Amazing video. You just saved me $50 and 2 weeks turn around time sending my knife scales out for anodizing. Im definitely gonna build this simple setup. Thanks!
Glad I could help! If you have any questions you run into along the way, feel free to ask. I try to be pretty easy to get in touch with. I do my best to answer every comment on here. Thanks for watching, and stay tuned, I have a new video already filmed, just need to edit it up and get it out.
Followed it step by step and got fantastic results on my titanium rotor bolts, and sprocket nuts for my sport bike! If anyone’s hesitant to try this don’t be intimidated. Purchase the things he used, follow the simple steps, and you’ll be blown away with the finished product! The first time you dip something in the solution and it begins to change color feels like a magic trick 😂 Super mesmerizing to watch. Thank you very much for such a great tutorial!
You can just wrap the ti wire around the bolt once or twice so it's held in place. You can do a whole string of bolts like that. I actually recommend doing it that way because if you anodize everything together you'll have a much more even color across all the parts (as long as you're doing them the same color).
No, keeping the piece in longer has no effect, it's only the voltage that will change the color. Titanium wire is used because if you use a different material it screws with the anodizing. I have a video up on the channel showing what happens using copper wire, if you're interested in checking it out.
Going to try to anodize my pocket clip, backspacer, and knife scales on my Boos Blades Smoke today, bronze on the pocket clip and backspacer, and then a purple color for the scales! Thank you for this video, it's super helpful and going to save me a lot of money!
You’re on top of it dude..! Thanks! I remember I lost detent ball the last time I flame ano’ed some scales. That’s why I kept those old crappy big 5 knives..lol…
You're very welcome! That's awesome to hear! Glad it worked out for you. If you care to share any pics, I'd love to see how it turned out. All my social media accounts are linked on the channel homepage, or in the separate video descriptions. Thanks for watching!
Got any pictures or advice on the Leatherman TTI? I have been thinking of doing the same with mine here. Did you use the baking soda and distilled water method or something else.
I haven't personally done a Leatherman, but all the different methods I have on the channel here should work. I've got a handful of different videos up with different methods, but ultimately it all boils down to the same core stuff, distilled water and baking soda. Just depending on what style ano you're looking for will determine how to apply it. Which method are you trying to do, the one where you rub some of the ano off and re-anodize?
@@bradpatridge7280 I used the Titanium wire plus everything else shown in this video with the exception of the Whink, I didn't want to deal with the nasty, smelly odor of hydrochloric acid, my TTI is new without any rust or stains so I just rinsed the scales with Windex in order to remove any grease or oil. However, you will need the Whink if you are not happy with the color and want to remove it, just dip it for a few seconds otherwise the acid will damage the Ti. After done you will get something like this: imageshack.com/i/poAAkCWfp
Flipping a miguron velona . Great budget blade with Ti clip for $49 w coupon code old sword or LTK or anyone u like . There’s actually another front flipper too . Yeah man . Good find
After watching this and the video about what colors you can get by adding more batteries, I think I'm going to try a few pieces. If it take 10 seconds to get the color you want, would there be any advantage to leaving it longer, like a few minutes, or an hour? I'm just wondering if the anodizing can penetrate the surface deeper and be longer lasting.
Tip: If you dont have titanium wire to hold the piece, you can use steel or copper. Just keep the wire out of the water, anodize most of the part, then reposition the wire and anodize the rest. If the wire goes in the water, it will sap the current from the piece and simultaneously be etched away, making the color appear dull and uneven. This is how I anodize clips, beads, and screws.
Correct. I occasionally just attach the alligator clips directly to the piece and do it the same way if I'm in a hurry. As long as it doesn't go in the bath it's fine.
A few other things I've learned since I started doing this (which you may or may not have mentioned): The color appears from the light reflected through the oxide layer, so the more polished the surface is, the more directly light is reflected, and the more vivid the color appears. The oxide layer is more durable on a textured finish (such as stonewash or brushed) than on a polished surface. The sharp edges and corners always wear away first. Polishing them to a nice rounded chamfer before anodizing can help delay the edge wear. You can touch up a worn or scratched piece by repeating the process using the exact same or higher voltage. The worn/scratched spots will simply re-anodize to that color.
Nice tip about the Whink Rust and Stain remover. I've been looking for a way to remove the anodizing and always come back to Multi-Etch which is very expensive (even more so here in Canada) so I never bought it. I know what I'll buy during my next trip to the US :) Thanks!
I have a couple small titanium parts that I heat treated a little too far I believe, kind of a gun metal grey color now. Would I be able to use whink to take it back and go forward with this process?
Absolutely, I do it all the time. It has to be Whink from the US though. Not sure where you're from, but I've talked to some guys that tried it with the Canadian Whink and said that they have a different active ingredient. The ingredient you're looking for is hydrofluoric acid. Be careful not to get any on you, that's some nasty stuff.
It depends. If you want to do a color that requires a higher voltage it'll work just fine, but if the current color is a higher voltage than the color you want then you'll have to strip it first. Does that make sense?
I do have a question.. how would I get a rust reddish / brownish / red or orange color using this method. I ask because I own a Zero Tolerance 0450cf.. well the carbon fiber is this weird rust - brown color. It's really wierd. Marketed as red but it's not red at all. Anyway, I'm looking to match the titanium scale to the weird rust - brown carbon fiber scale. Any ideas for that type of color? Mars dust orange or bronze rust or something along those lines?
Hard to say, I haven't pushed any of my knives to that point. I'm sure if you etch it a ton of times you'll start getting slop in it, but I've done it numerous times without issue. A good practice is using nail polish on any surface where tolerance is important. Then once you're finished just take it off with acetone. That way it won't etch that spot.
Thanks again . I e watched a handful of these today and think I have a good grasp from tri vids and Chris @ Ferrum forge . I ll buy what I need from your channel and thanks for making it easy brother .
Bro the fork you used as a conductor is enough to do the process right? I thought we need something made up of titanium but if the fork is enough then i won't bother buying any titanium fork or straw
You can remove it mechanically with sand paper, or Scotch Brite pads. If you go the sandpaper route you will have to work your way up through the grits till you get the amount of polish you desire.
You're right on the line with 4 batteries. I'd make sure they are all new because you'll need pretty much max voltage for a blue. You may end up with more of a blurple.
@@ApollosRings I'm working to find similar product that I can purchase in the Netherlands. We do not sell the anti rust stuff. Could I use scots brite or something similar to remove the ano?;
Scotch-brite will remove anodizing, and so will sandpaper for that matter, but to get the brightest finish you really want to etch the surface of your titanium first. The active ingredient in Whink Rust & Stain is hydrochloric acid. If you can get hydrochloric acid over there then you can effectively do the same thing. Not sure if that is available where you are, but worth a shot.
@@ApollosRings Ok apparently, it is called " zoutzuur " where I live. I just associate it with people melting in movies. Not something they sell in the supermarket, but I think I found out where to buy it.
+David Diez no problem! It really isn't hard, and problems can always be fixed. Stay tuned for another tutorial on a little different way of anodizing titanium without having to submerge your piece. Im going to try and get that out early next week. Thanks for watching!
Great video I'm going to try this but I wanted to know what to do if the piece im going to anodize doesn't have a hole to hook the wire into im want to do a ti swiss army knife scale any help would be appreciated thanks
When doing the anodizing of titanium alloy, whether the distilled water used is the deionized water used in the laboratory or the ordinary distilled water sold in supermarkets that can be consumed, my English is very bad and this passage is obtained with automatic translation.
Awesome video well done I subbed because of this video you made it so easy for me to anodize now I can’t stop anodizing anything and everything experimenting cuz it’s so quick thanks bruh
That's awesome bro, glad to hear it! If you ever feel like sharing, I'd love to see some pics. You can always tag me in an Instagram @SharpKnifeNuts_ApollosRings , I've got all my social media linked on the channel homepage
I am still perfecting and I haven’t ever posted videos Ned alone made one but if I do it will be because of you and hope my work is to your liking but I am getting better and starting to feel confident to do my first video but it’s got to be the best I’ve ever perfected I don’t want to look like a dumb ass thanks again bro
I can dig it. Feel free to DM me on there as well if you just want to send something without posting for the world to see, or there is ever anything I could help with. 👍🏼🤜🏼🤛🏼🤙🏼
No problem, glad you enjoyed it! I've got a really cool video coming up showing how to make titanium look like timascus. If you're interested, stay tuned 👍🏼
Exactly. If you're careful not to discharge them the batteries will last quite a while, like a year or 2 with light use, but if you accidentally let the leads touch they can discharge in a few hours and possibly cause injury. Always wear your PPE! Thanks for watching!
I don’t know why my mom puts vinegar in windex (probably to make it clean better), but will vinegar affect the titanium/anodizing from dipping it in just to clean off the oils/germs?
is it possible to use a double a battery or something with 2 9 volts to get a darker color ? or with any color ? if yes could you please make a video on it.
Question: do you cut the Wink with water or use pure out of the bottle? -my electrolyte solution bubbles a LOT, less baking soda? -I tryed taking down a heat treated TI bolt, took WAY longer than 10 seconds in the pure Wink, more like a minute+, ever done that? - the same bolt I took down, I could only change to blues, through 8 nine volts, did I not Wink it enough to remove the full heat anodization you think?
