Marko Tsourkan
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- Feb 28, 2011
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Where do you guys buy hydrochloric acid for etching damascus and in what concentration to buy?
M
M
Pool supply store? With that said, I don't think that I know any guys who use hydrochloric for etching damascus.
Just look for muriatic acid in pool supplies or hardware store. Why are you using HCl though?
-AJ
Never mind on the why, I answered my own question.
-AJ
You know anybody in an academic science field??? I used to get it from my H.S. chemistry teacher, and then a friend who was a professor. Used it to clean masonry and they were able to obtain higher Molar concentrations than I was.
All the big chemical houses will sell you whatever grade and concentration you would like. EMD, JT Baker, Sigma Aldrich. Those are the 3 we use at work. Concentrated HCl is 12.1 N which is really strong, wear some gloves.
Why not use Ferric Chloride? It's called PCB Etchant and you get it at Radio Shack.
Hydrochloric acid is cheaper and should be widely available as muriatic or pool acid in 23% solution. It think it costs under $10 per gallon, while Ferric Chloride for the same price you can get 16oz.
This is what I found in the last couple of days.
M
Don't go burning yourself here, HCl and FeCl are both pretty nasty.OK, so I will give ferric cloride a try. How difficult is to drain acid from a car battery? Have one on hand, but have to make a trip to RadioShack.
M
Whoa! Battery acid is sulfuric acid.
-AJ
Sulfuric acid seems to be much more common in damascus etching than hydochloric acid anyway....
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