We've seen the claim on Surefire's web site regarding their HAIII finish:
"This finish is so tough that a flashlight coated in it can actually be used to saw through other aluminum flashlights with standard finishes."
I always thought this sounded impressive, but since I could never find any definitive proof of it, I decided to check it out for myself.
Let's meet the players.
On the left, we have a brand new blue Mini-Mag. On the right, we have a Surefire L4 body with HAIII finish (Serial# A203080).
My goal with this was to see if I could really use the L4 body to saw through the Mini-Mag, but before I began I first had to decide how to interpret the word "through". Did it mean saw the other light completely into two pieces, or just saw until a hole was produced in the body of the Mini-Mag? I decided that for my test (and my sanity :hairpull: ), I would go with the second option.
So it was settled... I would work at this until a hole appeared in the Mini-Mag. At approximately 8:00PM I began. My technique was nothing special; I just braced the L4 against my work surface and scraped the Mini-Mag body across one single section of the knurling. Imagine a Boy Scout trying to start a fire with two sticks, and you'll get a pretty good idea of what it looked like. If you can't picture it, here's a short movie clip. (approx. 3.5MB)
It took about 45-50 minutes of constant grinding, cramped hands, and listening to that horrible noise
, but I finally saw what appeared to be a small hole in the side of the Mini-Mag. You can see it in the lower right area of the scar.
oo: Could it be true? Only one way to check. I removed the tailcap, inserted a red Inova Microlight, and turned out the lights.
SUCCESS!!! :twothumbs So now if anyone ever asks you (yeah, right), you can say with 100% certainty that a Surefire can indeed saw through a competitor's light.
OK, so that's all well and good. We know the fate of the Mini-Mag, but how does the Surefire look after all of this?
First some cleaning was in order because this was the mess I was left with when I was done:
Now for some before and after pictures of the L4.
This is what it looked like before I began:
This is what it looked like after. Again, bear in mind that it just went through nearly an hour of constant grinding, all concentrated on this one side of its body:
And a look from the other side:
There is definitely some damage to the finish, and the knurling on that side is a little "smoother" than before I started, but all things considered I would have to say that it really doesn't look too bad.
All in all, I would have to say that I even more impressed with Surefire lights than I was when I started. As far as torture tests go, this was pretty extreme. I can't imagine that any of my Surefire lights will ever have to endure anything close to this type of punishment in the real world, but it sure is nice to know that they could.
:thumbsup:
"This finish is so tough that a flashlight coated in it can actually be used to saw through other aluminum flashlights with standard finishes."
I always thought this sounded impressive, but since I could never find any definitive proof of it, I decided to check it out for myself.
Let's meet the players.
On the left, we have a brand new blue Mini-Mag. On the right, we have a Surefire L4 body with HAIII finish (Serial# A203080).
My goal with this was to see if I could really use the L4 body to saw through the Mini-Mag, but before I began I first had to decide how to interpret the word "through". Did it mean saw the other light completely into two pieces, or just saw until a hole was produced in the body of the Mini-Mag? I decided that for my test (and my sanity :hairpull: ), I would go with the second option.
So it was settled... I would work at this until a hole appeared in the Mini-Mag. At approximately 8:00PM I began. My technique was nothing special; I just braced the L4 against my work surface and scraped the Mini-Mag body across one single section of the knurling. Imagine a Boy Scout trying to start a fire with two sticks, and you'll get a pretty good idea of what it looked like. If you can't picture it, here's a short movie clip. (approx. 3.5MB)
It took about 45-50 minutes of constant grinding, cramped hands, and listening to that horrible noise
, but I finally saw what appeared to be a small hole in the side of the Mini-Mag. You can see it in the lower right area of the scar.
oo: Could it be true? Only one way to check. I removed the tailcap, inserted a red Inova Microlight, and turned out the lights.
SUCCESS!!! :twothumbs So now if anyone ever asks you (yeah, right), you can say with 100% certainty that a Surefire can indeed saw through a competitor's light.
OK, so that's all well and good. We know the fate of the Mini-Mag, but how does the Surefire look after all of this?
First some cleaning was in order because this was the mess I was left with when I was done:
Now for some before and after pictures of the L4.
This is what it looked like before I began:
This is what it looked like after. Again, bear in mind that it just went through nearly an hour of constant grinding, all concentrated on this one side of its body:
And a look from the other side:
There is definitely some damage to the finish, and the knurling on that side is a little "smoother" than before I started, but all things considered I would have to say that it really doesn't look too bad.
All in all, I would have to say that I even more impressed with Surefire lights than I was when I started. As far as torture tests go, this was pretty extreme. I can't imagine that any of my Surefire lights will ever have to endure anything close to this type of punishment in the real world, but it sure is nice to know that they could.
:thumbsup:
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I guess that will just have to be my contribution to the community. 