No to cutting the Whink. It sounds like you may have something other than stainless or Ti in the water, but hard to say without seeing it. I'd be happy to take a look if you want to shoot me a quick video on Instagram DM. Is the Whink fresh? If you've used it a bunch of times it starts take much longer. Do you know the grade of Ti that bolt is? That can have an effect. Going off everything you've said, it's completely possible one of the items in your bath could be the issue.
@@ApollosRings thank you for your reply! Wink is fresh, my "stainless spoon" could potentially not be good stainless, I'll grab a large SS bolt I have instead, I've heard thick aluminum sheets works too, like thick aluminum foil, not sure. The bolt should be high grade TI, reputable source. Thank you for this, I've got some un-heat treated TI bolts coming very soon to try my bath on, just to rule out the heat treated part from the equation, I'll let you know how it goes! 😊 I'm not so swift in the IG game, we'll see, I very much appreciate the offer!
@@ApollosRings well .. frustrated I'm not sure what's going on but I can't get it to work, even the wire won't seem to take colors. Using distilled water, baking soda and a solid SS bolt, numorous batteries, as in stacking voltage, no change. I guess I can switch to borax maybe, my baking soda is old, but I don't see how that would matter.. My leads are not chrome plated, they are copper, again, shouldn't matter. I got a titanium bolt that was already anodized and tried to change it, got American titanium bare, nothing, oi!! Any suggestions are much appreciated, thank you buddy.
I'm going to throw a few things out there. Are you sure you have the leads hooked up to the correct polarity? How many batteries are you starting with? Try as few as possible, maybe start with 3 first to see if you may have a bad battery in line. Try swapping out the batteries one by one to see if that fixes it. If that doesn't do it message me. I'll walk you through it on a zoom call if I have to. It should have nothing to do with the baking soda, as long as it is definitely baking soda.
@@ApollosRings 😓🙃 oh boy, I knew it had to be something simple, yes that was exactly it, I reversed the leads, and had poor lighting to boot on a small bolt, it works perfectly, all be it, not exactly like yours. My voltage lines up a bit different from the charts I found, and from what you showed, I assume that's due to size and finish on the surface. To get a better purple I had to use 8 batterys, the 2 wasn't punchy enough on the little bolt head 🙌💯 thank you sir, your my hero today!
same process you've seen here and all through my channel, just take it to around 100 volts and you should be good to go with the green. I've achieved it between 95 and 105 volts.
Are the colors different if you use titanium instead of the stainless steel fork? Another video shoes a brown color if you use two batteries and that's the only difference I'm seeing. Does it have something to do with the voltage going through the material?
There can be a few variables in general. Cathode material will not change the color. If you're using batteries instead of a power supply you have to realize that the batteries may not all be fully charged. If I use full batteries and someone else uses batteries that are almost dead you'll have 2 very different results. Another factor that I've found to effect the color to a point is what you use for electrolyte. I prefer baking soda because it allows me to get the greens in the higher voltages, but some people use borax. Some say it doesn't matter, but green can be finicky. Finish and grade of the titanium being anodized makes a big difference as well. I have found the grade of titanium to make the most difference. Lower quality titanium just doesn't look all that great in my opinion. Also the etch makes a huge difference. If you want the best, brightest colors you need to get a good etch prior to anodizing. Those are all the things that can alter the color chart a bit. Hope that helps!
@@ApollosRings yeah I appreciate the quick reply. I plan on following your video guide sometime in the near future. I want to anodize my crkt jettisons scales and see how that turns out. I was just curious because I watched a blade HQ tutorial as well and they were getting a very brown color with two batteries.
They used to link to my channel, but a month or so ago they made their own video. I've been doing this for years now, and do it on a regular basis for my ring business. I'm always more than happy to share any info I've gathered along the way! If you ever have any questions, feel free to ask. My original anodizing video is a bit dated, but within the next couple weeks I plan on putting out a really detailed, updated how-to video
@@ApollosRings the original was good the only issue really was the lighting. Hopefully you can get a better lighting situation in the new one to really show off the colors.
Yeah, that was a few years back. Now I've got plenty of quality lights, much better camera gear, and new editing equipment. Hopefully I can knock it outta the park with the new one, lol.
I have a question about that Rust Stain you were using to remove the anodize. I was using the exact same stuff to remove the anodize off my stainless steel eyeglass frame. I left the frame soak in that stuff for half an hour. But why it did not work?
I've never attempted it with stainless steel, I really couldn't tell you if it should work on that or not. I only use it to remove the anodizing on titanium. Works like a charm on titanium. You may very well need something different for stainless. The Whink will work on other reactive metals as well, but I think stainless is a whole different beast.
Definitely not stainless wire. I haven't tried kanthal, so its hard to say. I know people have said aluminum wire works, but I haven't tried that either. I know copper wire doesn't work. I just bought a spool of the titanium wire because it was cheap and I know that works great. If you try kanthal, let me know. I may try it myself and do a vid about it.
Hello. Thanks for the video. I have tried this. 3x brand new 9v. Snap positive to negative with a negative on one and and positively the other end. I use titanium wire and a stainless fork. Distilled water with baking soda. I didn’t use the wink stiff I used muriatic acid (pool cleaner / hydrofloric acid 30%) Since I have that in hand and can be bought at any Home Depot for 10$ a gallon. The wink stuff is primarily HF acid anyway so I don’t see it as a problem. So I do as you instruct except I don’t have the windex bath and nothing is Happening. I even sanded the titanium with 1200 grit before the acid bath and still nothing. Is the windex that important? What am i doing wrong? The odd battery is getting a little hot which I guess is normal. Please help. Thanks in advance. Oh it’s grade 5 titanium 6Al/4V if that matters. Ps I have seen to use borax , which I’m very familiar with. I used it for years as my flux for my forge welds. Hell they used the same brand (mule team borax) in the 19th century as a flux. Works great and it can be bought at the grocery store. It should be in the laundry detergent section. Is that what I’m missing ?
You say "the odd battery is getting a little hot"? Your batteries should not ever be getting hot. That leads me to believe something isn't correct. Do you have the positive and negative leads reversed by any chance? Are you 100% sure the fork is stainless? Do you have a volt meter? I would test the batteries. Brand new or not, you could have a bad battery in the bunch. 30% hydrofluoric acid is pretty serious stuff too. I doubt that has anything to do with the issue you're having, but Whink is only around 3% HF. Be extremely careful with that stuff.
I thought muriatic acid is the same as hydrochloric acid, not hydrofluoric acid. Not sure which one is in Whink though, I've never worked with it. The hot battery leads me to think that there's a problem with the circuit.
Hello I successfully anodized some knife scales following this video. I used wink as directed and now the parts will not anodize. I checked my connections and they are correct. Would you happen to know why this is happening?
That's correct. Probably should have been a bit more accurate with my wording there. It is one of my oldest videos on the channel. Probably wouldn't hurt to make a fresh tutorial at this point.
Hi, I'm just wondering does it have to be distilled water? Or can the distilled water be substituted for deionized water or WFI or even just regular tap water. What's the reason for using distilled water?
Depending on the mineral content it can effect the anodizing. Most of the time you can substitute though. My tap water works fine, but if there were high iron levels it could cause issues. I personally use tap water 100% of the time now that I know my mineral content isn't an issue.
Honestly, I rarely use the Windex myself anymore. As long as you have some isopropyl alcohol or acetone to wipe it down really well with, and a container with distilled water for rinsing you'll be just fine
This was one of my first videos. I plan on doing an update to simplify things a bit. Everything in the video still holds true, but I've found the windex to just be an extra unnecessary step. I get the same results just using alcohol or acetone.
There should just be a screw, then you can pull it off. Sometimes they are in there pretty tight. If you can get a really little flathead and wiggle it off
If the screw is over loctited you can use a hairdryer to heat it up or even a soldering iron to loosen the threadlocker. When i ano my 0450 i had to do that I believe and also had to pry the steel insert out with a small pick or screwdriver. Be careful prying against titanium as its soft and will mar easily.
Great tips Chris! I've heated up a driver bit with a lighter prior to trying to remove the screws as well. Sometimes the lighter trick works, but sometimes I have trouble with it.
This process is for titanium. The process for aluminum is completely different. I eventually will be doing a series on aluminum as well, but this will not work. Sorry about that.
I've used the same set for over a year without having to replace any, but you should really have a volt meter to keep an eye on their levels. A dead battery will really mess everything up, especially if you're not sure which one is dead.
The problem with using regular water comes in if your water has a high mineral content. I always try to use distilled to eliminate that variable. If you're in a pinch, and can't get distilled water, filtered water will work. Just keep in mind that if the mineral content is high you may have slightly varying results. Short answer, ror the most part you should be fine.
