polishing/blending titanium.

[jdm61]

I have seen many makers polish and "blend" steel like 416 to where you can't even see the pins holding a bolster, guard, etc. I have even seen guys like Stan Wilson do it with the bolster mounted release button on automatics. My question si can you polish/blend titanium like that or does that only work with steel? I was thing about a bolstered liner lock where one par of the pivot would be pretty much invisible and the side with the worn hold would be blended and the hole perhaps hidden by a "tip down" carry clip.

 

[Busto]

The counter bore for the pivot would have to be so tight tolerance you would have to press fit the pivot and hope the shadow polishes out?!!! Not like peening a SS pin and grinding off excess to hide the hole...Good Luck

 

[Alan Davis Knives]

Stan uses hidden screws from the back side to hold the bolster with the pivot under the bolster in a countersunk hole. Quite a while back I remember seeing a thread on a forum where he showed how he did it and a tool he made for tightening the screws which was basically a short torx bit mounted in a metal strip which fit between the liners.

 

[jdm61]

I saw a video where Stan "blended" the button for an automatic that had bolsters made from Eggerling damascus blade steel with stripes of pure nickel in it. He had made the button for damascus too and lined up the pattern between blade, bolster and button when building the knife! That was some pretty precise fitting considering it was a moving part!!!!

Stan uses hidden screws from the back side to hold the bolster with the pivot under the bolster in a countersunk hole. Quite a while back I remember seeing a thread on a forum where he showed how he did it and a tool he made for tightening the screws which was basically a short torx bit mounted in a metal strip which fit between the liners.

 

[jdm61]

Busto, my question is whether or not you can even do that with titanium?

The counter bore for the pivot would have to be so tight tolerance you would have to press fit the pivot and hope the shadow polishes out?!!! Not like peening a SS pin and grinding off excess to hide the hole...Good Luck

 

[Calvin Robinson]

Yes, you can pien titanium pins and make them invisible just like any other material. I think if you tried to pien and hide only one side it would show the first time the pin moved any at all.

 

[jdm61]

Yes, you can pien titanium pins and make them invisible just like any other material. I think if you tried to pien and hide only one side it would show the first time the pin moved any at all.

Thanks Calvin. I guess I had better be satisfied with just going for flush. That's kind of the basic objective. Hide what you can and make sure that what you can't hide is clean and flush.

 

[Lasklus]

Polisch titanium need much more steps but is doable!

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Thanks Calvin. I guess I had better be satisfied with just going for flush. That's kind of the basic objective. Hide what you can and make sure that what you can't hide is clean and flush.

Peening the pins into a tapered hole is the first step. Then file/sand flush and carefully blend in the finish. Done slowly and with the right abrasives and polishes, even titanium can be done with a virtually invisible pin.