Poll: What color should I anodize my Sebenza?

[Eversion]

Figured I'd let you guys have some fun at my expense in these trying times!

I've got a user CRK Small Sebenza 21 Insingo with double silver lugs. The double silver means it's ripe to be anodized any color, and I'm tired of plain old grey (and I may have an ano problem).

So, vote away, and I'll post pictures of the finished product in a few days when the poll is over!

Edit: For those voting that I'm a heretic, know that this specific knife already has little resale value, as it doesn't have the box, card, etc, and it is a user. Thanks for voting!

 

[fishface5]

I'm a fan of dark bronze myself. Do it!!

 

[Eversion]

I'm a fan of dark bronze myself. Do it!!

Ya know, I tried that and it didn't go great. I've gotta experiment more with that

 

[bflying]

Ok, voted green. IF....you can hit a nice deep darker green. I've really had trouble with greens, and only had so so results hit n miss. Most of the time I end up with some washed out pistachio ice cream variation.

I have done a lot of blues, purples because they are really easy to hit. But, gotta say, I think my favorite has already been mentioned...Dark Bronze. It's one of the first colors to hit at low voltage, but I just really like the look on many solid Ti slabs.

 

[Eversion]

Ok, voted green. IF....you can hit a nice deep darker green. I've really had trouble with greens, and only had so so results hit n miss. Most of the time I end up with some washed out pistachio ice cream variation.

I have done a lot of blues, purples because they are really easy to hit. But, gotta say, I think my favorite has already been mentioned...Dark Bronze. It's one of the first colors to hit at low voltage, but I just really like the look on many solid Ti slabs.

I'll see what I can do! But my setup is currently using batteries so that may be difficult. Perhaps I can get my hands on a power supply before the time comes.

 

[bflying]

I just went through some pics to try to remember what volts I used on a couple of green parts I really liked. The clip and lockbar ony ZT 0850 were zapped at 99 volts. So to come close, you'd probably need a brick of 11-12 brand spanking new 9 Volt, all interlocked together.

This is the chart I use to approximate color voltage with my bench power supply.

And here is the one I used when still stacking 9 Volt batteries.

Here are some greens I've landed in the past. Though don't really like most of them for one reason or another.

Progression of the 0801Ti above.

Scale, Bronze to Green

And you can see that even keeping as many constants as possible (electrolyte, volts, amps, etc), the material and surface can still make a big difference.

 

[Eversion]

Yeah, my plan for doing green was to stack a dozen new 9 volts together and check the sum voltage with my multimeter and try to hit 100V. If I come short, I have some used batteries I can tack on, too, that'll increase it in small increments.

Most of your greens look really good! How do you treat your titanium before anodizing it?

 

[bflying]

I just use the cheap easy stuff. Sometimes Scotchbrite under running water. Acetone, then water. Then a VERY limited dip in Whink, and another rinse.

If using Whink, be sure to cover any exposed steel. Especially steel detent bearings and such. If the Ti is threaded anywhere, you may also want to cover them. Whink eats the surface of Both titanium and steel. So far I haven't seen any damage to ceramic bearings. I've just been using rubber cement dabs on anything I don't want surface etched. It takes a few minutes to dry, but when done it's very easy to rub off.

 

[Eversion]

I just use the cheap easy stuff. Sometimes Scotchbrite under running water. Acetone, then water. Then a VERY limited dip in Whink, and another rinse.

If using Whink, be sure to cover any exposed steel. Especially steel detent bearings and such. If the Ti is threaded anywhere, you may also want to cover them. Whink eats the surface of Both titanium and steel. So far I haven't seen any damage to ceramic bearings. I've just been using rubber cement dabs on anything I don't want surface etched. It takes a few minutes to dry, but when done it's very easy to rub off.

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it!

 

[King of the Cheese]

I wouldn’t anodize it. I’ve sold any knife I’ve anodized and I always lost money on it. You think your resale is bad now? Try selling an anodized CRK. The warranty will be gone too... and that’s the biggest resale killer.

