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Chozo @fedia.io

Thoughts on flamed titanium?

I just picked up a couple of "flamed titanium" pocket clips, and I love the look of them. I've always been attracted to the blue-on-black color combo for most things I own, and I love the way the color pops on my Vision FG!

I've noticed, however, that even the slightest touch from my fingers will dull the shine and really mutes the color. It comes right back with a simple wipe on the clip with any dry cloth, but it's a little annoying just how well this finish attracts skin oils.

I was thinking about picking up some flamed ti scales to go with this, but after seeing how quickly the color fades after being touched, I'm not sure how I'd feel about an entire handle with that finish.

12 comments

  • The color exhibited by anodized titanium is due to the refraction of incoming light by the oxide layer on its surface. This works exactly like how it does on some butterfly wings. The surface isn't colored per se, but rather the nanoscopic texture on the surface interferes with the light hitting it and bouncing off to produce a reflected color. Anything that fills in, changes, or alters the reflective index of the surface will alter its appearance, like any grease/finger oils/moisture/whatever until it's cleaned off. (This is why anodizing titanium, unlike aluminum, does not require any dyes to produce a color. And you can influence the color depending on the voltage at which you anodize it, which is wild.)

    This is just how anodized titanium works. If this annoys you, a larger piece of it is likely to annoy you as well.

    • Whoa, I had no idea about butterfly wings! Thanks, I have a new rabbit hole to dive down now. :)

      • It is pretty wild from a scientific standpoint. The clip on my Benchmade Morpho exhibits the same phenomenon, since it's titanium and it's anodized blue. The liners do as well, actually, but they're harder to touch since they're recessed under the scales. Whenever I take it apart to deep clean it you can noticeably see the color turn more blue. When these parts are smudged they tend to become a dull grayish purple.

  • Personal preference, I like it in small amounts like on pocket clips or accents

    Never really liked it when it's a slab like on scales

  • It's the light

    The colors come from the way light refracts. Oils change the angles involved. With the oils having their own pattern as well, it's more pronounced than if you applied an even coat of any oil. Since sebum has more than just oil in it, that's another interference.

    The more varied the colors are, the more pronounced the muting is going to be. Solid colors, you may not even be able to detect the difference. Everything is bouncing the same way, evenly. So you don't notice the effect as much.

    It adds up to there being a limit to how any given layer of oxides is going to "shine". You'll see it on steel patinas as well, though it's obviously less pronounced what with the colors being slightly dulled to begin with

    Something with as complex a color variance, it's pretty much going to need very frequent wiping, or a protective barrier (that is going to change how it looks to some degree no matter what you use).

    • Something with as complex a color variance, it's pretty much going to need very frequent wiping, or a protective barrier (that is going to change how it looks to some degree no matter what you use).

      It's funny, I was actually just thinking this a few minutes ago; I was wondering if there is some sort of coating I could apply to the clip that might keep the oil from interacting with the anodization. But then I realized that whatever coating I could put on there would almost certainly be just as problematic.

      For the pocket clip, it's not a huge deal, I can just wipe it on my shirt and it's bright and beautiful again. But I've definitely gotten turned off on the idea of getting full scales with this finish now lol.

      • There's this stuff called Renaissance wax. It isn't exactly cheap, but it's used to protect metals in museums and collections. It's about the only thing I've run across that barely changes how metals look in light. Some, it actually makes them look better, and most patinas the change really isn't noticeable unless you have a before/after test, and is minor then.

        It might do well on fancy titanium, though I haven't personally tried it for that yet.

        Which, like you said, not really worth it for a clip. But if you're really craving the scales, it might be worth trying on the clip to see how it does.

12 comments