The authoritative public forum
  for Metal Finishing since 1989
  

  -----

Metal furniture mfgr. wants to do brass etching

Please advise me what chemicals to add together in order to etch BRASS PLATE 1 mm in thickness. We manufacture furniture and we want our items mixed brass plate with an etching design. Can you please teach me the step by step process of Brass Etching?

Thank you Kindly,

Arnold Luna
designer/architect - Talisay City, Cebu, Philippines
2003

---

Sir,
The whole process is quite simple.
Brass, Bronze and copper etch similarly, so similarly are they plated with and upon.
Take some time and read up on the subject both here at finishing.com as well as Ganoskin online or other finishing sites with how-to sections.
The etching will probably be done with nitric acid or ferric chloride ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] , and the plating either with copper sulphate ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] or an acid bath of some sort.
Good luck with the project.

Joshua Johnson
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
2005