In what order?

C

Chris Meyer

Joined
Aug 15, 2005
Messages
1,297
Greetings,

I am making a small fixed blade knife and I need some help in deciding in what order I should proceed when assembling it. The knife is flat ground O-1, with about a 4" blade and a tapered tang. I intend to install a titanium half guard, which I slotted on my milling machine. I plan to install the guard with two titanium pins and JB Weld. The handle will be Bocote.

I would like to etch the blade in Ferric Chloride and/or vinegar to get a nice patina. I also want to anodize the titanium guard. Which should I do first? I am leaning toward etching the blade, then carefully installing the guard, then anodizing the guard with it already installed on the blade. Would this be problematic?:confused:

I could anodize the guard before I install it, but then the ends of the titanium pins would not be colored. Or I could temporarily install the guard with pins, shape it, then remove the guard and anodize it, but this seems like more trouble than it's worth.:(

Could my blade go into an anodizing solution without harming the blade or the etch? Could a blade with an anodized and installed guard be etched without screwing up the anodizing or weakening the JB Weld?:confused:

Any advice in how to proceed would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
Chris, you could etch the titanium blade WITH the titanium on it without hurting the Ti at all!

BUT you problem is going to come as you try to annodize the Ti with the blade attached... Titanium is NOT a very good conductor, and when you are annodizing it builds a non conductive oxide layer that is the actual color. When you add the steel blade into the mix it will conduct the electricity a LOT easier than the Ti. It will dead short yoru power supply and pop the fuse almost every time... Most of the time your Ti will get very little to no color.

A couple of solutions would be to HEAT annodize the Ti part, assemble, and with a really fine tip on the torchcolor the pins, with the blade wrapped in wet towels ect, to keep the heat off the temper.

Another way you could do it is called brush annodizing... its where you would clip the posative lead of the electroannodizer to the blade and use either a metal ferruled brush or a chunk of sponge or something in the negative lead.. soak the brush or sponge in your solution and paint the color on. that way you can keep the current running where you want and off of the steel.

Let me know if I can be of any more help for ya!

Alan Folts

alanfolts@hotmail.com
 
Alan,

Thank you very much for the information. It looks like you've saved me from really making a mess of things. I have a mini torch, so the heat coloring may be the best way for me to go.
 
Chris, if you need any help with the annodizing or such just let me know... I annodize a TON of Titanium every year and have a few tricks still left up my sleeve.:)

If you have the equipment and plan on using any amount of Ti on your knives, screw construction, makes everything a heck of a lot easier.:)

Try the "brush annodizing" on a scrap peice, you will get much more consistant results than the heat coloring.

Just shoot me an email if ya get any more questions... The way I learned was to screw stuff up, so I am just trying to save the new makers from doing the same thing.:)

Alan Folts

alanfolts@hotmail.com
 
Alan,

Thank you very much. I'm putting together an anodizer like the one Jason Howell had on his website and I really want to try it out when it's complete. That's really why i'm using the titanium guard. I will have to try both the brush and the heat methods, as well as anodizing some liners and such. I'm sure that I will have lots of questions, so you can expect to hear from me in the future. Thanks again. :) -Chris
 
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