Great video!! I have some questions, I hope I can still reach you even though this video is kinda old, really the only Question I have is, what happens if you use something other than titanium wire? All I have is craft wire and I'm not sure what its made of
Thanks, glad you dig the video! As far as the wire goes, if you plan on submerging it in the bath you want to use titanium, niobium, or I've even hear that aluminum works (I haven't tried the aluminum personally yet). If you don't need to submerge your wire, then you can use any wire you like as long as it stays out of the bath. You could do half the piece at a time keeping the wire out of the bath, but you may not get a perfectly even ano job. I recommend just buying a small spool of titanium wire from Amazon. It's cheap, and then you don't have to worry about it. That's totally up to you though. You could also do sponge anodizing (I've got a how to video on the channel for that as well) and then you dont need any wire at all. If I can help with anything else, just let me know.
@@ApollosRings okay thanx so much! we are gonna take your advice and just get the titanium wire. Thanx for getting back to us, your anodizing vids are the best on RUclips for learning how to get started on this. Looks fun and cheap to do, we can't wait to start, and definitely will be referring back to your vids as we go, thanx again
@@ApollosRings sounds great, one more Question, we live in a small town in Kentucky and we can't find the whinks rust and stain remover in our hardware stores, is there another brand you recommend? Or where do you get your supplies from?
I have a video up of what happens when you use copper wire. It won't anodize correctly and you won't get accurate colors. Check out the vid if you want to see exactly what I mean.
Do you have any advice or seen anything like this?? I first cleaned it in a ultrasonic cleaner with a degreaser (simply green) Next it went into Whink Rust Stain Remover - to remove previous anodize/start with clean surface. (At this stage when I removed it, the titanium piece turned a darkish gray and had some sort of layer on it that I could sorta buff off/similar to you would with tarnished silver. (What is this???) I had 12 9v in line, with 28GA Ti wire leads, Positive to titanium piece - negative to piece of aluminum foil sitting in water mixed with baking soda (also tried borax) The color goes to purple/blue then if I let it sit longer it will go to just a nasty silverish grayish blueish purple and will not advance any further down the spectrum.
Couple of questions for you - how long is it taking to turn color? Does it start turning color immediately, or does it take a while to get your color? Do you know what grade of titanium you're anodizing?
@@ApollosRings it starts turning color *almost* instantly. I would say it reaches the blue/purple after about 10 seconds. but after that nothing - I can never seem to reach the bright green I was aiming for, also color is not consistent, I wear gloves, give it a super good clean prior to everything and still ends up splotchy, unfortunately I am unaware of the grade... but I paid 170$ for it, even though I know that doesnt really mean too much.... look up Omnivap XL - it is a dry herb vaporizer. Is the discoloration after using whink normal? when I look into yours it appears more silver that mine.
Sorry, been crazy busy in the shop. It sounds to me like a cheaper grade of titanium. I've run into that on a part before. It's been a few years ago now though. If I remember correctly I may have skipped the whink etch the 2nd time around and got it to work fairly well.
thanks for the great video!! im just having a problem and wondering if you could help so the whink is not removing the ano i put on the piece. idk if its because i live in canada and a different set of ingredients is used, or if i did something wrong. Anyway any help would be appreciated.
This is a problem that I've come across a few times now. The Whink in Canada does not have the hydrofluoric acid, which is the active ingredient. I'm going to put out a video letting everyone know that it's different. Another Canadian subscriber just helped me figure that out a week or so ago. I'm sorry
@@ApollosRings no worries man, Thanks for the quick response and confirming what i was thinking. Any idea if the other Canadian sub found a substitute?
As of now, no. We were tossing around the idea of just having me send some from here in the US, running it through my Etsy shop. From what I can see it isn't prohibited, so I imagine it would be fine to send.
What else works other than the whink because I want to anodize the backspaced on my 940 Osborne a different color other than purple. And what is a dedent ball
Hydroflouric acid is the active ingredient in Whink, but I found that the Whink was very cheap and easy to obtain on E-bay, and even in some local stores. Sorry it took so long for a response, for some reason your comment was hidden. Also, the detent ball is the tiny little ball in the liner of the knife that holds the blade closed. if it gets corroded it will make the action of the knife very bad. If you are doing it on a Axis Lock Benchmade, I don't believe there is a detent ball to worry about.
Really depends on the mineral content of your water. I'm sure you could probably get away without it, but for $0.89 at any grocery or drug store, it just isn't worth the hassle of screwing up a project. That's my opinion anyhow. If you have a high iron content in your water it will definitely screw up the anodizing.
It isn't 100% necessary, and results can vary, but I always recommend it. You can always try without it and see if you're happy with the outcome, then if not order some Whink to strip it and start over. I've had quick jobs where I haven't needed to use it first, and there are some times when you can't tell, but other times you won't be able to achieve a certain color without prepping it with Whink first. Usually it just won't be as vivid of a color without etching it with something first, whether it be Whink or Multi-Etch. Hope this helps! Thanks for watching! 👊🏼👍🏼 Happy Holidays!!!
To be perfectly honest, I haven't tried it. I had thought about it in the past, but the reason I hadn't tried it is because to get any decent results you really need to etch prior to anodizing, and I'm afraid that etching will completely remove the coating. I still may give it a shot just to see if it works if you would be interested in seeing a video on it though.
If I remember correctly, when I looked into trying it some time ago, I read that heat ano works on the coating, but electro ano does not. Might have to do some experiments though.
Is there any alternative to Whink Rust and Stain remover? I can't seem to find any in Canada and shipping is really expensive. Also how bad would it be if I were to use non-distilled water?
Heavily diluted hydrofluoric acid is the active ingredient in Whink. If you can get your hands on some of that you'll be good to go. That stuff is pretty nasty though. If you get it, make sure you wear proper PPE. An acid-free alternative is Multi-Etch, but that stuff can be pretty pricey. As far as the distilled water - you can use regular tap water, but your results will vary depending on the mineral content in your tap water. Distilled is used so that the mineral content isn't a concern. Distilled water is mineral free. If there is a high iron content in your water you may have mixed results. Distilled water is pretty easy to come by though at any pharmacy or grocery store, and it should only be $1 or $2 for a gallon. It's worth it to me to not have the headache, but that's totally up to you, and you may not have any issues.
Will the whink mess up the finish? Say like my Mick Strider Custom SMF is heavy stonewash, and anodized bronze/purple, will the whink remove the satin/stonewash and make it matte titanium?
If you leave it in too long it will start to eat at the finish, but if you only leave it in till the anodizing is removed, the finish should remain in-tact. As soon as you start to see it bubble rapidly remove it from the Whink. When it starts bubbling it means it has dissolved the anodizing and is now starting to etch the titanium itself.
@@ApollosRings awesome thanks! I have been anodizing like this for a long time now but always removed it by blasting. Just wish I could find the whink somewhere close by!
Not sure if you have a Walmart close to where you're at, but they are supposed to carry it. I couldn't find it at my local Walmart, but it's kind of a crappy one. Worst case just hop on Amazon and have it shipped. That's how I ended up getting mine.
The Whink is a lifesaver for sure! It's great for removing the anodizing, and I've found that using it as a etch before anodizing makes the color turn out so much better. Really great stuff. Just FYI - the active ingredient in the Whink is hydrochloric acid, so if you can get that you're in business as well. Just take proper safety measures. That stuff is no joke. Keep some baking soda on hand and near by just in case of accidental skin exposure. The baking soda will neutralize the burn. Any other questions, feel free to shoot me a message any time.
Thanks! It definitely depends on individual wear and tear. It could last forever if it's not being used, but on something like an every day carry knife that is constantly in and out of a pocket I usually get a solid 6 months without any signs of wear, by a year it has some scratches, but it still looks good. I usually re-anodize when it shows some scratches. It is a very resilient coating that I would almost compare to powder coat. It will never peel off though, it will just eventually wear and scratch. Hope that helps.
It really makes a huge difference. I highly recommend using it prior to anodizing. Your colors will be so much brighter and vivid if you etch the titanium first. You do not absolutely need to, but it makes a considerable difference.
Dumb question i know you said dont do it but what happens if i use copper wire instead of buying titanium wire to hold the piece in the bath. Even have the alligator clip right on the piece.
There's a video up on the channel showing what happens if you want to see what happens. I recommend spending the $3 or so on titanium wire for sure, but check it out for yourself if you like.
+Gear Guy226, the Windex cleans the metal. At the beginning of the process is when it is most important. It works really well to strip any fingerprints, and any left over oils from your skin that will prevent the anodizing from working to its full potential. When you are asking about anodizing multiple different colors, are you asking how to achieve somewhat of a rainbow effect on the piece once it's finished?
Ok, yeah I see what you're asking now. So basically the way you have to do that is first do the blue or purple, because you have to do the color that takes the most voltage first. Then once the entire piece is all that one color you need to either sand or scotch-brite pad the spots you want to be the straw color. With my knife I left the Zero Tolerance logo blue because it's indented and I wanted that to stand out, but the rest of the flat surface I used a scotch-brite pad on. Then once you remove all the anodizing down to bare titanium on the spots you want to be the straw color, you re-anodize those spots at the lower voltage(using the method I showed with batteries you just use less batteries). You won't have to worry about the blue changing, because it would only change that color with a higher voltage. I hope I'm explaining that well enough. I'm in the middle of moving right now, but in a week or 2 I will be back to putting out videos much more regularly. I will definitely do a video on the process to help show exactly what I'm describing here. Subscribe, and stay tuned, I have like 4 or 5 more helpful anodizing tips and tricks that can be done for cheap, but still give a professional job. Any other questions, just ask. I love to be able to help in any way I can!
