Darkening Titanium

E

evolbeaver

Joined
Dec 22, 2008
Messages
184
Hello everyone,

I found a thread the other day where someone used oxiclean (the laundry soap) to put a nice dark finish on titanium. I actually tried this on my benchmade, but I was not able to get it as dark as I wanted or as dark as I thought the pictures showed. All I did was boil some water, add oxiclean, then let my handles soak for about 20 minutes or so. It definately did something, but it sometimes appears to have almost a bronze hue to it in direct sunlight, not that dark grey I was originally after. Is there anyone out there with experience using oxiclean on titanium? Or is there any other way to give titanium a nice dark finish without sending it out or painting it? I know I could always send it out for a DLC coating which would be super durable from what I hear, but more expensive than I want to get into. Thanks to everyone in advance.
 
You could try cleaning the knife up real good first- use acetone to make sure the surface is totally clean- and try again with the Oxi-clean. Your handles will darken up naturally a little bit over time as they wear. Titanium's nice stuff.
 
I used a metal finishing pad (pretty much a scotch brite pad) and buffed the handles really well before I tried it, and of course rinsed them before the bath. So I am pretty confident that they were clean. My handles had a satin finish on them when I started and the handles in the thread where I got this idea from looked to be bead blasted so maybe its not that mine arent as dark, but they just started out different... I dont know. I really cant find very much on this topic so I was really hoping to find someone who has also done this and may be able to shed some light on the subject. I may try another boil when I get home, or maybe a bead blast then oxiclean treatment, I haven't decided yet. Thanks again for the help.
 
Different bead blast media recipes can create lighter and darker variances.

Fine garnet powder will make it dark gray. Glass will be lighter gray. Glass and Ceramic mix, or glass and ceramic and silica mix or mixes of one of other in various degrees as you experiment all do something slightly off from each alone and so on. The problem with that of course is that as you use it the way it looks or the shade can change over time so even if you made the same mixture and tried to touch something up later that you did say a year earlier it would have to be redone completely to make it match. In other words you usually can't just touch up one area without a shade diff. Sometimes if say you used glass and a year later touched it up in one spot it will stand out as off by a bit in certain light but as its exposed to the air they can blend on their own and darken some. I've noticed my own blast cabinet seemed to get a darker finish the more I used the powder. Recycling it over and over its now a fine talc that really dusts up the cabinet bad to the point I have to blast blind most of the time but I like the finish it creates so I put up with it.

STR
 
Do you have a link to the thread with pics? I was thinking of "melting" or smoothing my Sebenza 21, but didn't want to because of the nice dark color on it.
 
Here is the link to the original thread that gave me this idea:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=367495

I was doing some thinking and have been curious about if you were to do this treatment and add some black dye to the solution. I really want my handles as dark as I can get them, ideally a nice dark gun metal grey, and if there was a way to get the dye to become impregnated into the oxide layer that the oxiclean forms then I would think that would achieve what I am after. I wish there was a way to anodize titanium in the same fashion that aluminum is done, so you can choose your color and not be limited to the blue, purple, green, yellow, gold, etc that titanium produces. I am amazed at how little information I am able to find about the whole oxiclean treatment or any info on darkening titanium. I am guessing I cant find any info because it probably isnt possible... I will likely have to break down and pay for a DLC coating one day if I want black bad enough...
 
It appears that they are willing to do "sample blackening" on "Test Pieces" of titanium. Couldn't hurt to send them an E-mail.
Cut and paste the address below into your browser.
OldDude1

http://www.russamer.com/
 
wow, I am surprised that through all my searching that I have not found this site... this looks to be exactly what I am after. I already email them, I will let everyone know how this turns out if I end up doing. I cant thank you enough for sending me that link, made my day. Thanks again.
 
I have been thinking about redoing the oxiclean treatment to my handles and adding a black dye into the solution. I read that clothes dye works well when anodizing aluminum, and I completely understand that aluminum and titanium anodizing are very different in terms of producing a color, but I was thinking that maybe the oxide layer that the oxiclean forms on the titanium may be able to become partially impregnated with some of the pigmentation from the dye if it were forming while bathing in the dye. It may have no effect what so ever also, I really have no idea but am not against the idea of experimenting. Anyone have any input to this idea? Someone with prior experience would be great, but I would still like to hear what everyone has to think about this idea, even if they have never given it any prior thought. I am thinking it will likely not work, from what I can gather it is difficult to color titanium dark and if it were as simple as oxiclean and dye this would likely be a very popular method. I may just still give it a try tomorrow...
 
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