Anodized Titanium Questions

[jbravo]

Is the coloring on anodized titanium only on the surface, or does it go deeper? Can the color be removed readily, or is it a permanent feature? I have a knife that I like - except the maker decided to anodize some brightly colored streaks on the otherwise desirable battle-ship gray handles.

Alternatively, would a boron carbide coating cover it up?

Thanks for any assistance that can be rendered.

 

[Ferret]

It's a thin oxide layer that's only a beesdick thick but a bit tough....you'll be able to sand it out with perseverance.

 

[Ferret]

Maybe oxide isn't technically correct but you get the idea

 

[Peter Atwood]

It isn't all that thick or durable. We did some side by side comparison tests this summer between heat colored titanium in which color is achieved by heating a polished piece of titanium with a torch and also by anodizing using a power supply. The heat colored tianium was much more colorfast and resistant to wear. We speculate that the color is much deeper when generated by heat probably just because it's a thicker layer of oxide.. The anodized layer is very thin and does not increase in thickness when subjected to longer voltage. It does however, have the great advantage of being repeatable and controllable.

You should be able to buff it off with not too much difficulty. But the battleship gray that you mentioned may have been achieved through beadblasting so you might need to have that done after buffing to make everything uniform again.