I'm thinking about the complex patterns you see online in different places, is it possible they're laying down some kind of vinyl sticker pattern or something and lightly sand blasting? There's got to be some kind of trick to the very complex designs, right?
Thanks for the detailed instructions! Ordered all my equipment today. Question about anodizing Ti screws... will the Whink compromise the threads on say a pivot screw? Or maybe try to paint the threads with maybe some fingernail polish? Also, have you tried stonewashing Ti? Would it be better to stonewash first, then anodizing, or the other way around? Either way, got yourself another sub!
Hey Tyler, thanks for watching! So as far as the screws go - anything that you are concerned about tolerances I would definitely coat with a few good coats of nail polish prior to Whink. That 0900 that I use for the videos has a full aftermarket set of titanium screws and pivot. Since I knew I planned on using that as a test piece I wasn't super concerned with tolerances and just always whinked and anodized the entire thing without nail polish. I haven't noticed any slop in anything, but some knives definitely could conceivably get messed up if you don't coat the screw threads. Up to you, but if you only plan on doing an ano job here or there, I'd take a little extra time and coat everything so I didn't have to take a chance. Hope that helps!
Thanks! I was planning on painting the threads for the annodizing, and only planning on doing the stone wash to the clip, it's my PM2 that I just recently started modding. I rit dyed the green camo scales to a dark grey urban camo, but then I ordered some canvas micarta scales that should be here next week. Then to go with the micarta, I acid etched and stone washed the blade, which came out awesome! So then I decided to go Ti for the hardware, so I have two different Ti deep carry clips i ordered one for use another for learning to annodize. I am looking for a darker bronze, almost a patina'ed brass look. Any way to darken the ti after annodizing without losing the color? Definitely appreciate the info and quick response!
Yeah, it's not hard. Just make sure you put a few good coats of nail polish on it and let it dry completely before anodizing. If not you'll really mess up your detent ball.
If i where to try do this on a grey stonewashed knife, like the finish of a spyderco myrtle (I think most Ti spydercoes have the grey-stonewash finish im thinking of) would i need to remove the finish or can I directly apply it to the knife? Im assuming it would make it more matte
If it's just stone washed you do not need to remove a finish, but I know some Spyderco models with titanium scales do have a clear coat on them. Pretty sure the Nirvana has a clear coat, but I'm not too sure about other models. If it does have a clear coat you should be able to remove it with scotch-brite before anodizing.
it doesn't feel like it has a coat, if you run your nail on it it's like a chalkboard, that dusty smooth feeling. I'm gonna shoot for the early purple and early blue I think. When doing this on a framelock do you have to worry about the detent ball, or the interface, or the washer track? along with screw threading or stop pin slot? sorry to pester, I don't mind screwing up the colour, as long as it still opens and closes alright
No worries, I definitely don't mind helping. As far as a clear coat goes, you'll know right away if it has one if it doesn't change color. Then if it has one, just remove it. You definitely need to cover the detent ball, and anything else that either isn't titanium, or you just don't want it anodized. Make sure you put a few good coats of nail polish on whatever isn't titanium, and let the nail polish dry completely. It will screw up your anodizing if you don't. Some people use nail polish on the bearing track as well. I haven't, and never had any issues with opening or closing, but if it's a concern for you just cover anything that you're worried about with nail polish. After anodizing you can remove it with acetone. The only thing that I would really be concerned about personally would be the detent ball, and anything that isn't titanium though. Everything else should be fine. Hope that helps answer your questions. If you need anything else, just let me know. I'll help any way I can.
Awesome! Sounds good, yeah definitely let me know how you make out. FYI, one guy said he used copper wire and didn't have an issue. I've never personally tried it, I was under the impression that it would take current away from the piece you are trying to anodize, but if you want to give it a shot, he said it worked fine. I'm going to do some experiments myself for a upcoming video testing it. Just thought I'd pass that along. Good luck, and keep me posted.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
Amazing video. You just saved me $50 and 2 weeks turn around time sending my knife scales out for anodizing. Im definitely gonna build this simple setup. Thanks!
Glad I could help! If you have any questions you run into along the way, feel free to ask. I try to be pretty easy to get in touch with. I do my best to answer every comment on here. Thanks for watching, and stay tuned, I have a new video already filmed, just need to edit it up and get it out.
Followed it step by step and got fantastic results on my titanium rotor bolts, and sprocket nuts for my sport bike! If anyone’s hesitant to try this don’t be intimidated. Purchase the things he used, follow the simple steps, and you’ll be blown away with the finished product! The first time you dip something in the solution and it begins to change color feels like a magic trick 😂 Super mesmerizing to watch. Thank you very much for such a great tutorial!
I am watching this as well to learn to do bolts for my sports bike! How did you connect the titanium nuts and bolts to the wire and alligator clips?
You can just wrap the ti wire around the bolt once or twice so it's held in place. You can do a whole string of bolts like that. I actually recommend doing it that way because if you anodize everything together you'll have a much more even color across all the parts (as long as you're doing them the same color).
1) Does prolonged time in the anodizing bath change anything?
2) Why the titanium wire, and just not just wire?
No, keeping the piece in longer has no effect, it's only the voltage that will change the color.
Titanium wire is used because if you use a different material it screws with the anodizing. I have a video up on the channel showing what happens using copper wire, if you're interested in checking it out.
Bro, that’s so much for this. Between this and your color test video I now have a sweet green backspacer on my 940
Glad it helped! Thanks for watching! 👊🏼
Link to color test video?
Going to try to anodize my pocket clip, backspacer, and knife scales on my Boos Blades Smoke today, bronze on the pocket clip and backspacer, and then a purple color for the scales! Thank you for this video, it's super helpful and going to save me a lot of money!
Ooo boos blade :)
You’re on top of it dude..! Thanks! I remember I lost detent ball the last time I flame ano’ed some scales.
That’s why I kept those old crappy big 5 knives..lol…
Hate when I lose a detent ball, LOL 👊🏼
Can't wait to do my Junkyard dog, thanx a lot for the simple and easy to understand vid.
Glad it helped
I can't believe this wasn't an experiment in elementary science class. Thanks for sharing the process.
I tried it using nine batteries and gave my Leatherman TTI multi-tool Titanium scales a beautiful deep blue sea color👖.. Thanks for the tutorial 👍😉
You're very welcome! That's awesome to hear! Glad it worked out for you. If you care to share any pics, I'd love to see how it turned out. All my social media accounts are linked on the channel homepage, or in the separate video descriptions. Thanks for watching!
Got any pictures or advice on the Leatherman TTI? I have been thinking of doing the same with mine here. Did you use the baking soda and distilled water method or something else.
I haven't personally done a Leatherman, but all the different methods I have on the channel here should work. I've got a handful of different videos up with different methods, but ultimately it all boils down to the same core stuff, distilled water and baking soda. Just depending on what style ano you're looking for will determine how to apply it. Which method are you trying to do, the one where you rub some of the ano off and re-anodize?
@@bradpatridge7280 I used the Titanium wire plus everything else shown in this video with the exception of the Whink, I didn't want to deal with the nasty, smelly odor of hydrochloric acid, my TTI is new without any rust or stains so I just rinsed the scales with Windex in order to remove any grease or oil. However, you will need the Whink if you are not happy with the color and want to remove it, just dip it for a few seconds otherwise the acid will damage the Ti. After done you will get something like this: imageshack.com/i/poAAkCWfp
Flipping a miguron velona . Great budget blade with Ti clip for $49 w coupon code old sword or LTK or anyone u like . There’s actually another front flipper too . Yeah man . Good find
Thank You 🙏. I’ve been looking for a nice cheap way to anodize my Ti knife stuff and a torch just doesn’t give you a solid color.
Glad I could help! Thanks for watching, and stay tuned for more goodies!
Just ordered some supplies from Amazon! Thanks for teaching me!
Awesome, really glad I could help! Thanks for watching!
After watching this and the video about what colors you can get by adding more batteries, I think I'm going to try a few pieces. If it take 10 seconds to get the color you want, would there be any advantage to leaving it longer, like a few minutes, or an hour? I'm just wondering if the anodizing can penetrate the surface deeper and be longer lasting.
Helped me get started.thanks for the show, Will it wear off a ring?
Glad I could help! 👊🏼
Tip: If you dont have titanium wire to hold the piece, you can use steel or copper. Just keep the wire out of the water, anodize most of the part, then reposition the wire and anodize the rest. If the wire goes in the water, it will sap the current from the piece and simultaneously be etched away, making the color appear dull and uneven.
This is how I anodize clips, beads, and screws.
Correct. I occasionally just attach the alligator clips directly to the piece and do it the same way if I'm in a hurry. As long as it doesn't go in the bath it's fine.
A few other things I've learned since I started doing this (which you may or may not have mentioned):
The color appears from the light reflected through the oxide layer, so the more polished the surface is, the more directly light is reflected, and the more vivid the color appears.
