Wootz razor freshly etched

Today I took a day off and did some forging, and then went into my workshop to finish some works in progress. One of them is a wootz razor that was polished, but needed etching.

The looks of a wootz blade are determined not only by just the etch. The etching can be tricky, but in the end, the carbide structure in the steel is determined not only by the etching, but also in a major part by the heat treatment, how it was forged, and at which temperatures it was forged.

Before etching, the result is still largely unknown, so it’s always a bit scary. But today I was very happy with how everything turned out.