Glossy and non glossy 6p's PICTURE ADDED

[allburger]

I was at bass pro shop in Detroit this past weekend and I was looking at the surefire case and noticed that the 6P that they had on display had a glossy head and tailcap like usual, but the body was more of a flat black without any gloss.

As far as i've seen the light parts are always glossy and match especially with black.

Has anyone else seen this before??

 

[GreyShark]

Re: Glossy and non glossy 6p's

I've got a glossy 6P LED and a less glossy 6p incan. There seems to be considerable variation in hard anodizing as well.

 

[allburger]

Re: Glossy and non glossy 6p's

Yeah it was really weird, because i see less variation in type 2 thats generally glossy. Like maglites and the surefires that use type 2. When you get into type 3 hard ano, you seem to seem more variance. This was clearly not right in the sense that the body was completely flat.

 

[angelofwar]

Re: Glossy and non glossy 6p's

I have never seen a "flat" 6P body, but I have noticed that the G2L-BK bezels are definitely "flat" compared to the bezel of the 6P's. A different type of Ano???

 

[allburger]

Re: Glossy and non glossy 6p's

Ok yeah, we are familiar with the flat g2 bezels. It was like that, but on the body only. Good reference

 

[Mjolnir]

Re: Glossy and non glossy 6p's

This could have something to do with how the aluminum is cleaned prior to anodization. Before anodizing, the aluminum is put in an a basic (or alkaline) solution in order to remove any oils, grease, or other stuff. After that, the aluminum goes through an etching stage, which gives the anodizing more of a matte finish (once the aluminum is anodized, of course). I believe that if this stage is left out, the aluminum will be glossier and shinier. The anodizing tends to mirror the texture of the aluminum under it, so it depends on how well they clean the aluminum beforehand. There is bound to be some deviation in this, so that could result in different glossiness between parts.

 

[allburger]

Re: Glossy and non glossy 6p's

Here is the picture that I took a few weeks ago at Bass Pro Shop in Detroit area. As you can see, the 6p body is not glossy at all.

Anyone seen this before?

 

[Mjolnir]

It is sort of hard to tell from the picture because of all of the reflections from the glass. However, any differences in anodizing would probably be a result of the aluminum texture before anodizing.

 

[allburger]

look at how glossy the head and tailcap are compared to the body

 

[N467RX]

I can see it, like compare it with the Z2.

 

[Sgt. LED]

Yes it's different. :twothumbs

I would not of left the store without it!

 

[DimeRazorback]

Definitely looks like a matte finish

I like it!

 

[choaticwhisper]

Looks cool, you should have asked someone to look/hold it.
Did you check the lights on the shelf to see if they looked the same?

 

[allburger]

That was the only one that was like this

 

[Kestrel]

It's probably the mystical HA matte black 6P body that you can find at the end of every rainbow.
Kidding aside, perhaps a machined body that managed to skip the polishing step?? Do they even get polished at all before anodizing?

 

[Mjolnir]

I don't know what surefire specifically does, but they might electropolish the aluminum prior to anodizing, which should make it glossy. "Etching" the aluminum in a basic solution will produce a more matte look, which might have been what they did for that body.