will apply the image to metal using the etching method. This method is similar to the engraving method, but it does not require any attachments or burrs.
So, let's begin.
For ours we will need the following components:
- the metal on which we will apply the image (in our case it is a knife);
- scotch;
- self-adhesive wallpaper or glossy paper;
- plasticine;
- cotton pads;
- saline solution (you can make it yourself very simply: mix one spoon of salt in half a glass of warm water);
- wires with crocodile clips;
- power supply or battery from 8 to 12 volts;
- one sheet of A4 paper;
- iron;
- laser printer.
Let's get to work.
First, take the self-adhesive paper and carefully peel it off from the glossy paper:
Now you need to carefully glue this glossy paper onto an A4 sheet with tape or in our case “self-adhesive” like this:
Now on the computer we select the image that you want to see on the metal and if there is an inscription there, then it should be made in a mirror form. Print the image on a glossy sheet:
Next, using scissors, you need to carefully cut out our drawing, without touching the image itself, so as not to blur or erase it:
Now we apply our stencil to the knife and try to do everything the first time (so that you don’t have to move the stencil), since the image will have streaks:
Now you need to take the iron, having previously set it to the second setting, and very carefully iron our stencil for one minute:
Now, while our knife is still hot, we take cotton pads and gently iron the stencil, thereby “pressing” the paint into the metal:
After the knife has cooled, you can peel off the paper (do this slowly and very carefully):
As a result, you should end up with something like this:
Now you need to take tape and paste the knife around the image so that the saline solution does not get on the entire surface of the knife and the etching is neat:
Now we cover the image with plasticine to make a “bath” like this, which will not allow the saline solution to pass through:
Pour a saline solution into our “bath” (about three teaspoons):
Next, we move on to the wires... we connect the “plus” of the battery to the knife:
We connect the second “crocodile” to the “minus” of the battery and now we only need to touch the saline solution:
So let's get started. the saline solution will begin to boil and turn black, which means an etching reaction is in progress. You should keep the wire in the saline solution for no more than 30 seconds, since in the case of prolonged etching, the image will not be clear enough:
Next, you need to disconnect the wires, pour out the black liquid from the “bath” and remove the “bath” itself along with the tape:
I welcome those who love to craft and work with metal. In this instruction we will talk about the simplest homemade knife that you can easily make with your own hands. Making such a knife is not difficult, it is even very simple. Of the most complex and expensive machines that the author used, this was a belt sander. But it is needed mainly to make bevels. In general, this procedure can be done with files, and sanding is done manually using sandpaper.
This knife is interesting for its unique design; it is made by etching. This pattern will be durable and will make your knife unique. You can make an inscription or any pattern at your discretion. And for a knife to be of high quality, you need to use good steel, it must contain as much carbon as possible, then it can be hardened. Similar steel can be found among various cutters, tools, and so on. The key feature of this steel is that when cutting it produces very dense sparks. If you work with ordinary steel at low speeds, you may not see a spark at all, but carbon steel will produce sparks. Abroad, craftsmen use O1, 1095 and other similar steels. So, let's take a closer look at how to make such a knife!
Materials and tools used by the author:
List of materials:
- carbon steel;
- wood for linings;
- brass rods, tubes, etc. (for pins);
- epoxy glue and dye;
- oil for impregnating wood.
List of tools:
- Bulgarian;
- belt grinder;
- Bulgarian;
- marker;
- drill;
- vice;
- clamps;
- drill;
- power supply, saline solution, etc. (for etching);
- sandpaper;
- files;
- a tool for sharpening knives.
Knife making process:
Step one. Cutting out the main profile
We simply cut out the main profile using a grinder. We cut out the concave areas in pieces, making transverse cuts. If you have a band cutter, it will handle this task much faster.
Well, then we proceed to polishing those places that we were not able to cut. For these purposes, we again work with the help of an angle grinder. This time we will need a thick disc for sanding work. Using it we bring the contour to an almost finished look.
For finer finishing we use a belt sander. We also grind the planes of the blade.
Step two. Drilling holes for the pins
In the area of the handle we drill holes for the pins. They should be of such a diameter that the pins fit in with minimal clearance, then the handle will hold as securely as possible. The author clamps the blade in a vice and drills holes with a regular drill. The steel should not be hardened, otherwise it can only be drilled with a special drill with a carbide tip.
