From: REMOVE_THISdwilkins@means.net (Don Wilkins)
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking
Subject: Re: Etch steel to make a die?
Date: Sat, 06 Feb 1999 13:17:01 GMT

On Sat, 06 Feb 1999 06:38:43 GMT, mmcintyr@swva.net (D. Michael
McIntyre) wrote:

>I want to be able to stamp a fairly complicated design (a logo with
>text and a simple line drawing, to be exact) in sheet copper.  My
>first thought on how to go about creating the die is to do something
>similar to the process used to etch electronic circuit boards.
>
>I'm wondering if this is possible in steel, using a different solvent
>(sulphuric acid maybe?) or if I'm totally barking up the wrong tree.

The ferric chloride etch may be OK for steel. The copper sulfate etch
would not work. Muriatic acid would be my first choice for an acid but
25% sulfuric would be all right. If you need much relief acid etching
is going to be slow. Diluted sulfuric acid is a better solvent for
steel than concentrated acid. (don't forger acid into water or better
yet acid into ice cubes)

You might consider a rubber mask and sandblasting also. You may be
able to print it out and transfer the design to the rubber patch
material for innertube repair and cut it out with an exacto blade. The
adhesive is already on the rubber.

From: REMOVE_THISdwilkins@means.net (Don Wilkins)
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking
Subject: Re: Etch steel to make a die?
Date: Sun, 07 Feb 1999 12:08:02 GMT

On Sun, 07 Feb 1999 07:58:26 GMT, mmcintyr@swva.net (D. Michael
McIntyre) wrote:

>>The ferric chloride etch may be OK for steel. The copper sulfate etch
>>would not work. Muriatic acid would be my first choice for an acid but
>>25% sulfuric would be all right. If you need much relief acid etching
>>is going to be slow.
>
>I don't need much relief.  The design doesn't have to be prominent.
>More like a watermark.
>
>I'm not much of a chemist.  OK, I never even took chemistry in high
>school, and I was a liberal arts major in college (you want fries with
>that?  :) )
>
>I thought ferric chloride would attack copper specifically.

No the ferric ion will attack many metals. It is a good oxidizing
agent particularly in the presence of chloride.

>  I know
>from experience that it also does a number on brass.  I poured some
>down a brass drain without thinking and it ate the copper and left
>only the zinc.

Actually zinc is more easily oxidized than copper so the zinc would go
first.


>Maybe it just ate the copper more quickly, and it would have eaten the
>zinc too?
>
>In any event, it's worth a try.  I still have a little left, and it's
>the easiest to procure of the chemicals mentioned.

Muriatic acid is available from most hardware stores in the USA.
Sulfuric acid from auto parts stores. Muriatic will be safer for you
to use. If it doesn't work then sulfuric probably won't either.

Melt some wax, paint a simple trial design on a piece of  steel, add
the concoction you use, and let nature take its course. A day or two
(or a week) later rinse and see what you have.

Another heretical thought. You can buy branding irons made with your
logo. Buy one, burn the design into a piece of hardwood and use that
with a nice sized hammer (metal content). When the wood piece starts
to wear too much burn another one.