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Originally Posted by ariel
Personal advise: go on Amazon and get a bottle of Nital, 2% nitric acid in methanol. Infinitely superior to ferric chloride for etching. It does not leave a yucky brown discoloration.
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Yes indeed, Nital is way better than ferric chloride. It is not as messy and gives a nice dark patina, depending on the quality of the wootz.
I have experimented with various concentrations of Nital, between 2-5% and 2% is a little two weak for good results. For quality, high contrast wootz 3% would be enough but would require more applications. 4% would be ideal for most wootz but you must dilute it yourself as I didn't find Nital 4% commercially available. 5% is rather strong and may leave some golden taint, but sometimes is necessary for low contrast wootz.
In order to reveal the structure, the blade must be polished to grit 2000-3000 for best results.
However, I never saw a Pata with wootz blade so I am not sure it would be worth the effort. Maybe should do a test first.
Can anybody please post some photos with Pata swords with wootz blades?!
