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Originally Posted by drac2k
Believe it or not, that is what I was using the first and the last time; the blade started rusting and it looked horrible. I did neutralize it with baking soda and continuous rinses and I oiled the blade, but the laminations were very dark and not at all pleasing to me.
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I do appreciate your input and I thank you.
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Etching works by selectively attacking the differing metallurgy, the most susceptible getting attacked and removed more, but all will corrode. The trick is to stop etching before you remove too much material - a personal judgement.
FeCl looks really nasty until neutralised and cleaned,Acetic acid less so, and is easier to remove colour with easy polishing. Fruit acids tend to give good results too. Limes are popular. Arsenic washing is probably not a good idea unless you have an Indonesian Keris and a death wish. My Barungs and Kris have been vinegar tested just to confirm or deny laminations, then simichrome repolished to bring it back to original. I'm not too pleased with the color FeCl leaves.
Interesting aside: lemons and limes are essentially the same, their taste and smell component that makes the difference is exactly the same molecule, just arranged slightly differently one is right handed, the other is left handed, they're isomers of each other. To further confuse, limes can also be yellow and lemons green.