Step three. Forming bevels
Now we have to form the bevels on the blade. Thus, we will set the basic cutting characteristics of the knife. For a knife to cut perfectly, the bevels must be as smooth as possible. But to improve the rigidity of the blade, they can be done at a more right angle. For such work, the author uses a belt sander; this is done simply and conveniently. First, we take a drill of the same thickness as the thickness of the workpiece and draw a centering line along the blade. And so that it is clearly visible, the metal can be pre-painted over with a marker. We will use this line as a guide so that the bevels are symmetrical.
Now we screw the blade to a wooden block or use a special clamp, that’s all, you can start grinding. When grinding, the metal heats up, so holding the blade in your hands will be problematic. When grinding, we try not to overheat the metal. If the blade will undergo hardening, we do not sharpen the blade; its minimum thickness should be 2 mm. Otherwise, alloying additives may burn out of the metal, and the steel will turn into ordinary raw material.
Step four. Heat treatment of metal
Heat treatment includes two stages: hardening and tempering. We select temperature conditions and the quenching medium depending on the steel grade. In most cases, knife steels are hardened in oil, and they need to be heated to a red or sometimes yellowish glow. If the hardening is successful, the blade will no longer be taken with a file, and the metal will be brittle.
After hardening, a procedure called tempering follows. To understand what temperature to heat the metal to, it is advisable to grind the blade before tempering. When its color changes to straw, this will indicate that the vacation was a success. On average, the blades are heated for about an hour at a temperature of 200 degrees using an oven. The steel should cool smoothly, along with the oven.
Step five. Grinding
After heat treatment, a dark coating forms on the metal, which is the result of oxidation. This whole thing needs to be cleaned up. To do this, use sandpaper soaked in water. You can also go over the blade with a belt sander. As a result, the blade can be polished, thereby preparing it for etching.
Step six. Handle assembly
Dark tones predominate in the pen, as the author intended. To make it look interesting, we take a drill and make cuts along the handle on the blade. Once these parts are filled with epoxy and black dye, everything will look great.
You can also come up with interesting pins. You can take a copper or brass tube, come up with an interesting filler, and then fill the tubes with epoxy resin and a dye.
We cut out the overlays; for this we use dark-colored wood. If desired, you can use a dark colored stain or oil. There should be two pieces of overlays approximately identical in shape. That's all, you can assemble the handle. We carefully clean the surfaces to be glued so that the glue adheres well. The metal can be treated with coarse sandpaper, so the glue will stick much better. The author used epoxy with the addition of a dark dye as glue.
We clamp the handle with clamps, this will allow the overlays to be evenly glued along the entire length. Well, then we wait a day, after which we can confidently handle the handle.
Finally, we begin grinding the handle and forming the desired shape. This can be done with a grinder, with a drill, or even by hand using files and sandpaper. Making the handle perfectly smooth. Finally, the handle needs to be soaked in oil, so the wood will be protected from moisture and the handle will look great.
Step seven. Etching the drawing
The pattern on the blade makes the knife unique. For this procedure we use a power supply, and we will also need water with regular table salt, the concentration should be maximum. We draw a design on the blade, paint over everything else with varnish or paint. Where the metal surface is exposed, etching will occur.
To the editorHomiusNot only do we receive articles from our readers about various repair methods. Some reviews are striking in their ease of performing unusual work, which at first glance is impossible to do at home. And today we present to your attention one of these articles, which was sent to the “Stories” section by Sergei Borisovich Kasatonov from the city of Yakutsk. In it, he talks about the simplest method of transferring a design onto a knife blade and etching metal without any chemicals.
Recently I became interested in such an activity as etching various designs on metal. After all, even a kitchen knife can be made exclusive if you put in just a little effort. However, if etching of a highly artistic drawing is required, drawing experience and a steady hand will not hurt. The initial application of it will not be a problem, but preparation for engraving by electrolysis will be quite problematic for some people. But, in order not to frighten in advance those who want to understand the whole technology, I will begin my report on the work done.
Everything is quite simple here. In addition to the knife itself, it is enough to have a regular laser printer and some other tools and materials in the apartment, namely:
- a small amount of alcohol;
- ice water in a basin;
- iron.
Naturally, the blade of a kitchen knife should be thoroughly washed and dried. The best way to cool water is to use ice.
We begin to apply a pattern to the steel blade of a kitchen knife
First you need to find a drawing on the Internet that can be placed on the blade. In any graphic editor, it should be reduced to such a size that it fits on the blade and printed. Use scissors to cut out the image.
Next, a small amount of alcohol is poured into the saucer, sufficient for the printed image to be completely immersed in it. The drawing should lie in the alcohol until the paper is saturated. This will be noticeable in the image that appears on the back of the sheet. Don’t be afraid to keep it in alcohol - nothing bad will happen to the drawing, even if it sits in a saucer for a day, it won’t flow or blur.