The oxide layer is more durable on a textured finish (such as stonewash or brushed) than on a polished surface.
The sharp edges and corners always wear away first. Polishing them to a nice rounded chamfer before anodizing can help delay the edge wear.
You can touch up a worn or scratched piece by repeating the process using the exact same or higher voltage. The worn/scratched spots will simply re-anodize to that color.
If you sand first with 600 grit will it work as well?
Excellent tutorial- very clear, simple, and straightforward! So why am I still so scared to try it myself? 🤣
You shouldn't be! You can just sand it off if it doesn't turn out how you like it
Way to Kool! Didn't know it was this easy, amazing tutorial man! Can save alot of cash.
Yeah man! If you give it a shot and ever run into any issues, feel free to hit me up. I'll help any way I can. 👍🏼🤜🏼🤛🏼
thank you for your informative video. I want to anodize all the things now.
Thanks for watching! Stay tuned, I've got a handful of titanium videos getting ready to be released.
Bro one last question and it us as thr conduct U used a fork but will thr fork do or i need any other metal
BRILLIANT!! What kind of wizardry you practicing here? Did you learn this at Hogwarts? And where the heck is your wand?
🤣Glad you liked it! I've got more in store, stay tuned!
Nice tip about the Whink Rust and Stain remover. I've been looking for a way to remove the anodizing and always come back to Multi-Etch which is very expensive (even more so here in Canada) so I never bought it. I know what I'll buy during my next trip to the US :) Thanks!
+bdpf, you won't be disappointed, that stuff is cheap and works amazing!
just be aware that it "May be fatal or cause permanent damage" and "Causes severe burns which may not be immediately painful or visible."
Thanks, I'll use gloves.
Does the gauge of pure titanium wire matter when anodizing?
No it doesn't
I have a couple small titanium parts that I heat treated a little too far I believe, kind of a gun metal grey color now. Would I be able to use whink to take it back and go forward with this process?
Absolutely, I do it all the time. It has to be Whink from the US though. Not sure where you're from, but I've talked to some guys that tried it with the Canadian Whink and said that they have a different active ingredient. The ingredient you're looking for is hydrofluoric acid. Be careful not to get any on you, that's some nasty stuff.
@@ApollosRings awesome. Also, would I be able to do multiple parts together, at the same time, if I string them to the same titanium wire?
Yes, that's actually how I recommend doing it if you want their colors to match perfectly 👍🏼
Same process with aluminum anodizing?
Is it necessary to strip the old anodising r can you just do it over the old?
It depends. If you want to do a color that requires a higher voltage it'll work just fine, but if the current color is a higher voltage than the color you want then you'll have to strip it first. Does that make sense?
@@ApollosRings thanks that makes sense. I'll try it
I do have a question.. how would I get a rust reddish / brownish / red or orange color using this method. I ask because I own a Zero Tolerance 0450cf.. well the carbon fiber is this weird rust - brown color. It's really wierd. Marketed as red but it's not red at all. Anyway, I'm looking to match the titanium scale to the weird rust - brown carbon fiber scale. Any ideas for that type of color? Mars dust orange or bronze rust or something along those lines?
Hi there all.
Is there a way to abstain a black color using this method ?
This man a real one
What happens if you hook the batteries up in parallel?
How many times can you etch the piece without messing up the size or function?
Hard to say, I haven't pushed any of my knives to that point. I'm sure if you etch it a ton of times you'll start getting slop in it, but I've done it numerous times without issue. A good practice is using nail polish on any surface where tolerance is important. Then once you're finished just take it off with acetone. That way it won't etch that spot.
If you anodize titanium and it rubs of and fades could you just reanodize it the same color without taking the faded color off?
Absolutely! I have a masking video where I used nail polish, but essentially it's the same concept.
Thanks again . I e watched a handful of these today and think I have a good grasp from tri vids and Chris @ Ferrum forge . I ll buy what I need from your channel and thanks for making it easy brother .
Is it the same process for aluminium?
ive done this with 316 stainless steel tig filler rod
Bro the fork you used as a conductor is enough to do the process right? I thought we need something made up of titanium but if the fork is enough then i won't bother buying any titanium fork or straw
The rust remover brings it back to the base layer I believe, but it comes back more matte instead of shiny? Is there a way around this?
You can remove it mechanically with sand paper, or Scotch Brite pads. If you go the sandpaper route you will have to work your way up through the grits till you get the amount of polish you desire.
@@ApollosRings thank you!!
Do you think 4 batteries would give it a nice bright blue color?
You're right on the line with 4 batteries. I'd make sure they are all new because you'll need pretty much max voltage for a blue. You may end up with more of a blurple.
Best tutorial I've seen so far! Might have the courage to try it out myself now.
Thanks! I think you should give it a go!
@@ApollosRings I'm working to find similar product that I can purchase in the Netherlands. We do not sell the anti rust stuff. Could I use scots brite or something similar to remove the ano?;
Scotch-brite will remove anodizing, and so will sandpaper for that matter, but to get the brightest finish you really want to etch the surface of your titanium first. The active ingredient in Whink Rust & Stain is hydrochloric acid. If you can get hydrochloric acid over there then you can effectively do the same thing. Not sure if that is available where you are, but worth a shot.
@@ApollosRings Ok apparently, it is called " zoutzuur " where I live. I just associate it with people melting in movies. Not something they sell in the supermarket, but I think I found out where to buy it.
Think I misspoke, the active ingredient is hydrofluoric acid, not hydrochloric. Sorry about the confusion.
Thanks for a simple tutorial. 👍🏼made me feel like I can doit now.
+David Diez no problem! It really isn't hard, and problems can always be fixed. Stay tuned for another tutorial on a little different way of anodizing titanium without having to submerge your piece. Im going to try and get that out early next week. Thanks for watching!
Great video I'm going to try this but I wanted to know what to do if the piece im going to anodize doesn't have a hole to hook the wire into im want to do a ti swiss army knife scale any help would be appreciated thanks
Hey, thanks for watching! You could lightly wrap the ti wire around the piece. As long as the wire touches the piece in the bath it will anodize.
Thank you
When doing the anodizing of titanium alloy, whether the distilled water used is the deionized water used in the laboratory or the ordinary distilled water sold in supermarkets that can be consumed, my English is very bad and this passage is obtained with automatic translation.
I think you're trying to ask if it matters which one that you use. That answer is no, it doesn't matter. The drinking version is fine
Great video. Been looking for an easy way to do this! Thank you!
Glad I could help! If you have any questions with the process, feel free to ask. I'll help any way I can.
Hello. Does the wire have to be made of titanium or is stainless steel also possible? 🤗
Awesome video well done I subbed because of this video you made it so easy for me to anodize now I can’t stop anodizing anything and everything experimenting cuz it’s so quick thanks bruh
That's awesome bro, glad to hear it! If you ever feel like sharing, I'd love to see some pics. You can always tag me in an Instagram @SharpKnifeNuts_ApollosRings , I've got all my social media linked on the channel homepage
I am still perfecting and I haven’t ever posted videos Ned alone made one but if I do it will be because of you and hope my work is to your liking but I am getting better and starting to feel confident to do my first video but it’s got to be the best I’ve ever perfected I don’t want to look like a dumb ass thanks again bro
I can dig it. Feel free to DM me on there as well if you just want to send something without posting for the world to see, or there is ever anything I could help with. 👍🏼🤜🏼🤛🏼🤙🏼
SharpKnifeNuts cool thanks man👌
You got it brotha! 👍🏼
That is way cool! Thanks so much for sharing.
No problem, glad you enjoyed it! I've got a really cool video coming up showing how to make titanium look like timascus. If you're interested, stay tuned 👍🏼
So what’s the 120V power supply for? Instead of batteries ? Also can you re use the batteries? When do they get fully drained?
Exactly. If you're careful not to discharge them the batteries will last quite a while, like a year or 2 with light use, but if you accidentally let the leads touch they can discharge in a few hours and possibly cause injury. Always wear your PPE! Thanks for watching!
I don’t know why my mom puts vinegar in windex (probably to make it clean better), but will vinegar affect the titanium/anodizing from dipping it in just to clean off the oils/germs?
It shouldn't effect it at all. Just rinse it in the distilled water before anodizing and you'll be fine.
is it possible to use a double a battery or something with 2 9 volts to get a darker color ? or with any color ? if yes could you please make a video on it.
Yes, it is. I'll try and get a video up showing how I do that for you.
@@ApollosRings thank you for the fast reply and thank you so much for making a video on it
Can you anodize with a bigger piece of titanium?
Absolutely, whatever size you like!
Great work. thank you
How do you anodize something that’s aluminum? Could you make a tutorial on that?
It's a different process for aluminum. I plan on making an aluminum anodizing tutorial, just haven't gotten around to it yet.
Question: do you cut the Wink with water or use pure out of the bottle?
-my electrolyte solution bubbles a LOT, less baking soda?
-I tryed taking down a heat treated TI bolt, took WAY longer than 10 seconds in the pure Wink, more like a minute+, ever done that?
- the same bolt I took down, I could only change to blues, through 8 nine volts, did I not Wink it enough to remove the full heat anodization you think?
No to cutting the Whink.
