Gator Piss Etchant (Tutorial!)

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In August of 2022, the team at Baker Forge decided it would be incredibly helpful to the Knifemaker community to create a unique etching solution to aid Damascus and laminated steel finishes across the board.
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In an effort to help push this community further, Baker Forge set out to create a no-mix etchant solution and step by step video series to take the guess work out of the finishing process. Thus giving individual makers more time on further their craft without stressing over getting a good finish/etch.

[@RedBeardOps]

Nice tips! I'll try this method for sure; happy to potentially skip the coffee etch. I've never heard the 6 hour wait time for oxide setting. Very cool.

[@wiley979]

How do you feel GP will do at brining out a Hamon?

[@edgeknifeworks]

Got some pre ordered, looking forward to trying this out for production especially on San mai blades and blades with hamons. Looks like it works great for Damascus and super simple not having to mix or adjust your etching solution.

[@ehsfb20011]

How many etches will it last. Also I used this and it worked great but how do you stop the black from rubbing off on cloth afterwards?

[@BakerForge]

Hey there! Couple of things, The Gator Piss will last 4-6 months for most makers. But that will vary some depending on how often its used and how clean you keep it. For keeping the black oxides, First, are you buffing between etch cycles to help establish a good base for oxides to stick to? That’ll help a good bit. Second, you’ll want to do a little more to setup the oxides on the surface. Couple things you can do. Once it’s out of the last etch and neutralized, hit the surface with a heat gun to help dry out those oxides quicker. Not anywhere hot enough to start discoloring anything, just warming up the surface. All this without wiping the blade at all. Then after you dry it spray heavy with wd40 oil, let it sit till it looks like the wd40 is almost drying on the blade. This really depends on your environment and humidity. Some guys can do only a few hours, some guys in more humid climates have to let it sit a day or two. But if lots of oxides wipe off, then they haven’t setup properly yet. Once you find your grove, you will be able to scrub that blade and it’ll stay nice and black with only small amount of oxides coming off. Hope that helps!

[@tonikilpinen4142]

Hi i just got my gator piss and take a first test etching for 2 blades. Cumai blade and sanmai blade. Cumai went quite black and let see how the final eching is done. Cu is clean, but carbon went black as it should. But the main reason why I write here is that I but water and baking soda were I put the blades after etching there came some gator piss in to the water and a little change a water color. After this when I try to etching another blade, instantly when blade go to water it turn black. Then I clean up and take another etching and normalize that wit window spray it looks better. Has someone else had this kind of problems? Do you alway change water every etching proses? another question is why many blow air on the gatorpiss or mix it some kind of propeller. Is it nessesery? Thanks.

[@jacobcombs2269]

Alcohol displaces water without the film. 90+ preferred as lower alchohol content means higher water content@

[@RandyCooper85]

Can you do a video with one of your core oriented billets? I have the damascus cumai with 80crv2 core. Gp worked great on standard damascus but terribly on a core billet. It left long streaks in the core and I addressed them per directions, but after 3 soaks it got worse. I had to re hand sand from 220 back to 2000 which took hours. I tried again and stopped after 1 etch. Honestly coffee etch looked better.

[@BakerForge]

Anything with a core needs to have an extremely even scratch pattern before etching. Deeper scratches will not collect oxides while the remaining body of steel will. Coffee does not leave the same kind of oxides and is more consistent with a stain that’s why it doesn’t last. In order to combat any left over scratches be sure to agitate the acid during the first etch and scrub with a plastic toothbrush. After this initial etch if you have areas with streaky oxides, it will only get worse with more dips. If the core is even and solid you will want to go ahead and lightly wet sand with 2500 grit paper then lightly buff. After this etch for 40 minutes without movement in the acid. It’ll be far superior to coffee

[@RandyCooper85]

@@BakerForge thanks for the reply. I hand sanded back down and found that plenty of agitation during the first few minutes helps as we as brushing no matter what. I've gotten much better results. Thanks.

[@MrNicovdw]

where did you get those plastic containers from ?

[@eizzle78]

Just used it tonight for the first time, this stuff is magic I swear 😂

[@BakerForge]

So glad you liked it!

[@gurgurpalmann2047]

Thank you for the tutorial! Was really helpful!

[@bbforgeandleathercompany9228]

Got mine ordered! So excited for this stuff. Yall are killing it

[@benjamineangeloni2335]

Would you consider the finish to be food safe as described here or would you recommend a food safe oil instead of WD 40?

[@BakerForge]

Once the blade has been neutralized, it is food safe. To protect a blade that will be used with food, coat blade in a food safe wax or oil after etching

[@danielmcclain1947]

Where can I find those containers 👀👀

[@aviweisbach7816]

the Container Store

[@arnaudgidel5993]

I have been using Gator Piss for some time and I have 2 questions please. 1/ Should we use it hot or cold? 2/ At the end of the process, after 6 hours of waiting, when I wipe the blade with a microfiber cloth, it becomes dull. I saw in the demo video that they use a 2nd cloth called sunshine apparently. Is it this cloth that makes the damask shine again?

