To be honest, generally speaking, anodizing on titanium
is not more durable than aluminum anodizing. The anodizing of aluminum is deeper into the surface of the material, with the color etched and dyed deeper into the surface of the aluminum. When titanium is anodized, the color you see is basically a surface effect from the chemical reaction. It is a different type of process, but only called "anodizing" because they share the same idea of electrical current run through a chemical solution bath. I would like to point out, however, that this is a
very rough generalization or overview of anodizing. The process can be fairly tricky sometimes. There are several threads in the Shop Talk forum that would explain it in greater detail, or drop over to the Reactive Metals website at
www.reactivemetals.com for some more details of the materials and the anodizing process.
Having played with home anodizing and titanium in one of those "home experiment to satisfy curiosity gone out of control", I was able to remove anodizing layers on titanium samples by a good scrubbing with a green Scotch-Brite pad.
The big difference, however, between what I was doing, and durability issues of decorated Sebenzas is that the anodized areas of the Sebenza handle is machined and recessed below the surface of the scale, so it's protected in a way, from daily wear and scuffing. Not so the thumb stud, which by handling and opening the blade on a constant basis (like most Sebenza owners do
) will eventually wear some of the anodized layer away.
I guess another way to approach this question would be to ask CRK how many decorated Sebenzas they've had to re-anodize, or if the general cost of "refinishing" a decorated Sebenza is the same as a plain.
I haven't heard any complaints from decorated Sebenza owners about the anodizing wearing, and I'm sure some of these knives are used hard on a regular basis. Either that, or any wearing of the anodizing is considered "character marks" like scratches and bangs on the bead blasted scales of plain Sebenzas, and simply par for the course.
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Don LeHue
The pen is mightier than the sword...outside of arm's reach. Modify radius accordingly for rifle.