It sounds like you may have something other than stainless or Ti in the water, but hard to say without seeing it. I'd be happy to take a look if you want to shoot me a quick video on Instagram DM.
Is the Whink fresh? If you've used it a bunch of times it starts take much longer.
Do you know the grade of Ti that bolt is? That can have an effect. Going off everything you've said, it's completely possible one of the items in your bath could be the issue.
@@ApollosRings thank you for your reply!
Wink is fresh, my "stainless spoon" could potentially not be good stainless, I'll grab a large SS bolt I have instead, I've heard thick aluminum sheets works too, like thick aluminum foil, not sure.
The bolt should be high grade TI, reputable source.
Thank you for this, I've got some un-heat treated TI bolts coming very soon to try my bath on, just to rule out the heat treated part from the equation, I'll let you know how it goes! 😊 I'm not so swift in the IG game, we'll see, I very much appreciate the offer!
@@ApollosRings well .. frustrated I'm not sure what's going on but I can't get it to work, even the wire won't seem to take colors. Using distilled water, baking soda and a solid SS bolt, numorous batteries, as in stacking voltage, no change. I guess I can switch to borax maybe, my baking soda is old, but I don't see how that would matter..
My leads are not chrome plated, they are copper, again, shouldn't matter.
I got a titanium bolt that was already anodized and tried to change it, got American titanium bare, nothing, oi!!
Any suggestions are much appreciated, thank you buddy.
I'm going to throw a few things out there. Are you sure you have the leads hooked up to the correct polarity? How many batteries are you starting with? Try as few as possible, maybe start with 3 first to see if you may have a bad battery in line. Try swapping out the batteries one by one to see if that fixes it. If that doesn't do it message me. I'll walk you through it on a zoom call if I have to. It should have nothing to do with the baking soda, as long as it is definitely baking soda.
@@ApollosRings 😓🙃 oh boy, I knew it had to be something simple, yes that was exactly it, I reversed the leads, and had poor lighting to boot on a small bolt, it works perfectly, all be it, not exactly like yours. My voltage lines up a bit different from the charts I found, and from what you showed, I assume that's due to size and finish on the surface. To get a better purple I had to use 8 batterys, the 2 wasn't punchy enough on the little bolt head 🙌💯 thank you sir, your my hero today!
i want to anodize green color... please help me
same process you've seen here and all through my channel, just take it to around 100 volts and you should be good to go with the green. I've achieved it between 95 and 105 volts.
Are the colors different if you use titanium instead of the stainless steel fork? Another video shoes a brown color if you use two batteries and that's the only difference I'm seeing.
Does it have something to do with the voltage going through the material?
There can be a few variables in general. Cathode material will not change the color. If you're using batteries instead of a power supply you have to realize that the batteries may not all be fully charged. If I use full batteries and someone else uses batteries that are almost dead you'll have 2 very different results.
Another factor that I've found to effect the color to a point is what you use for electrolyte. I prefer baking soda because it allows me to get the greens in the higher voltages, but some people use borax. Some say it doesn't matter, but green can be finicky.
Finish and grade of the titanium being anodized makes a big difference as well. I have found the grade of titanium to make the most difference. Lower quality titanium just doesn't look all that great in my opinion.
Also the etch makes a huge difference. If you want the best, brightest colors you need to get a good etch prior to anodizing.
Those are all the things that can alter the color chart a bit. Hope that helps!
@@ApollosRings yeah I appreciate the quick reply. I plan on following your video guide sometime in the near future. I want to anodize my crkt jettisons scales and see how that turns out. I was just curious because I watched a blade HQ tutorial as well and they were getting a very brown color with two batteries.
They used to link to my channel, but a month or so ago they made their own video. I've been doing this for years now, and do it on a regular basis for my ring business. I'm always more than happy to share any info I've gathered along the way! If you ever have any questions, feel free to ask. My original anodizing video is a bit dated, but within the next couple weeks I plan on putting out a really detailed, updated how-to video
@@ApollosRings the original was good the only issue really was the lighting. Hopefully you can get a better lighting situation in the new one to really show off the colors.
Yeah, that was a few years back. Now I've got plenty of quality lights, much better camera gear, and new editing equipment. Hopefully I can knock it outta the park with the new one, lol.
I have a question about that Rust Stain you were using to remove the anodize. I was using the exact same stuff to remove the anodize off my stainless steel eyeglass frame. I left the frame soak in that stuff for half an hour. But why it did not work?
I've never attempted it with stainless steel, I really couldn't tell you if it should work on that or not. I only use it to remove the anodizing on titanium. Works like a charm on titanium. You may very well need something different for stainless. The Whink will work on other reactive metals as well, but I think stainless is a whole different beast.
awesome vid! can’t wait to try this. thanks!
No problem, I'd love to see your results! Feel free to post a pic to Instagram and tag me, or send me a DM
Sweet vid bro I got some pieces I want to try doing. thanks!
+danny james, your welcome! Let me know how they come out, I'd love to see the finished product!
Can you use canthol or stainless steel wire or does it have to be titanium wire?
Definitely not stainless wire. I haven't tried kanthal, so its hard to say. I know people have said aluminum wire works, but I haven't tried that either. I know copper wire doesn't work. I just bought a spool of the titanium wire because it was cheap and I know that works great. If you try kanthal, let me know. I may try it myself and do a vid about it.
Hello. Thanks for the video. I have tried this. 3x brand new 9v. Snap positive to negative with a negative on one and and positively the other end. I use titanium wire and a stainless fork. Distilled water with baking soda. I didn’t use the wink stiff I used muriatic acid (pool cleaner / hydrofloric acid 30%) Since I have that in hand and can be bought at any Home Depot for 10$ a gallon. The wink stuff is primarily HF acid anyway so I don’t see it as a problem. So I do as you instruct except I don’t have the windex bath and nothing is Happening. I even sanded the titanium with 1200 grit before the acid bath and still nothing. Is the windex that important? What am i doing wrong? The odd battery is getting a little hot which I guess is normal. Please help. Thanks in advance. Oh it’s grade 5 titanium 6Al/4V if that matters.
Ps I have seen to use borax , which I’m very familiar with. I used it for years as my flux for my forge welds. Hell they used the same brand (mule team borax) in the 19th century as a flux. Works great and it can be bought at the grocery store. It should be in the laundry detergent section. Is that what I’m missing ?
You say "the odd battery is getting a little hot"? Your batteries should not ever be getting hot. That leads me to believe something isn't correct. Do you have the positive and negative leads reversed by any chance? Are you 100% sure the fork is stainless? Do you have a volt meter? I would test the batteries. Brand new or not, you could have a bad battery in the bunch. 30% hydrofluoric acid is pretty serious stuff too. I doubt that has anything to do with the issue you're having, but Whink is only around 3% HF. Be extremely careful with that stuff.
I thought muriatic acid is the same as hydrochloric acid, not hydrofluoric acid. Not sure which one is in Whink though, I've never worked with it. The hot battery leads me to think that there's a problem with the circuit.
Why do you need the windex?
It cleans the part and removes any oils that could make it anodize weird.
Does this process work the same for aluminum but with an aluminum wire or?
No, unfortunately this process isn't for aluminum. It will work with niobium though, and other reactivate metals.
You showed in the beginning spots that were losing their anodizing
Do you know what causes that in the 1st place?
Thanks
Sorry about the delayed response. It's just from my jeans rubbing in my pocket.
Hello I successfully anodized some knife scales following this video. I used wink as directed and now the parts will not anodize. I checked my connections and they are correct. Would you happen to know why this is happening?
Do you have a volt meter? It sounds like you may have a bad battery. That would be what I would check first.
@@ApollosRings thank you for replying! I switched from cleaning with simple green to acetone and the problem was fixed
Your videos are amazing glad i found you bro and thanks for fyll tutorials im slow lol
What wire s used for the alligator clamps that connect to the batteries?
The wire for the alligator clips can be regular copper wire, but any wire going into the bath should be titanium on the anode side.
Excellent video, well explained
Thanks!
Do you need more batteries with a bigger bath? For example can you still get the bronze colour with 1 battery in a 5 litre bath
No, the size of the bath doesn't matter. You don't need to adjust battery amounts for larger baths.
Would this method work with something larger in size, like a balisong handle?
Absolutely. You just want to try to use something for the cathode that is close to the same size as the piece you are anodizing.
When he says "daisy chain" in this case what he really meant to say is wire/hook the 9V's up in series
That's correct. Probably should have been a bit more accurate with my wording there. It is one of my oldest videos on the channel. Probably wouldn't hurt to make a fresh tutorial at this point.
Hi, I'm just wondering does it have to be distilled water? Or can the distilled water be substituted for deionized water or WFI or even just regular tap water. What's the reason for using distilled water?
Depending on the mineral content it can effect the anodizing. Most of the time you can substitute though. My tap water works fine, but if there were high iron levels it could cause issues. I personally use tap water 100% of the time now that I know my mineral content isn't an issue.
@@ApollosRings thank you very much for your quick reply and for the information,its much appreciated 👍🏻
No problem!
If the titanium is not anodized do you need to use the rust and stain remover?
