Warning, some of these chemicals can land you on a watch list.

Instructables “stop using Ferric Chloride etchant! (A better etching solution.)
Once again, I’m making a batch of acid as per the instructable websites’ recipe.

This time I used a jelly jar with measuring lines on it, because eye-balling it may have contributed to the messy bite I experienced previously.


The giant bottle of Muriatic acid I have tucked away was still all kinds of toxic fuming badness.(it is over a year old at this point)




I imagine this is what crazy purple knock out gas smells like. (if you do this at home, try not to breath)

The recipe says the etch went super quick when the acid is new. However, to achieve a proper intaglio bite, I sloshed these around in the bath for an hour or four.
Their etchant when fresh does not bite through sharpie marker typically, but it does bite messily through sharpie paint pens. This second method creates something similar to white ground, only a bit more rough. This method also turns the etching solution a disturbing black.



My thoughts; this etchant is great when it's new and slowly becomes less and less effective over time, dispite 'recharging' it. The only real problem with this stuff is having to evaporate it down to crystals to dispose of it...and even then I'm not sure know safe this is to be sent to a land fill.