The Titanium Flashlight Remintification Project

[Str8stroke]

js, you nail it. Looks are personal for sure. This holds true for all arenas of life. I have Ti lights in all conditions. Some mint, others mauled. lol. Nothing better than a user though. The problem with mint lights is that they tend to sit on a shelf or case and don't get appreciated enough. I have 2 McGizmos that are users. They have their own personality.

 

[recDNA]

So I guess Mr Milton never dropped in on this thread! LOL! Ah well, no problem.

Anyway, it kind of dawned on me recently that I haven't stressed enough the main point of this thread. I present a certain method and the philosophy behind it, of course, and others chimed in with their methods, and I maybe didn't stress enough that this is the point! That there are MANY methods, and the point is that you CAN re-surface and re-pair and work a titanium light like this! Which is so, so cool! Got too many scratches? No worries, there are things you can do! Got a bad ding? Never fear, there's stuff you can try. Titanium is just awesome this way. So no matter what you're approach and philosophy--use a 3M pad, use metal polish, use strips of fine sandpaper, don't do anything at all and appreciate the patina--it all goes to show how great titanium is for making flashlights (among other things!)

I must have read a dozen titanium flashlight sales threads that promise, "only a few surface scratches which could easily be buffed off." I always want to reply, "Then why don't YOU buff them off?"

When you've got no tools nor skills it is NOT easy.

As for a "user" being nice....only true if you were the user that did it. I don't want someone else's beater. My one good experience with buffing a titanium flashlight was a quark 123x2 ti that I brought to a machine shop to buff before I sold it. The guy did a beautiful job and refused to charge a cent. He didn't have the patience to explain how he did it and he's retired now so I won't have that chance again.

 

[nbp]

I must have read a dozen titanium flashlight sales threads that promise, "only a few surface scratches which could easily be buffed off." I always want to reply, "Then why don't YOU buff them off?"

When you've got no tools nor skills it is NOT easy.

As for a "user" being nice....only true if you were the user that did it. I don't want someone else's beater. My one good experience with buffing a titanium flashlight was a quark 123x2 ti that I brought to a machine shop to buff before I sold it. The guy did a beautiful job and refused to charge a cent. He didn't have the patience to explain how he did it and he's retired now so I won't have that chance again.

Most likely because to the person selling it, the light is for using not looking at, so the scratches are not a big deal. If the person buying it wants to look at it rather than use it, they may disagree. In that case, the onus is on the buyer to buff it out to shelf queen status. It simply isn't important to the seller. And if it is SO important to the buyer, they should just buy a new one instead of being unhappy that the used one they are getting a deal on has a few insignificant scratches.

Also, by indicating they are surface scratches that can be buffed out they are explaining that they are not deep, below the metal's surface. This is something that differentiates Ti from ano'd alu. No fixing scratches in ano. Slight scratches in Ti CAN be erased.

 

[recDNA]

I could not disagree more. If scratch easily removed it adds to value of light to remove scratches and the vast majority of titanium buyers choose titanium because it is pretty. Most of us do not want scratches. After all aluminum is lighter, has better threads, and transmits heat better.

When someone like me sells a scratched titanium I simply wouldn't add that scratches can easily be removed. They cannot be easily removed by ME so if seller can easily do it he should. If, like me, he does not find removing scratches easy then please do not tell me how easily I can do it. I cannot.

I do agree that pointing out that a scratch is there and whether it is deep should be added. It is the "easily removed" line that annoys me.

If you used that line in a sale I was not singling you out. As I said I have read it many times.

I do want to say this is a great thread to help those with the dexterity and guts to sand away damage to their precious titanium flashlights. I can say with certainty that I could change a few surface scratches into major damage in no time. Just put some sandpaper in my hands and there is no end to the damage I can do! LOL

 

[nbp]

That's the whole point. Most times sandpaper already is way overkill. For light pocket scratches grab some 0000 steel wool and rub away. Unless you're Hulk you really can't make it worse. Ti is hard stuff. More or less you are just removing the oxide layer on the top, making the "scratches" in it disappear.

 

[Southpaw1969]

A few thoughts-

First, why not try tumbling it with successively finer media to get a great all over shiny finish, so it's not so labor intensive?

Second, for something really scratched & dinged up, I'd like to see someone try a stonewash type finish, where the point of the finish is lots of small, random scratches! Good stonewashed blades look great, and hide little imperfections, which if the object in question is something that actually gets used, it makes it so you don't obsess over every little tiny mark.

Big improvement in the thing you did though. looks nice.