Custom Anodized Umnumzaan

T

TacticalBlade

BANNED
Joined
Sep 15, 2010
Messages
239
Hey Guys,

Been wanting to experiment with titanium anodizing for a while, ever since a friend explained how simple it is. I first Polished the handles and anodized them blue. To Anodize, you need an electrolyte. For consitency i wanted to use an easily repeatable solution. I Went with white vinegar straight up. Poured a few cups into a tupperware container and then added a anode of stainless steel bar and clipped a cathode connector to the TI scale. Juiced it up with 30 volts and got the pretty blue. 70 volts for the red. And the clip should have been blue but ended up like a rainbow color. Need to figure that out still.

Then I high polished the pivot heads on my lathe with micromesh and reassembled it.

Hope you guys like it as much as I do.

IMG_6400.jpg


IMG_6399.jpg


IMG_6398.jpg


IMG_6401.jpg
 
Last edited:
Very nice. I like it.

btw, Is it just me, or does the knife actually have a pearlescent look to it ?
 
Last edited:
Wow...turned out quite well IMO. :thumbup:
You make it sound very easy...makes me want to try my hand at anodizing! Could you post some more details of the process you used?
 
Thanks for the kind words. Anodizing Ti is a heck of alot easier, simpler and different than aluminum. no harsh chemicals and you probably have everything in your house. You need:

Vinegar, Coke/Pepsi, or water and TSP. I used the Vinegar because i had it on hand and new it would work. Coke/Pepsi apparently works but you cant see your part and the water and TSP has variablility in composition.

A Container. I used a plastic ziploc tupperware from the kitchen. All it has to be is larger than the part and non-conductive.

Electrode. Something that wont rust. I had success with Aluminum extrusions, brass and stainless steel. Should have similar surface area to the component to be anodized. Stainless steel bar is my choice, a scrap from my lathe is all I used.

A DC voltage supply. You need anywhere from 0 to 100 volts. For blue it is between 20 and 50 depending on electrolyte. yellow and green is near 100. I connected a 12 volt battery charger to a benchtop power supply in series and wired the 2, 20 volt supply channels in parallel for added current as they are rather weak and then needed a little more voltage so I added a second 12 volt power supply. If you dont have all that equipment, multiple 9 volt batteries can add up voltage in 9 volt discrete steps.

The set up.

Wrap some copper wire around the stainless electrode to connect it electrically to the power supply. I only did this to have a place to connect the alligator clip t and to keep the actual clip out of the vinegar. clip the negative to the electrode and the positive to the part. make sure the part and the electrod do not touch and slowly ramp up the voltage watching the color spectrum change. Do this SLOWLY. like add a volt every minute. once you get the color you want leave the settings for multiple parts to have the same color. rotating the parts I found does help keep things even but isnt absolutely necessary. You cannot go back to a lower voltage color, but you can go to a higher voltage color from a lower voltage color. The anodizing is fairly thin so a thorough buffing on a wheel or dremel or sandpaper will remove the color in no time if you want to try again. That being said the anodizing on the TI is quite strong and I dont think will scratch to easily.

The only other bit of advice. The finish on the surface to be finished prior to anodizing is the same finish you will get after anodizing. It doesnt hide imperfections so take the extra time to make the surface look good. Ultimately, I spent about 4 hours on this and to do it again it would take me half or less time because I know the setup now. I have no anodizing experience either it just came up in conversation with a friend in the knifemaking community.

Hope this helps.
 
That doesn't look too bad. You could do the spacer as well as it's Titanium too.
 
Thanks for taking the time to post the process. I'll definitely give this a try.
 
wow, that is pretty sweet!

Thanks for the good write-up I might have to try this process out this weekend...
 
Go for it. It really is easy. I forgot to mention earlier, because the electricity is flowing through the electrolyte, it will bubble and fizz a bit. It is totally normal. In fact, you are doing something wrong if there is no fizz.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top