I recommend using it prior to anodizing. You really should etch the titanium first to get the best, brightest colors.
SharpKnifeNuts okay thanks
does that work for aluminium too?
Unfortunately no, this specific process is only for titanium, niobium, and the like.
What can I replace windex with? I dont have that in germany.
Honestly, I rarely use the Windex myself anymore. As long as you have some isopropyl alcohol or acetone to wipe it down really well with, and a container with distilled water for rinsing you'll be just fine
This was one of my first videos. I plan on doing an update to simplify things a bit. Everything in the video still holds true, but I've found the windex to just be an extra unnecessary step. I get the same results just using alcohol or acetone.
What is in the blue water for chemical ?
Windex, just for cleaning. You can substitute it for alcohol or acetone
would this also work with aluminum ?
Is there a certain way to tell if a piece of metal is titanium? I have a ton of pocket knives but no clue if this will work or not.
Non-magnetic, half weight of steel, strong, pricey
Great video, I'm in the process of anodizing my 0562 but I'm not able to get stainless steel lock face off. Might be a dumb question lol
There should just be a screw, then you can pull it off. Sometimes they are in there pretty tight. If you can get a really little flathead and wiggle it off
If the screw is over loctited you can use a hairdryer to heat it up or even a soldering iron to loosen the threadlocker. When i ano my 0450 i had to do that I believe and also had to pry the steel insert out with a small pick or screwdriver. Be careful prying against titanium as its soft and will mar easily.
Great tips Chris! I've heated up a driver bit with a lighter prior to trying to remove the screws as well. Sometimes the lighter trick works, but sometimes I have trouble with it.
How well does this process work when trying to anodize aluminum?
Do voltages or liquids need to be changed?
This process is for titanium. The process for aluminum is completely different. I eventually will be doing a series on aluminum as well, but this will not work. Sorry about that.
How long do the batteries last?
I've used the same set for over a year without having to replace any, but you should really have a volt meter to keep an eye on their levels. A dead battery will really mess everything up, especially if you're not sure which one is dead.
@@ApollosRingsOne more question do you have to use distilled water? Would regular filtered water work
The problem with using regular water comes in if your water has a high mineral content. I always try to use distilled to eliminate that variable. If you're in a pinch, and can't get distilled water, filtered water will work. Just keep in mind that if the mineral content is high you may have slightly varying results. Short answer, ror the most part you should be fine.
Great video!! I have some questions, I hope I can still reach you even though this video is kinda old, really the only Question I have is, what happens if you use something other than titanium wire? All I have is craft wire and I'm not sure what its made of
Thanks, glad you dig the video! As far as the wire goes, if you plan on submerging it in the bath you want to use titanium, niobium, or I've even hear that aluminum works (I haven't tried the aluminum personally yet). If you don't need to submerge your wire, then you can use any wire you like as long as it stays out of the bath. You could do half the piece at a time keeping the wire out of the bath, but you may not get a perfectly even ano job. I recommend just buying a small spool of titanium wire from Amazon. It's cheap, and then you don't have to worry about it. That's totally up to you though. You could also do sponge anodizing (I've got a how to video on the channel for that as well) and then you dont need any wire at all. If I can help with anything else, just let me know.
@@ApollosRings okay thanx so much! we are gonna take your advice and just get the titanium wire. Thanx for getting back to us, your anodizing vids are the best on RUclips for learning how to get started on this. Looks fun and cheap to do, we can't wait to start, and definitely will be referring back to your vids as we go, thanx again
No problem, glad I could help! Stay tuned, I've got a few new anodizing videos coming out in the next few days, and a giveaway to go along with them.
@@ApollosRings sounds great, one more Question, we live in a small town in Kentucky and we can't find the whinks rust and stain remover in our hardware stores, is there another brand you recommend? Or where do you get your supplies from?
@@ApollosRings never mind lol, we just found it on Amazon! Thanx again
Can i use cooper wire?
I have a video up of what happens when you use copper wire. It won't anodize correctly and you won't get accurate colors. Check out the vid if you want to see exactly what I mean.
will this also work with larger tubs while still using the 3 batteries? i would like to try this on my titanium motorcycle exhaust.
Yes, you'll just need to use a larger cathode. You want to try and make the cathode close to the same size as the piece you are anodizing.
the cathode is what u used as the fork right?
Do you have any advice or seen anything like this??
I first cleaned it in a ultrasonic cleaner with a degreaser (simply green)
Next it went into Whink Rust Stain Remover - to remove previous anodize/start with clean surface. (At this stage when I removed it, the titanium piece turned a darkish gray and had some sort of layer on it that I could sorta buff off/similar to you would with tarnished silver. (What is this???)
I had 12 9v in line, with 28GA Ti wire leads, Positive to titanium piece - negative to piece of aluminum foil sitting in water mixed with baking soda (also tried borax)
The color goes to purple/blue then if I let it sit longer it will go to just a nasty silverish grayish blueish purple and will not advance any further down the spectrum.
Couple of questions for you - how long is it taking to turn color? Does it start turning color immediately, or does it take a while to get your color? Do you know what grade of titanium you're anodizing?
@@ApollosRings it starts turning color *almost* instantly. I would say it reaches the blue/purple after about 10 seconds. but after that nothing - I can never seem to reach the bright green I was aiming for, also color is not consistent, I wear gloves, give it a super good clean prior to everything and still ends up splotchy, unfortunately I am unaware of the grade... but I paid 170$ for it, even though I know that doesnt really mean too much.... look up Omnivap XL - it is a dry herb vaporizer. Is the discoloration after using whink normal? when I look into yours it appears more silver that mine.
Sorry, been crazy busy in the shop. It sounds to me like a cheaper grade of titanium. I've run into that on a part before. It's been a few years ago now though. If I remember correctly I may have skipped the whink etch the 2nd time around and got it to work fairly well.
thanks for the great video!! im just having a problem and wondering if you could help so the whink is not removing the ano i put on the piece. idk if its because i live in canada and a different set of ingredients is used, or if i did something wrong. Anyway any help would be appreciated.
This is a problem that I've come across a few times now. The Whink in Canada does not have the hydrofluoric acid, which is the active ingredient. I'm going to put out a video letting everyone know that it's different. Another Canadian subscriber just helped me figure that out a week or so ago. I'm sorry
@@ApollosRings no worries man, Thanks for the quick response and confirming what i was thinking. Any idea if the other Canadian sub found a substitute?
As of now, no. We were tossing around the idea of just having me send some from here in the US, running it through my Etsy shop. From what I can see it isn't prohibited, so I imagine it would be fine to send.
Can you use this method to anodize aluminum?
Is it possible to get a vibrant lime green color with this method?
What else works other than the whink because I want to anodize the backspaced on my 940 Osborne a different color other than purple. And what is a dedent ball
Hydroflouric acid is the active ingredient in Whink, but I found that the Whink was very cheap and easy to obtain on E-bay, and even in some local stores. Sorry it took so long for a response, for some reason your comment was hidden. Also, the detent ball is the tiny little ball in the liner of the knife that holds the blade closed. if it gets corroded it will make the action of the knife very bad. If you are doing it on a Axis Lock Benchmade, I don't believe there is a detent ball to worry about.
Does the fork/metal you connect negative to be titanium? Or could it be any metal. Other than that, great video, really shows how to do this.
The fork I use is stainless steel. It can also be titanium, but it can't be regular carbon steel. I suggest using stainless.
@@ApollosRings Alright thanks man!
No problem! If you have any issues let me know, I'll help any way I can
I've never seen a titanium fork, but it would probably be a lot more expensive than stainless.
Do you need to use distilled water?
Really depends on the mineral content of your water. I'm sure you could probably get away without it, but for $0.89 at any grocery or drug store, it just isn't worth the hassle of screwing up a project. That's my opinion anyhow. If you have a high iron content in your water it will definitely screw up the anodizing.
Do I still need the whink if I'm starting with a clean unanodized piece of titanium?
It isn't 100% necessary, and results can vary, but I always recommend it. You can always try without it and see if you're happy with the outcome, then if not order some Whink to strip it and start over. I've had quick jobs where I haven't needed to use it first, and there are some times when you can't tell, but other times you won't be able to achieve a certain color without prepping it with Whink first. Usually it just won't be as vivid of a color without etching it with something first, whether it be Whink or Multi-Etch. Hope this helps! Thanks for watching! 👊🏼👍🏼 Happy Holidays!!!
@@ApollosRings thanks for the quick response!
Could you do this with a titanium bonded/coated blade?
To be perfectly honest, I haven't tried it. I had thought about it in the past, but the reason I hadn't tried it is because to get any decent results you really need to etch prior to anodizing, and I'm afraid that etching will completely remove the coating. I still may give it a shot just to see if it works if you would be interested in seeing a video on it though.
If I remember correctly, when I looked into trying it some time ago, I read that heat ano works on the coating, but electro ano does not. Might have to do some experiments though.
Is there any alternative to Whink Rust and Stain remover? I can't seem to find any in Canada and shipping is really expensive.
Also how bad would it be if I were to use non-distilled water?
