Any suggestions on De-anodizing Titanium?

Hey guys,
The story is I am trying to deannodize my Titanium yoyo to raw color and this is the stage I have reached so far. Can anyone tell me how can I strip the Blast surface without sandpaper?
I only used Rust remover for the process
I really appreciated any help

2 Likes
2 Likes

Hi, I am wondering if this applied to Blast surface yoyo?

Titanium isn’t very reactive with sodium hydroxide (the active ingredient in oven cleaner/lye).

For stripping anno from titanium you’re going to want to use hydrochloric or hydrofluoric acid, both of which are very dangerous in their undiluted forms.

There are some companies that make etchants which uses a fluoride suspended in solution so it’s a bit safer.

@OP the only way to remove the surface finish is to sand it away. AFAIK most companies use a form of media blasting or tumbling to get their finishes which physically deforms the surface of the material. Take a flat piece of steel and hammer it a bunch of times, how do you expect to get the dings out?

1 Like

Actually I dipped mine into hydroflouric acid and the pics above is the result. Since mine is a blast color version, I just don’t know if I have reached to the state that I can polish it yet.

You could probably get a decent polish as it stands, though you’ll be able to get a ‘smoother’ polish if you first progressively sand the surface.

Maybe @yoyospirit can provide some advice.

3 Likes

Btw do you know anyone offer sanding and polish service for titanium? I think it might need to sand a bit since I tried my best to polish it and as you said it might need to be sand to reach perfect raw state

1 Like

I would try a stainless steel buffing componds (or google buffing compounds that work with Ti before resorting to sand paper

1 Like

Can that be used manually since I do not have drill or similar machine for it.

Uhm goodluck if you want it shiny. If you want scratch marks then no worries

4 Likes

Yeah I guess I have to find somebody to do the polish then

1 Like

@dizzo has been doing a lot of Ti anno’s.

Maybe he knows something about removing too.

LOL, coincident thought. I am thinking about asking him if he accept annodize mine to monotone black.

Yellow can heavy duty easy off oven cleaner. I was told you can basically spray it on heavy, let it sit a few minutes, and rinse. I’m sure there are videos on YouTube

Call me odd, but I kinda dig that rough look. Hit me up if you want to part with it, perhaps you could sell it and buy something already polished?

It might avoid the rather costly process of shining it up.

I had two Titanium band bracelets that had some chemicals spilled on them redone a few years back and it was roughly $150 each to bring them back to life. Maybe a yoyo is cheaper? Idk. :man_shrugging:

2 Likes

Not only the cost, but if you want them to stay shiny you’re going to be polishing repeatedly. I love the used look of my Ti. That’s all preference of course.

1 Like

Yeah I sell it for cheap if you are interested. Pm me, I’ll send some pics

If you’ve already used some chemical agent and removed everything and it is the metal that now looks patchy, wondering if you could just use some metal polish and a lot of elbow grease (unless you had a Dremel or something) to get it looking uniform. Is the staining on the surface or does it go deeper?

1 Like

solved-pls-close

We typically don’t close topics in Mods and Maintenance. They may prove useful down the road…

Gotcha, let me re-edit the title again.
Thanks for letting me know. You have a good one