Using an iron: this requires caution
The part of the blade to which you plan to transfer the image must be poured generously with alcohol. After this, carefully take the piece of paper with the image and place it on the knife blade with the printed pattern facing down. At this time, you can still correct it without fear of smearing it. What you should take into account here is that once you start working with the heating device, you won’t be able to correct anything.
When the pattern is laid out as needed, we begin to warm it up with an iron turned on at maximum temperature. When performing this work, you should be extremely careful not to move the sheet. The fact is that even slightly heated paper, if you move it, will smear the image, ruining it.
Warming up is carried out for 3-4 minutes until the sheet is completely dry. In this case, it is better to overdo it, warming up the blade longer than to stop working with the iron when the paper is still half-raw.
Cooling the blade and removing unnecessary paper
When the alcohol has completely evaporated and the blade has warmed up, it is necessary to cool it as quickly as possible. It was for this purpose that I had a basin of water, which was cooled with ice. The knife blade is lowered into ice water for 20-30 seconds. It is necessary to monitor the paper, waiting until it is completely saturated, now with ordinary water. After this has happened, we begin to slowly move our finger along it. The paper rolls and peels off.
In this case, there is no need to rush - there is a high probability that the blade has not cooled completely and the design will be damaged.
What will happen in the end: how high quality will the drawing be?
If everything was done correctly, the drawing will be no different from the one on paper. At the same time, the quality of the image does not depend on its complexity and the number of small details. If etching is not important, then you can leave the drawing as it turned out. Of course, such an image is not very resistant to aggressive cleaning agents and high temperatures, but in the absence of such factors it can last up to six months. I decided to leave this image of a tiger as a simple drawing.
As for etching, for your first experiments with metal it is better to choose something simpler, especially if you have no artistic education or experience in metal engraving. But the article would be incomplete if I didn’t talk about how to etch metal so that the design will never be erased. I will talk about this using the example of another kitchen knife and a simpler image - I did not have a good relationship with art education, unlike technical and exact sciences.
What you need to etch a design on metal
To etch any image on metal you will need:
- water with table salt dissolved in it (3-4 tablespoons per 0.5 l) in a glass jar;
- power supply (charger) from any phone or other gadget;
- 2 pieces of wire;
- nail polish, preferably colorless;
- a regular bolt or metal plate that will fit in a jar.
It should be noted that the speed of electrolysis, and therefore the appearance of the pattern on the metal, will depend on the output current of the charger. The higher the adapter current, the less time it will take to operate.
Preparing metal for applying a relief pattern
First, the entire blade must be varnished. It doesn’t have to be nail polish; a composition for coating wood is quite suitable. But here it is worth remembering that feminine chemicals dry out almost instantly. Considering that the metal will need to be coated in 2 layers, this is a serious reason to use a quick-drying composition.
The design, if it is not too complex, can be applied after the varnish has dried. But, if it is necessary to etch an image similar to what I applied to the previous knife, it is better to use the transfer method using an iron and alcohol, and then coat the steel with colorless varnish.
For etching on one of the kitchen knives, I chose not too complex Arabic script. It was applied after the varnish had dried, after which the coating along the lines was removed. In other words, I just scratched it with a needle. I note that the edges of the strips need to be carefully trimmed - during etching, electrolysis will eat away unprotected areas, which means that all irregularities will remain on the metal without the possibility of subsequent correction.
Power connection: electrolysis etching principle
Power is supplied to the elements as follows. A wire with a bolt at the end is lowered into salt water and connected to the negative output of the charger. A positive charge is applied to the blade itself. The principle of electrolysis is as follows. The varnish coating does not transmit electricity, but the area of the metal where it is absent reacts with salt water under the influence of voltage. As a result, the metal is corroded exactly where there is no varnish.
Many will be interested to know that in this way you can even apply a pattern with copper. To do this, a similar preparation of the blade is performed. The difference is that the polarity of the connection will be reversed - plus on the bolt, and minus on the knife. Instead of salt, you need to dissolve copper sulfate in water. In a similar way, you can either apply an image or completely cover the part with copper.
Etching: some nuances to consider
When power is applied to the wires, it will become clearly visible how electrolysis occurs. Gas bubbles will begin to emerge from areas of the blade unprotected by varnish. It is this process that “gnaws out” metal particles. It is necessary to carefully monitor the temperature of the charger - it can rise sharply. To avoid failure of the adapter, do not keep it turned on for more than 15-20 seconds, giving a break of at least 10 minutes. This way, the work will be extended, but at the same time you will maintain the functionality of the charger. In total, etching a small design takes about a minute of constant work. It turns out that in 3 passes the image will be ready.