 

[Eversion]

I wouldn’t anodize it. I’ve sold any knife I’ve anodized and I always lost money on it. You think your resale is bad now? Try selling an anodized CRK. The warranty will be gone too... and that’s the biggest resale killer.

You bring up some very valid points, surely! Honestly I don't plan on selling it, since it's been my most carried CRK thus far. Anodizing can be undone with some elbow grease, too. Along with a bead blast, she can look new again. Taking a bath is part of the knife loving experience, right?

 

[Eversion]

Well, the deed is done! Not the way that we expected, though...

Firstly, majority vote said to not anodize it. Well, too bad, I did it anyway!

Since a couple people suggested a dark bronze, I decided to entertain them first. The results looked very good; perhaps I'll try that look on another knife sometime.



However, I was looking for something a like more "out there" for this knife in particular, something that just screams "I anodized a Sebenza!".

So I tried the highest voted color: green. Long story short, that went miserably bad. It only took anodizing the standoff and the clip at 3 different voltages to see that it wasn't going to work.



I definitely appreciate good green ano's more now. So, that fubar aside, I was again left indecisive again as to what color to do. So, instead of picking one myself, I decided to do all the colors on the voting list! Yay, everyone wins! (except the naysayers lol)

I brushed off the terrible green attempt, and instead did this:



I think turned out amazing, definitely a keeper. The lockbar side didn't fade as well, which was totally my fault. It takes a bit of practice and skill to pull off a perfect match, I'm sure. But it's still good enough for me.

The color would absolutely be more vibrant if I polished the titanium, but this is a user, so I want the durability that the current finish provides.

Thanks to everyone who participated, and thanks especially to bflying. Those color charts came in really handy last minute to pull off the gradient.

 

[bflying]

I think it looks GREAT! But it’s obvious from my pics above that I like a good “fade”. Some for the look, but for me it was even more so for the challenge. I think you really landed it. Especially given the battery setup. Now that you have this one under your belt, can’t wait to see what you come up with next.

In terms of side matching, I drove myself nuts early on trying to make things even. Lots of Ano-Strip-ReAno. Until someone mentioned that I should be doing them simultaneously if color line-up mattered to me. So I just twisted my Ti wire into a double hanger. Been using the same one now for years. Clip my lead gator clip to the top loop, and hang slabs side by side.

 

[Eversion]

I think it looks GREAT! But it’s obvious from my pics above that I like a good “fade”. Some for the look, but for me it was even more so for the challenge. I think you really landed it. Especially given the battery setup. Now that you have this one under your belt, can’t wait to see what you come up with next.

In terms of side matching, I drove myself nuts early on trying to make things even. Lots of Ano-Strip-ReAno. Until someone mentioned that I should be doing them simultaneously if color line-up mattered to me. So I just twisted my Ti wire into a double hanger. Been using the same one now for years. Clip my lead gator clip to the top loop, and hang slabs side by side.

That's definitely a good idea! My tub was too shallow to do that though. I should be changing my setup here for some more serious anodizing later.

 

[Craig James]

I’ll preface this by saying I know absolutely nothing about this topic, but why would you use 9v batteries rather than a relatively cheap power supply? That Wanptek comes in at what 60 GBP? Surely you’d quickly get up to that price using 9v batteries and you wouldn’t get any voltage slippage as the batteries discharge?

love the colours by the way. Great effort

 

[Eversion]

I’ll preface this by saying I know absolutely nothing about this topic, but why would you use 9v batteries rather than a relatively cheap power supply? That Wanptek comes in at what 60 GBP? Surely you’d quickly get up to that price using 9v batteries and you wouldn’t get any voltage slippage as the batteries discharge?

love the colours by the way. Great effort

You bring up a good point! Simply put, I'm quite new to the anodizing game, and just haven't gone through my first set of batteries yet! Batteries are super simple to start with, as there are many battery based tutorials out there that don't worry about amperage, resistance, etc.

I just got a brick of batteries for a simple start and haven't experienced a voltage drop yet. I plan on getting a power source later, though.