Heavily diluted hydrofluoric acid is the active ingredient in Whink. If you can get your hands on some of that you'll be good to go. That stuff is pretty nasty though. If you get it, make sure you wear proper PPE. An acid-free alternative is Multi-Etch, but that stuff can be pretty pricey.
As far as the distilled water - you can use regular tap water, but your results will vary depending on the mineral content in your tap water. Distilled is used so that the mineral content isn't a concern. Distilled water is mineral free. If there is a high iron content in your water you may have mixed results. Distilled water is pretty easy to come by though at any pharmacy or grocery store, and it should only be $1 or $2 for a gallon. It's worth it to me to not have the headache, but that's totally up to you, and you may not have any issues.
@@ApollosRings thank you for the information!
No problem! If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. I'll help any way I can.
Canadian Tire has it
There ya go!
Will the whink mess up the finish? Say like my Mick Strider Custom SMF is heavy stonewash, and anodized bronze/purple, will the whink remove the satin/stonewash and make it matte titanium?
If you leave it in too long it will start to eat at the finish, but if you only leave it in till the anodizing is removed, the finish should remain in-tact. As soon as you start to see it bubble rapidly remove it from the Whink. When it starts bubbling it means it has dissolved the anodizing and is now starting to etch the titanium itself.
@@ApollosRings awesome thanks! I have been anodizing like this for a long time now but always removed it by blasting. Just wish I could find the whink somewhere close by!
Not sure if you have a Walmart close to where you're at, but they are supposed to carry it. I couldn't find it at my local Walmart, but it's kind of a crappy one. Worst case just hop on Amazon and have it shipped. That's how I ended up getting mine.
The Whink is a lifesaver for sure! It's great for removing the anodizing, and I've found that using it as a etch before anodizing makes the color turn out so much better. Really great stuff. Just FYI - the active ingredient in the Whink is hydrochloric acid, so if you can get that you're in business as well. Just take proper safety measures. That stuff is no joke. Keep some baking soda on hand and near by just in case of accidental skin exposure. The baking soda will neutralize the burn. Any other questions, feel free to shoot me a message any time.
lovely tutorial.
How long will anodization last?
Thanks! It definitely depends on individual wear and tear. It could last forever if it's not being used, but on something like an every day carry knife that is constantly in and out of a pocket I usually get a solid 6 months without any signs of wear, by a year it has some scratches, but it still looks good. I usually re-anodize when it shows some scratches. It is a very resilient coating that I would almost compare to powder coat. It will never peel off though, it will just eventually wear and scratch. Hope that helps.
@@ApollosRings ok! thanks!
and is the rust cleaner necessary? if i dont plan on removing it?
It really makes a huge difference. I highly recommend using it prior to anodizing. Your colors will be so much brighter and vivid if you etch the titanium first. You do not absolutely need to, but it makes a considerable difference.
Dumb question i know you said dont do it but what happens if i use copper wire instead of buying titanium wire to hold the piece in the bath. Even have the alligator clip right on the piece.
There's a video up on the channel showing what happens if you want to see what happens. I recommend spending the $3 or so on titanium wire for sure, but check it out for yourself if you like.
What purpose does the Windex serve? Also, how is it possible to anodize a piece of titanium multiple different colors?
+Gear Guy226, the Windex cleans the metal. At the beginning of the process is when it is most important. It works really well to strip any fingerprints, and any left over oils from your skin that will prevent the anodizing from working to its full potential.
When you are asking about anodizing multiple different colors, are you asking how to achieve somewhat of a rainbow effect on the piece once it's finished?
SharpKnifeNuts Awesome, thanks! Not exactly. Like what you did on your 0900. How it's blue on some parts, yellow on others. Does that make sense?
Ok, yeah I see what you're asking now. So basically the way you have to do that is first do the blue or purple, because you have to do the color that takes the most voltage first. Then once the entire piece is all that one color you need to either sand or scotch-brite pad the spots you want to be the straw color. With my knife I left the Zero Tolerance logo blue because it's indented and I wanted that to stand out, but the rest of the flat surface I used a scotch-brite pad on. Then once you remove all the anodizing down to bare titanium on the spots you want to be the straw color, you re-anodize those spots at the lower voltage(using the method I showed with batteries you just use less batteries). You won't have to worry about the blue changing, because it would only change that color with a higher voltage. I hope I'm explaining that well enough. I'm in the middle of moving right now, but in a week or 2 I will be back to putting out videos much more regularly. I will definitely do a video on the process to help show exactly what I'm describing here. Subscribe, and stay tuned, I have like 4 or 5 more helpful anodizing tips and tricks that can be done for cheap, but still give a professional job. Any other questions, just ask. I love to be able to help in any way I can!
SharpKnifeNuts Awesome! Yeah, definitely makes sense. Didn't even think about that. Definitely subbed already and look forward to learning more!
I'm thinking about the complex patterns you see online in different places, is it possible they're laying down some kind of vinyl sticker pattern or something and lightly sand blasting? There's got to be some kind of trick to the very complex designs, right?
Thanks for the detailed instructions! Ordered all my equipment today. Question about anodizing Ti screws... will the Whink compromise the threads on say a pivot screw? Or maybe try to paint the threads with maybe some fingernail polish? Also, have you tried stonewashing Ti? Would it be better to stonewash first, then anodizing, or the other way around?
Either way, got yourself another sub!
Hey Tyler, thanks for watching! So as far as the screws go - anything that you are concerned about tolerances I would definitely coat with a few good coats of nail polish prior to Whink. That 0900 that I use for the videos has a full aftermarket set of titanium screws and pivot. Since I knew I planned on using that as a test piece I wasn't super concerned with tolerances and just always whinked and anodized the entire thing without nail polish. I haven't noticed any slop in anything, but some knives definitely could conceivably get messed up if you don't coat the screw threads. Up to you, but if you only plan on doing an ano job here or there, I'd take a little extra time and coat everything so I didn't have to take a chance. Hope that helps!
Thanks! I was planning on painting the threads for the annodizing, and only planning on doing the stone wash to the clip, it's my PM2 that I just recently started modding. I rit dyed the green camo scales to a dark grey urban camo, but then I ordered some canvas micarta scales that should be here next week. Then to go with the micarta, I acid etched and stone washed the blade, which came out awesome! So then I decided to go Ti for the hardware, so I have two different Ti deep carry clips i ordered one for use another for learning to annodize. I am looking for a darker bronze, almost a patina'ed brass look. Any way to darken the ti after annodizing without losing the color? Definitely appreciate the info and quick response!
You mention covering the detent ball, then just remove it with nail polish remover?
Yeah, nail polish remover, or pure acetone will take it off. Sometimes nail polish remover isn't quite as strong.
Thank you it looks much simpler then I would have imagined. I guess I’ll find out lol
Yeah, it's not hard. Just make sure you put a few good coats of nail polish on it and let it dry completely before anodizing. If not you'll really mess up your detent ball.
SharpKnifeNuts to remove the anodizing do I also need to coat the detent ball or it’s ok to just put it in the solution?
I would coat it first
If i where to try do this on a grey stonewashed knife, like the finish of a spyderco myrtle (I think most Ti spydercoes have the grey-stonewash finish im thinking of) would i need to remove the finish or can I directly apply it to the knife? Im assuming it would make it more matte
If it's just stone washed you do not need to remove a finish, but I know some Spyderco models with titanium scales do have a clear coat on them. Pretty sure the Nirvana has a clear coat, but I'm not too sure about other models. If it does have a clear coat you should be able to remove it with scotch-brite before anodizing.
it doesn't feel like it has a coat, if you run your nail on it it's like a chalkboard, that dusty smooth feeling. I'm gonna shoot for the early purple and early blue I think. When doing this on a framelock do you have to worry about the detent ball, or the interface, or the washer track? along with screw threading or stop pin slot? sorry to pester, I don't mind screwing up the colour, as long as it still opens and closes alright
No worries, I definitely don't mind helping. As far as a clear coat goes, you'll know right away if it has one if it doesn't change color. Then if it has one, just remove it. You definitely need to cover the detent ball, and anything else that either isn't titanium, or you just don't want it anodized. Make sure you put a few good coats of nail polish on whatever isn't titanium, and let the nail polish dry completely. It will screw up your anodizing if you don't. Some people use nail polish on the bearing track as well. I haven't, and never had any issues with opening or closing, but if it's a concern for you just cover anything that you're worried about with nail polish. After anodizing you can remove it with acetone. The only thing that I would really be concerned about personally would be the detent ball, and anything that isn't titanium though. Everything else should be fine. Hope that helps answer your questions. If you need anything else, just let me know. I'll help any way I can.
Thanks heaps mate, i'll give it a crack the second I can get my hands on titanium wire, which may take some time, i'll let you know how it goes!
Awesome! Sounds good, yeah definitely let me know how you make out. FYI, one guy said he used copper wire and didn't have an issue. I've never personally tried it, I was under the impression that it would take current away from the piece you are trying to anodize, but if you want to give it a shot, he said it worked fine. I'm going to do some experiments myself for a upcoming video testing it. Just thought I'd pass that along. Good luck, and keep me posted.
does this work the same for aluminum
No, this will not work for aluminum
@@ApollosRings ok thanks good thing I didnt risk it