First try titanium heat anodizing- easy and looks great!

[Motega]

Ferric acid and heat after lots of sanding from 400-2000 grit (about 20 minutes worth).

For my key organizer (Quietcarry Q3) which sucks anyway so nothing to lose. A second dip messed it up but I'll just sand it and do it again.

Couple of thing I learned- regular #5 plastic from takeout works fine with ferric chloride (at least for a few minutes, no obvious interaction)- and that it this piece of Ti at least didn't go bronze when heated, it started glowing and I think I should have given it less heat. About 20-30 seconds on the propane torch was all it needed.

I think next up is the ZT 450 scales.

 

[King of the Cheese]

Awesome! I have a 450 I’m thinking of customizing.

 

[craytab]

Ferric acid and heat after lots of sanding from 400-2000 grit (about 20 minutes worth).

For my key organizer (Quietcarry Q3) which sucks anyway so nothing to lose. A second dip messed it up but I'll just sand it and do it again.

Couple of thing I learned- regular #5 plastic from takeout works fine with ferric chloride (at least for a few minutes, no obvious interaction)- and that it this piece of Ti at least didn't go bronze when heated, it started glowing and I think I should have given it less heat. About 20-30 seconds on the propane torch was all it needed.

I think next up is the ZT 450 scales.

So long as you're happy with it. Maybe it is just the pictures but I can't tell what exactly we are looking at.

 

[Motega]

I would try scraps first, there's a bunch of variables I've heard you can mess around with like heating the ferric chloride, different types and grits of sandpaper... I would be interested if anyone else knows how to get better color.
I think that I overheated it, it went directly to glowing orange without bronzing first. This was a piece of a Quiet carry Q3 key organizer/knife combo so I'm sure the type of titanium matters too.
Keep us posted with experiments!
I got the ferric acid on Amazon, it was considered "lab grade".

 

[fishface5]

Looks pretty cool to me! But I think for an even color you might need to go the distilled water + electric current route.

 

[Motega]

I know that if/when I get into that I am going to go with a pro setup to dial in the current accurately- don't get me wrong, it's awesome, especially because you can get stickers to create patterns and such, but the whole setup with good etching solution and some extras is going to run $400 or so. I know it can be done with 9V and such, but not my style.
This is a $15 alternative.
And to all the guys on that cheesy wine thread who have been very politely asking if I would be able to refinish their knives, I'm very sorry but I can't because I am not a dealer. Thank you though for your interest and your kind words! I can put up a YouTube video for you and show you how to do it. It's really easy. But again, the answer is still no although your generous offers (a hundred dollars is much better spent elsewhere!) are appreciated. Thanks again for the compliments!