Engraving on Metal — revisited

[CapnMike]

I’m reporting back with regard to engraving on stainless steel with mustard! It really engraves into the metal!

Disclaimer: maybe you all already figured this out, but I’ve been reading for years that CO2 lasers can’t “touch” metal - not even aluminum foil. But with some sort of third-party aftermarket coating (Cermark, LBT 100, Dry Molybdenum Lube, and even Yellow Table Mustard, et cetera) one could engrave through the applied coating and end up with an embossed back, raised “mark” on the metal.

Well, back in Jun2021 I applied Yellow Table Mustard (it deserves capitalization because it works and is far cheaper that the other coatings) to the stainless steel blade of a an old serrated kitchen knife. Perhaps you can figure out from the pics the blade’s purpose. The engraving worked “as advertised” living a slightly raised “embossed” black substance. Would it hold up to intense removal of the invading Agapanthus plants? Yes (and no). While using my Agapanthus Assassin blade the other day I realized that the black embossed substance had been abraded to the point that is was no longer in/on the blade. But what was left behind was real, genuine engraving into the stainless steel! The engraved metal was gone — the engraved lettering was eaten into the steel! Isn’t this worth investigating further? I think so and challenge the engineers in our midst to explore further this phenomenon.

And you will no doubt notice that I repeatedly resharpened the blade to maintain its Assassin certification. That has nothing to do with the engraving process but explains somewhat the differences in the pics…

[dan84]

Wow, that’s quite deep. I wonder what the chemical process is that eats the metal, and whether it happens during the engrave or over time as it sits on the steel? Regardless, thanks for sharing this info!

[deirdrebeth]

I remember the yellow mustard experiments. That’s wild! I wonder if any of the other folks who engraved things still have them - and have used them enough to pull out the blackened material…

@beerfaced ?

@dwardio ?

[dwardio]

I still use the chef’s knife I marked with dry moly spray. Still looks identical after all these years — the design is crisp and dark black.

[evansd2]

Individual risk levels are kind of up to each person but dry moly engraving is generally not considered food safe.

Why You Should Stay Away From MolyLube for Metal Marking

Of course enduramark also wants to sell you marking compounds but it’s worth considering.

[beerfaced]

My knife is getting a bit faded but I really only use it to open boxes.

[beerfaced]

Looks a little bit like the result you get from electroetching.