Saltwater etching, very interesting.

[boltons75]

I just ran across an article on saltwater etching last night and had to come home and give it a try. Grabbed an old knife I picked up somewhere but don't use much, put some nail polish on it and scratched my initials in with a tooth pick. Grabbed my car battery charger set on 50 amp quick start, attached one end to the knife and the other to the tip of a qtip. You then dip the qtip into saltwater and then touch the qtip to the exposed metal you want etched. Works rather well, I'm going to be going to kinkos to get some stick on vinyl stencils made for some future 80% receiver builds.
This is less than ten minutes work, after the nail polish dried.

With stencils they look much better, see you tube...

[Artful]

Learn something new here everyday - Thanks for posting.

[bstarling]

That gives me a bunch of ideas. I've been needing to mark a few barrels for a long time and couldn't bring myself to mess with letter/number stamps. Thank you for posting this information.

Bill

[merlin101]

That gives me a bunch of ideas. I've been needing to mark a few barrels for a long time and couldn't bring myself to mess with letter/number stamps. Thank you for posting this information.

Bill

CLICK the light bulb just came on!!
I've got a 7MM Mag that needs marked and just couldn't bring myself to use the ole engraver.

[boltons75]

Just make sure you tape off everything very well that you don't want etched. Once I get the vinyl stencils made I'm going to put some custom graphics on the slide of my Ruger SR40c, then when my 80% receivers come in I'll have a way to do the markings on them.
I'm also a mentor on a First Robotics team, and might end up showing the kids the process so they can mark their tools.
I'm also thinking of labeling my sockets with the big etched numbers for easier visibility.