[@BakerForge]

1. It should be slightly warm. About 70F 2. Yes, sunshine clothes are jewelry polishing cloths and help add a nice shine and luster to the steel

[@arnaudgidel5993]

@@BakerForge great ! Thanks a lot !

[@shazamsam7388]

Just ordered mine. Can’t wait to test it out 🤘👍

[@joem5903]

works like a charm.

[@augustustim1854]

From which Brand ist the Cap the Guy is wearing ? Looked at the Shops Site cause i thought its a merchandise product but wasn't able to find it. Ist there someone out there who knows the Brand? 😊🖖

[@redstone71]

Chatoyance.... I had to do look that one up. Thanks for the awesome tutorial.

[@MrBill-ee4mr]

Game changer

[@edmundguzman7813]

Can't wait to try it!

[@blackmapleblades]

Does the copper contaminate the etchant like it would with ferric?

[@TerrySmith-y3l]

Will straight 1095 work with gator piss

[@redwolfknives3174]

Can that be used on mono steels for stone washing, or is nickel required for the chemical reaction to work properly?

[@BakerForge]

It sure can be!

[@MrBill-ee4mr]

So you leave the oxides on?!?!?

[@disturbedsilence76]

does it evaporate?

[@Hathenbrucksteelworks]

Why don't you guys etch your tangs? You're really passing up on a great opportunity to make your blades look that much better.

[@nics1964]

I imagine because it gets screwed up when you finish the handle. You can acid etch the spine with a q-tip after the handle is on.

[@Hathenbrucksteelworks]

@@nics1964 There are ways to do it, but it's more difficult and takes more time. I'm guessing that's probably why.

[@eizzle78]

@@nics1964a good strong double sided carpet tape will let you finish your scales and then you can remove them for the etch.

[@hayworth.handmade]

First, beautiful results! I know y'all have been working on this for quite some time. Second, have you found that the copper contaminates GP the way FC does?

[@BakerForge]

Yes, over time, copper will start to build up and contaminate the solution. Especially if knives are left in the mix for a long time. But this does happen much slower in Gator Piss then normal ferric solutions

[@hayworth.handmade]

​​@@BakerForge I have my GP and I'm excited to etch this go-mai custom I'm currently hand sanding. For a simple go-mai or san-mai piece, 600 grit should be sufficient? I was planning on taking it to 1500 but it sounds like that might be unnecessary or even counter-productive

[@BakerForge]

@@hayworth.handmade A clean and even 600 grit finish would be better than a 1500 grit finish with 400 grit scratches left in it. The more even the finish, the better.

[@jasonvliet-odonataknifeworks]

Any benefit to using GP on mono steel etching vs. traditional methods?

[@BakerForge]

We haven't tested it on mono steel. This was designed specifically for Damascus and lamented steels. But I might work great on mono!

[@Udeus5]

Have you tried this on Stainless Steel Damascus ?

[@BakerForge]

It has not be tested on Stainless Damascus yet. But we have some people testing it on that. Will have an update soon

[@306Outdoors]

@@BakerForgeany update on stainless? I’m not interested in using it on actual stainless damascus, but I have a bunch of san mai that has 410 jacket over a 52100 core. Wondering if this would be a good option to blacken that 52100 core while leaving the 410 alone.

[@thewaylonandjoeshow9540]

How long will GP last?

[@BakerForge]

A part time knifemaker should see 4-6 months of life from the etchant before needing to replace it. But it all depends on how much you use it.

[@polisheverything1970]

Nice results but I wish people wouldn't use the word "chatoyance" when they don't know what it means. Clearly he's seen too many K Royer videos (another person who doesn't know what it means).

[@michaelwelch442]

Are you going to tell us what it means?

[@Logan.H.L]

Chatoyance “Having changeable luster; twinkling” Luster “the visual property of something that shines with reflected light” I would say that chatoyance works just fine as a way to describe complicated Damascus patterns.

[@stevealford230]

it comes from the French for "cat's eye," and it very accurately describes the effect of the light when you turn/move polished Damascus with a good etch in the path of light, especially if the etch is just barely deep enough to catch a fingernail and has black oxides to contrast the polished Nickel Steel and create the cat eye effect.

[@stevealford230]

@@Logan.H.L It also works to describe a simple Twist pattern as long as it received a high polish before etching and then got a good buildup of oxides that stayed after final polish so that there's deep contrast to create the "cat's eye" effect, which is what the word "chatoyance" literally means. I don't think OP knows what it means... oh, the irony. He probably learned it from woodworking and thinks it refers to a different quality than what it actually does.