Finally patterned these stars on my Sebenza

[xzhang]

I bought a new large regular Sebenza from knifeworks in Oct., after carrying it for a while, I found that I didn't like the finish-so, I carefully polished the surface and anodized at 40V, then I masked some area with star pattern and applied 70 V ... finally I got this...

 

[gajinoz]

I like that finish. How do you do that?

 

[xzhang]

I feel I can do any pattern if I have more equipment, now I use 10 9V-battery.

first polish the surface: I polished it by hand, and this cost me about 1 and half hour because I use 2000 grid sand paper.
second clean the surface by water.
then I parpared a soda solution, and put the handle in it, applied 40V DC (the anode is a piece of Ti), it turned to dark blue, then I masked some area with star-shaped pattern, applied 70V DC.....
I failed 3 times, each time I have to polish it again (2 min). patterning is much more difficult then single color

 

[westllen]

very cool! I like it!:thumbup:

 

[Pointed]

I sure wish I had the time for a lot of the DIY stuff I see on here.

That looks great xzhang. Awesome job!

 

[spikedog]

That looks cool. Can you tell us more about the soda solution? How much of what ingredients, if it's not secret of course

 

[gdwtvb]

SWEEEEET!!! I've anodized mine a couple times, but never got results anywhere near that good. I've never thought of masking off places for a two tone. What did you use for masking the stars?? What did you use for a solution? I always used diet coke. I think I read somewhere that a 1% solution of sulfuric acid does a real good job too. I'm getting my second sebbie for Christmas, so I'll have some time to pimp my first one. Thanks for sharing. GDWTVB

 

[Lycosa]

Gorgeous!! Does the handle feel slippery?
Lycosa

 

[DaveH]

excellent job!

 

[Allex]

very nice, can you tell more about the soda solution ? I'd try this on my bm42 handle someday

 

[xzhang]

That looks cool. Can you tell us more about the soda solution? How much of what ingredients, if it's not secret of course

I used baking soda.

 

[xzhang]

everything you need:
(1) baking soda
(2) several 9-V batteries
(3) some wires
(5) gloves
(6) a bowl or other container

 

[xzhang]

Gorgeous!! Does the handle feel slippery?
Lycosa

yes, I like smooth surface and it's very slippery

 

[BlazenGem]

thats fantastic!

do you think the blue will wear off?

awesome job again,

mike

 

[xzhang]

thats fantastic!

do you think the blue will wear off?

awesome job again,

mike

I think the oxide layer is strong. Before I tried to anodize it myself, I got an anodized one from here (it was a trade for my strider AR), I carried it, used it....not even a slight mark. Now it's TurnerIII's, I traded it for his Classic Sebenza

 

[xzhang]

another one I anodized it myself. I polished it long time ago, so it saved me a lot of time

 

[xzhang]

and, you can anodize it without polishing, here is an example:

 

[xzhang]

anodizing is not difficult, and there's lot of fun:


the TAD dog tag:

anodized TAD dog tag:

 

[BlazenGem]

I am disabled, dont know a thing about connecting batteries.

 

[pkdmslf]

Very nice work! I've been wanting to try this on a couple of my knives but haven't got the intestinal fortitude yet to try it.