Anodized Titanium

Bugs3x

Bugs3x

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Feb 21, 2001
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The thread entitled "Things added to Sebenzas" reminded me of something I've been wanting to ask here. It is anodizing titanium.

All the anodized titanium I've seen was fairly highly polished as well as colored. Is that sort of a polish required before anodization?

Simply, is it possible to anodize the plain gray handles? With the finish they come with? I think it could prove cool if we could have our Sebenzas anodized either before purchase or in the aftermarket.

I didn't search. Please don't kill me if this question has been asked hundreds of times before.

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Asi es la vida

Bugs
 
Ivan Campos had a Ti handled knife at the Blade Show that had been beed blasted and anodized gold. It was really nice. I believe it was marked Korth.

Paul
 
If you want to learn about how anodizing titanium causes colors, do a search for 'interference colors.' This involves the light reflecting back from the surface to the coating. Depending on the number of times the light is reflected, a different color is produced. The more times the light is reflected, of course, the more the color is shifted towards the red end of the spectrum, as some energy is lost with each reflection. This is the same phenomenon that causes the color in soap bubbles.

Ti can be anodized to give a rainbow like appearance simply by making the coating thicker at one end. Many discrete colors can be, and are, made to color code surgical devices, especially small ones.

I am not sure, but think that the surface would have to be pretty smooth for interference colors to appear. If you anodized a bead blasted piece of Ti, I think that the light would be mostly trapped in the peaks and valleys of the surface, and what reflection occured would not be predictable; rather like hitting a tennis ball at a wall covered with random lengths of board to give different returns.

Certainly the albedo of the Ti is lowered when the bead blasting is rougher; that is why the Ti will appear darker; less light is reflected from the surface, and more is lost in the higher peaks and deeper valleys of the surface.

Hope this helps, Walt
 
Hmmm...just read Paul Davidson's post, which seems to disprove my hypothesis.

Well, two things occur to me. First, the technique used with Al, which is different from Ti, could have been used here. This technique involves pigment.

Secondly, the coating could actually be titanium nitride, which yields a gold color.

Was it a BRIGHT gold, or a very DULL gold? The first would suggest the two possibilities mentioned above, the second would suggest that interference color was actually produced with a bead blasted finish.

Walt
 
My BM42a has a very nice anodized finish, that has proved remarkably durable. I would love a Sebi in a deep purple finish!

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Wayne.
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Walt,
It was a dull gold color. I didn't think it was possible to anodize a bead blasted surface either, that's why I asked Ivan Campos how the color was achieved. He told me it was anodized. That's all I can say on the subject without a bunch of speculation.

Paul
 
To the best of my knowledge, you need a polished surface to get the rich colors. There is a big difference in anodizing titanium and aluminum - as Walt mentioned, the color that you see on anodized titanium is nothing more than reflected light. No paint, no dye, just light. The piece of titanium has an electrical current passed through it and, according to the different voltage used, so the surface molecules are re-arranged and the spectrum is splintered, reflecting only that particular color.

It is possible to anodize a beadblasted handle - it just looks kind of murky and not very attractive at all.

Anne
 
Anne,

I was thinking about having my plain small Sebenza handles anodized in rainbow pattern. I was quoted $ 25 by a custom metal shop. Are you saying that anodizing a plain Sebenza produces a murky color so that it's really not worth the expense?

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Malcolm
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"Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean; who is neither tarnished nor afraid. "
Raymond Chandler
 
Sorry so slow getting back to this. Thank you all for your posts. I'll try to do the requisite research, Walt.

It sounds to me like it may be possible to have my grips anodized. Have never heard of "custom metal shops" but I should be able to find something of the sort. It might be worth the gamble.

If, indeed, the colors come from reflected light, it would seem that if one didn't like the effect, it should be reversible -- if one knows the proper electrical jolt for the gray. Or maybe that is simply no light reflected?

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Asi es la vida

Bugs
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Or maybe that is simply no light reflected?</font>
Click to expand...

No reflection of the visible spectrum results in black, the absence of other colors.
 
If you had the bead blasted scales anodized, using the usual method for Ti, you would probably end up with a very dull color, due to the scattering of light by the peaks and valleys of the bead blast finish.

The coating is very thin, so you could probably just re bead blast the scales to remove it if you didn't like it.

While it is true that the absence of reflected light results in a black color, this is not achieveable by bead blasting. What does happen however, is that the gray color is darker the coarser the finish. This is because the peaks and valleys are higher and deeper respectively, so less light is reflected.

If you are going to have a bead blasted slab anodized, have it polished first.

Bugs3X; you seem to be confused; the standard bead blasted scales are NOT anodized. The gray color is the natural color of Ti, albeit somewhat shifted to a darker shade by the lessened reflected light.
There is no interference color in a standard bead blasted scale. The light is reflected directly from the surface to your eye, not through a thin film over the surface of the Ti.

Unless, of course, you PUT a thin film of something, say, WD-40, on the scales. This might have the unfortunate effect of turning a rare blue circle Umfaan into a common gray circle Umfaan (BWAAAHAAAHAAA!!!). A quick application of Windex has been demonstrated to change the circles back to blue.

Walt
smile.gif


[This message has been edited by Walt Welch (edited 06-24-2001).]
 
Walt, not sure if am confused or not. I realize that the handles in their natural form are not anodized. Was just wondering if one attempted to anodize them and was dissatisfied, if another anodization could restore them to the gray with which they originated. If not, obviously, another bead blast job should do that trick.

Will have to think about it. Just not that fond of the gray. But, it is a "natural" ugliness. A murky colored ugliness would probably be much harder to take.


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Asi es la vida

Bugs
 
Bugs3X; you have selected a terribly complex hypothetical situation. It is doubtful that you could reanodize the scales in an effort to return them to their original condition.

Why would you want to? Anodizing costs money, and you would have to strip the original anodizing off before applying the second anodizing to the scales, which (assuming you used bead blasting to remove the anodizing) are ALREADY in their original condition.

Walt
 
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