Guys,

I have a project I need help with. Below is a great dagger I own that was made by Jack Levin. He said he "threw it together with some parts" he had hanging around from past projects. I stole it from him for what he was asking. He is a master at this stuff.

Still not willing to leave well enough alone, I was unhappy with the different colors on the various parts of this piece and decided to take it apart to refinish. From what I can tell, and what Jack mentioned ALL these fittings are titanium.

The large guard was a gold color, and had some type of coating or process to make it such. It also had a bunch of tooling marks in it, so I decided to buff them out with a rotary disc sander. I did and it looks so much better than it started. Less 'machined' and more carved.

My question is this: What type of finishes are available to me for this? Here's what I would like: gold fittings once again, or a combination of gold guard and pommell, with black or blue spacers. Maybe a black guard with gold spacers? Stop me if I'm working this too hard.

Please look this over and tell me what you see as fitting. It is enough quality too deserve an ornate look. I've already started, so I can't turn back.....

And then--who do I turn to to get this done? I don't want to get Jack involved. This is my decision.

Coop

http://www.fototime.com/10D6A9BB4F7D867/orig.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/8472BF64F3F6590/orig.jpg

Coop, if all the parts you want to finish are indeed titanium, building an anodizer (see "Tool Time" forum) sounds like it would be just the ticket. Varying the voltage will vary the color choices...

.. would be your intention, but after an hour of looking over past posts in the Tool Forum, I don't want any part of it. Geno is right--it's a bit dangerous. For the cost and trouble, I would rather job these out to someone that ALREADY has an anodizer. And knows what the heck they're doing.

Which brings me back to my original question. Is this the type of finish titanium needs? I have heard of iriditing Ti. What is that? You see I know very little. Are there colors for ti other than gold and blue? Hmmm.

TIA,

Coop

You can get a whole bunch of colors with titanium.

http://www.centercross.com/forumpics/sr15.jpg

http://www.centercross.com/forumpics/sr14.jpg

Hey Coop, if they are Ti I will do it for ya for shipping. It would take me about ten minutes to do. And most of that would be pulling the power supply down off its shelf. The only problem is that you can not anodize black.

Drop me a line and I will get you a list of what colors are possible (20-30 of em).

BTW - its not really that dangerous. Just wear rubber gloves. The amps are super low, something in the area of .02amps. You can pick up power supplies on Ebay for dirt. I got my $900-$1000 unit for $35. Also TSP (not the real stuff but the household cleaner) is totally safe. I might not want to drink it but if you can clean dishes with it...........

Wow, Pat! That is quite an example. I see the colors range from yellow to gold to blue to purple.... Plenty of choices. Maybe not even all. Thank you.

Ron: Now THAT'S a fine gesture! I would love to take you up on this, if you could. Take a look at my pic and help me decide what to do with them.

You've got mail! :D

Someday, I might reconsider starting to aquire and build equipment, but for now, I'll leave the bigger projects to the pro's.

Coop

(When this all gets finallized, you can be sure I will post an appropriate pic!)

Ron, you out there? Give me a shout...

Thanks,

Coop

Well, a BIG thanks to Ron Clark for coming through as promised. Not only did he undertake this, but in the process had to figure out that the butcap is actually (4) pieces--two of which are stainless, and the others were titanium. Ooops! You can see the differences.

I took the time to buff out machining marks in the guard from the original job, and it looks much more 'flowing' this way. Now the buttcap and guard are complimenting each other. Jack would be quite pleased, and I will show him soon. It was his suggestion anyway.

Thanks again, Ron!!!

Coop

http://www.fototime.com/E1641E029820920/orig.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/9D125A9F50DFA4A/orig.jpg