The photo example shows how the inscription appears on the metal under the influence of the electrolysis reaction. After the work is completed, all that remains is to clean the unnecessary varnish coating and polish the blade.
During operation, a dirty-brown oxide layer will form on the surface of the jar. This should not scare you; the process involves such deposits.
The final stage of the process, cleaning and polishing the blade
Upon completion of the process, the power is turned off and the wire is unhooked from the knife. To remove the varnish coating, you can use a stationery knife or regular acetone, which will easily do this job. Polishing is carried out on a sharpening machine with a felt wheel. Of course, this work can be done manually, but in this case it will take much more time.
As for the unevenness of the drawing strokes, they do not always interfere. For example, when applying Arabic script, as in my case, they even give a certain charm to the inscription, as if it was made several centuries ago. But if the image requires precision, like the tiger previously transferred to a knife, you should scratch each line extremely carefully. Of course, this work cannot be called simple; attention to detail and perseverance are required, but the owner will be sure that the design will not be erased from the blade, regardless of the aggressiveness of cleaning agents or temperature.
Final part
Do-it-yourself engraving like this will add an unusual touch to kitchen knives. They will turn from ordinary consumer goods into exclusive products that will surprise your friends and acquaintances. And given the fact that not a penny will be spent on performing such work, the owner is guaranteed satisfaction from the drawings applied by electrolysis.
I would like to hope that readers will adopt the methods of working with metal that I have described. If any of the above remains unclear, I will be happy to explain. You just need to write about it in the comments to the article. There you can also express your opinion about what you read. I will be glad to hear anyone - I treat criticism quite adequately, of course, if it is justified. I will try to respond to every review as quickly as possible.
The Homius editors invite home craftsmen and craftsmen to become co-authors of the “Stories” section. Useful first-person stories will be published on the pages of our online magazine.
I am sharing my personal experience in this seemingly simple matter.
Because As an amateur radio enthusiast, I often make printed circuit boards using the LUT (Laser Ironing Technology) technique. Recently I was asked a question by a fellow biker: is it possible to pickle steel to make different fuses and how exactly to do it. On a whim, I was convinced that a solution of ferric chloride in water eats up not only the copper on the PCB, but also almost any iron. What I was able to verify was when it spilled on my balcony galvanized sheet and the very next day I saw decent holes there... In short, I thought that purquoa wouldn’t work...
So we need:
Ferric chloride 200g (70rub)
Water 0.5 liters (from tap)
LASER printer black and white.
A sheet of paper with text and a minimum number of pictures from the magazine “Popular Mechanics” or “Iron”. For some reason the printer chews paper from “Liza” and other magazines...
Iron.
A computer with Word or any graphic editor who likes it. I did it in Word, where it’s easiest to stretch the drawing as you like.
Sample drawing - taken from tattoo sites.
Technology.
Choose a drawing and stretch it as you like.
We take a knife or piece of iron and clean it with sandpaper.
We print the drawing onto the area with the text of the prepared sheet.
Place it on the knife and iron it with a hot iron until it sticks and the toner slightly bleeds through the paper.
If necessary, do the same on the second side of the knife.
We put the knife under water (in a basin or ladle) for 5-10 minutes.
We begin to rub our finger across the paper. The paper rolls off and the toner remains on the metal.
If the toner has peeled off, then we sand it again and make new drawings and iron it harder and longer.
After this, we protect the rest of the surface of the knife where there will be no etching, either by painting it with paint, NC varnish, or bitumen varnish. In my immense laziness, I completely wrapped it in tape...
So that's it. IMPORTANT. If you want the etching to be of high quality, you will have to go over the drawing from above or with a marker and paint. Those. “strengthen” it with something, because the toner sticks with small holes and there will be marks. The same applies to minor flaws when translating a drawing.
We put the object with the pattern into a solution of 200 g of ferric chloride in 500 ml of water. (Do not dissolve everything at once, but in parts - it heats up).
Periodically we take it out and pass it under running water with a paint brush. After a couple of hours we get noticeable etching of 0.3-0.5 mm.
Then we sand everything down and polish or not polish... Depending on laziness
A sample of the result below. As I said, it turned out to be undergrasses, but it gave the ornament, so to speak... an old-fashioned look... 
Of course it turned out so-so, but for the first time it’s not bad
P.S/ Any etching and inscriptions make the knife less durable and it usually breaks along the etching line.
Good luck to everyone. 73!