I've been waiting to write you guys back to give some updates and responses to your comments.
Sometimes I reuse my ano batch too many times and I get a white residue that gunks up everything, but I've been having poor results even with new ano batches.
If you read one of my previous response, you'll see that I talk about different surface colors resulting from different finishes. You have a point about the MultiEtch, though. Sometimes I skip it because I figure that the handle is fresh from being Flitzed, so it hasn't developed the oxide later, yet. (I thought I saw others that skipped the Multi-Etch sometimes.) I went back to MultiEtching, and it's true that it's easier to get those popping colors.
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Now for the updates:
So now I Multi-Etch and am trying to use fresher ano baths, and I've made the additional change of going for the low voltage (20V) blue instead of the high voltage (80V) blue. I was able to get some beautiful, deep blues, but now one of my old problems has come back: fading ano. I think I'm beginning to realize why manufacturers only give us anodized titanium handles if the handles are stonewashed or blasted -- but never polished. The ano just fades.
Notice the front of this Falcon Wing, where the blue ano almost immediately faded from the top of the wing. (Windex or alcohol cannot get it back.)
As for the back of the knife, it never really looks blue, because of fingerprints.