Is it possible to remove scratches in titanium?

[Jesse B.]

Or: Is it possible to remove light scratches in titanium using readily-available items?
But first things first. Apologies all around for asking a question one would think has been asked many, many times before. I searched and found no information more useful than a gentleman who removed scratches from something made of titanium using a metal "ink eraser." I also found some really advanced information and seeing as how I just tried using a lychee to remove the scratches, I'm not that advanced. (Apparently titanium is more abrasive than lychee skin FYI.)

I've got a Benchmade 630 Skirmish. It's a First Production and would've preserved it better had I known more at the time. The scratches aren't bad, and as with anodized(?) titanium are invisible when viewed head on. Off angle they light up like a Christmas tree.

Are the scratches removable? If so, how?
Thanks

 

[STR]

Ti is hard to get scratches out if you do it by hand but not impossible. I've seen it done with scotchbrite pads by abraiding the ti in one direction only in straight lines. You can remove scratches by bead blasting it and reanodizing after that but truth be told if its a user its just going to happen again. While the oxide layer that gives the liners color is near ceramic in hardness that will not keep it from scratching up.

If I was sanding on something and wanted to give it a nice satin like finish normally I'd make a guide and by that I simply mean a smooth strip of aluminum like the strips you can buy at Lowes in various lengths. I'd screw that strip down on my work table and lay my piece to be finished beside that so they were side by side touching. Then I'd use that aluminum guide to keep my lines straight by keeping my pinky and ring finger kind of off the edge of that strip as I'm sanding straight steady lines in one direction over and over until the entire slab I'm sanding is uniform looking with nice straight lines. Basically you are replacing the scratches with nice new straight ones. As you progress you can get finer and finer with various grits if you like or once its uniform stop there, or bead blast it after that to clean it all up. Fact of the matter is you could probably bead blast it without doing any sanding and cover most of the scratches or at least make them darn hard to see.

In my experience anytime I've taken a color anodized piece of titanium and sanded on one area it will mean re-doing the entire thing whether you touched some areas away from the spot you were trying to rub on or not. Chances are when you re-anodize it that it won't match the old color anyway and even if you did it at the same voltage used to create the color originally it would still be a shade off and look different. What this means is that no matter if the spot is a hair wide and a 1/4" long you will end up re doing the entire side to clean up that hair scratch line.

STR

 

[Jesse B.]

Thanks, that was extremely helpful.

 

[The Sun]

you could also put lots of scratches back in it by just Stone-washing your piece. then future wear will be almost invisible....one of my favorite finishes.