Letter 38086

Identification of type of anodized finish  

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I've been experimenting with clear anodizing 6061-T6 parts, and they always seem to end up with a light gray finish as though they've been coated a gray color.

What I'm trying to achieve is finish that looks like this golf putter:

I've been told by the manufacturer this putter is also anodized 6061-T6. This finish looks darker than what my parts have ended up, but what I like is that you can see the natural grain of the metal show through, which I've not been able to achieve.

One thing that I thought was maybe this putter was anodized using a two-step process with electrolytic coloring using nickel to achieve that darker-than-aluminum tint. Can anyone tell by looking at this image how this putter may have been finished? Thanks in advance.

Bob Johnson
Hobbyist - Pleasanton, CA, USA

Bob, you haven't told us the pretreatment, anodizing, and dyeing sequence you are using yourself. You've photographed someone else's product but not your own. You've given us no starting point about what you are doing wrong. No way for any one to say: "Well I can see that your parts are too WWWWW, and that your process includes XXXXX, but it doesn't include YYYYY, so maybe you should try ZZZZZ".

And, while there's nothing wrong with asking, sometimes it's a little unrealistic. I know for a fact that Ben Hogan spends a large amount of money on development of finishes, and that a hobbyist can't do that. They will tell you what you need to know to use their clubs, and they'll tell you why they think their clubs are better than others, but they certainly won't help you reverse engineer their finishes. But send photos of your own part and your operational sequence, and maybe some one can help a bit. I have access to information that makes it necessary for me to recuse myself on this one, but good luck.

Ted Mooney, P.E.  finishing.com Brick, New Jersey

Bob,
"The natural grain of the metal" is a texture you may be able to achieve by linear sanding. The darker color may be hard anodize, which requires the services of a professional anodizing jobshop (see below).

Ken Vlach - Goleta, California

The color of anodizing can be influenced by many things. Substrate, current density, anodizing tank temperature, coating thickness, and, of course, dyeing. The "natural grain" you refer to is probably not natural at all, but it looks like a finish imparted by the manufacturer prior to anodizing.
I'm sure Mr Hogans company has the resources to have a professional coat his club heads, and you, as a hobbyist, are probably being a little unrealistic if you expect to get the same results as a professional coater would, with all the necessary equipment.
Ted was right, next time, perhaps attach a picture of what you've achieved to this point, and perhaps we can steer you in the right direction.

Marc Green anodizer - Boise, Idaho

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