Blade Marking Method

[rawknives]

If this has been covered, apologies, I've searched and can't find.

Does anyone have an idea of what exactly is being used for setting the markings on the blade? I am guessing electrochemical, but possibly just a chemical (acid) etch? Does anyone have pictures of the process/machine used for this? Getting clean etches repeated times is a challenge that seems well bested by whatever the industry is doing, and I'm just curious as to the exacts behind this.

Thank you

 

[rbscebu]

In the "olden" days, it was done with acid etching. Now it is more commonly done with laser printing (etching).

 

[Slash McCoy]

Electro-etching can give pretty good results but there are a lot of wild cards, like the quality of the stencil or the application of the etch resist, the voltage and polarity, contact time, and other variables. Acid etching is similar, and there are many acids you can use such as phosphoric acid, ("Ospho", the sailor's friend in a jug) or onion or pickle juice, mustard or vinegar, and other substances of that nature. Also Ferric Chloride or Cupric Chloride, which are used for etching PCB's.

A laser etcher that will deeply etch steel requires a somewhat expensive laser module, but the rest of the mechanism is no more complex than a cheap 3D printer or engraver. The advantage is you can get a very sharp etch, with a lot of detail and crisp edges. Mostly it would be suitable for production, not a one-off.