For me; I get no etch but I do get a nice color on my etched blade.

Instant coffee about four times stronger than I drink; boiling hot.

Soak blade till color is right. I just throw it in for the day.

Helps to warm juice a time or two during the soak.

Pretty simple.

|quoted:

For me; I get no etch but I do get a nice color on my etched blade.

Instant coffee about four times stronger than I drink; boiling hot.

Soak blade till color is right. I just throw it in for the day.

Helps to warm juice a time or two during the soak.

Pretty simple.

Thank you Mike that's very helpful. Is there an instant coffee you have had better results with?

I use the cheapest instant coffee I can get.

I add an entire jar to a 3X24" PVC tube with cold water.

It etches Damascus jet black and is stable straight out of the etch.

You can leave it in for a long time.

Up to 24 hours with no topography.

It will also etch hamon.

Mike and JJ,

Once you pull it out of the coffee, how do you process the blade from there? Do you hard sand the tops with high grit paper or do that before you put it in the coffee?

Scott

Sand to 800.

Medium deep etch with ferric.

Buff till mirror.

Degrease.

Etch in very strong warm cheap instant coffee. Whole jar in about a gallon of water.

Spray down with Windex.

Dry.

Spray with WD40.

Let rest for a day or so to let the oxides settle.

Done.

|quoted:

Etch in very strong warm cheap instant coffee. Whole jar in about a gallon of water.

Thanks, Erik.

If any of you reading this have seen Erik's knives, you'd see that he knows what he's talking about.

Thank you Erik! Appreciate you letting us all know the process.

Scott

One of the youtube vids I watched recently, the guy mentioned that he bakes the blade after the coffee etch to make the oxides more durable. Anybody heard of this?

Buenas tardes a todos.

Mi experiencia con el café es similar a los comentarios anteriores, pero si no me gusta una cosa, no se nota la transición del carbono entre los aceros, solo con el percloruro queda esa bella onda entre aceros.

Esa es mi experiencia.

Muchos saludos desde Puerto Montt, Chile.