The authoritative public forum
  for Metal Finishing since 1989
-----

Coloring titanium lures and sinkers

Dear Sirs, I am a professional fisherman who loves new technology. Titanium is fairly new to our industry as a replacement for lead in sinkers and lures to reduce toxic materials left on the lake bottom. My question is how do you color titanium? I haven't been able to get paint to adhere and I have been told that oxidation processes (blueing techniques) don't work with titanium. Any advice on this will be shared with thousands of others like me. Thanks

Charles Franklin Locke
Franky Locke's Rod Shop - Toney, Alabama
2007

---

Hi Charles. Titanium can be "anodized" to most of the colors of the rainbow pretty easily. The reason is that application of electricity while the sinker or lure is immersed in Coke or TSP will convert a small amount of it on the surface to oxide, and the oxide will comprise a thin transparent clearcoat. Very thin clear films like that cause an "interference" as the light bounces off two surfaces that are extremely close together (the outside of the clearcoat, and the outside of the non-oxidized titanium. Depending on the thickness of the transparent film (which you can control by voltage), the color will range through the red-orange-yellow-green-blue-indigo-violet spectrum. This is similar to what happens with carnival glass, or with the rainbow sheen from a drop of oil in a puddle.

Patient application of the search engine with the term "anodize titanium" will yield suggestions on the best chemicals, the setup, and the voltages needed for the various colors. Good luck.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2007