Dan Nondorf

Thanks for the tips Steven! I’ll keep that in mind.

Whilst I do enjoy the process of hand sanding, it's quite time consuming and there's only a limited amount of time in the day. I recently used a square palm sander to get a experimental piece of 1084 steel up to a dull reflective finish. I'm not necessarily trying to get it to a mirror finish, but does anyone recommend using a square/orbital sander to take some work out of the hand sanding process?

So Alan, do you think I should build a small forge and re-do the quench? Or will I need to start over entirely?

- Duly noted. I'm very much a beginner at this so I'll take all the constructive criticism I can get. - I used rubbing alcohol and a clean rag to clean it prior to the etch, but I don't think I was wearing nitrile gloves until I started handling the acid so maybe that was it. The steel is 1095, and I heated it with a Bernzomatic TS-8000 using MAPP gas. Again, I may not have gotten it hot enough so that could be it as well. So many issues learning this stuff haha. - The etching was just an aesthetic thing. I wanted a darkened blade.

I think I made an error doing something here. I quenched twice because I think I didn't get the blade hot enough the first time. I then used a medium surface conditioning belt and dipped the knife in a 50% water 50% ferric chloride etch for about 35 minutes. I noticed this dark spot immediately and don't know what happened. I've neutralized the etch with water and dried it with a rag. Anyone seen this before? Pic is before and after the etch.