titanium coloring?

[mike56]

I put this up in the Chris Reeve forum but this is probably the best place for it. I wanted to know if the clip, also titanium, can be colored like aluminum can be anodized. One reply was that heating it will turn it blue/purple. Any other thoughts? Just looking to jazz it up. Will drilling different, random size holes down the clip waeken it substantially? Mike

 

[Alpha Knife Supply]

Therre are many more colors available from heat coloring than purple and blue.

If you are planning to color the clip yourself send me a note with you address and I'll send you some titanium scraps to practice with.

 

[Andrew McLurkin]

Mike, you may already know this but anodized titanium scratches very easily. If this is a carry knife the clip will be the area most likely to get scratched up. You can always finish it again and re-anodize it if the scratches get to the point where they bother you.

With a propane torch you can get a range of colors including blues, browns, and gold. The colors tend to be more rainbow like then what can be achieved by anodization with DC current. To do the later you need an anodizing machine of some sort.

Drilling holes will weaken the clip, and it would be up to trial and error to see how much can be drilled out before the clip gets weak.

 

[Andrew McLurkin]

Double post

 

[Alpha Knife Supply]

I've found the key to getting consistent colors when using heat is to use a heat sink.

I’ve seen Tom Ferry heat color Timascus very consistently without a heat sink but I don’t have his skill.

 

[Crayola]

Chuck,

can you explain a little more about the use of a heat sink? I colored one test piece you sent me already, and I got different colors on both sides. To do the project, I just proped the piece against a piece of brick which was sitting atop another cinder block!

Titanium rules.

 

[Alpha Knife Supply]

I used a bar of mild steel .250"x1.50"x24.00" as the heat sink.

The first time I placed the Timascus directly on the bar and ended up with different colors on each side. Since then I shim one side up slightly so oxygen can get to the titanium. My next test will place the ti on refractory brick.

There are other heat sources for coloring. Frank Niro used a pan on an electric stove burner to color his bolsters.

 

[Robert Marotz]

Yup, you can get a wide variety of colors from heat coloring Ti. As you progress through the stages, it seems to get more scratch resistant, as the oxide layers are thicker. For an example of some of the color range you can achieve, take a peek at these (sorry for the poor scan!):

It's not terribly hard to get even coloration, but it does take some degree of patience. It's easy to get impatient with a torch when you start seeing results and then the effects slow down!