Acid etching ?

I have a question about etching rifle barrel's. Can you acid etch a barrel with letters and a simple logo deep enough to survive rebluing. If so could you recomend where i can get information on the subject.Thanks
Dennis

Dennis,
The answer to your question is " yes". There are some FEGA seminar tapes that cover acid etching, and all of the supplies to do it are available from cronite in NJ. A simple explanation of the process is as follows.

1 apply acid resist to object to be etched (acid resist is called ground)

2 lightly scribe thru the acid resist the designs, lettering etc.

3 build a dam around the area to be etched, I use modeling clay

4 apply a small amount of acid inside the dam, enough to completly cover the area.

allow the acid to etch for a short period of time then rinse and repeat step 4 untill you have the depth that you would like. on a barrel of modern 4140 or 4350 steel it may take 15 to 20 minutes to get a .003 to .005 depth etch.

sometimes the acid will not start to work right off, and if that is the case use a steel scribe and reach into the acid and touch the bare metal where you have scribed through the acid resist, and it will start working instantly.

Use great care in all steps of this operation as etching with acid is not forgiving.
everything must be super clean and you must have good ventilation.

I hope that this helps if you have any questions you can pm me any time

Joe

Yes.
Look up Cronite on the net. They specialize in etching materials and equipment. also I think Robert Evans did a seminar on it for the FEGA. Look on the FEGA site for that video.
I usually etch my signature on the barrels before I inlay them with gold. You can etch to about the same depth as a cut line. The etching has more of a vertical edge.
PS. Joe is right on.