Last August I got Large Sebenza and so far it's been doing great. In the 5 month period that I have the knife I've used iteverywhere. It is on me 24/7. Now I would like to customize it. I just would like to add a personal touch to it. I want it to stand out and be unique just in case I ever have an argument (like last night) who this cool slick blade belongs to. Any ideas?

Matt

You could go to a jewel or an engraver but if you want to do it yourself you could buy a dremel and use that. Just a suggestion. <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Frank <img src="images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

<img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Me and dremel would be a disaster... It will be like aiming for 3 year olds art effect... Cute but quite not there

Well if you can't do a dremel you shold go to a jeweler a friend of mine got some SAKs engraved with names.

Frank <img src="images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Have your name (at least) professionally engraved on it. I carry a Microtech SOCOM knife, which retails for about the same as a Sebenza--in the neighborhood of $300. (It took me 6 months to get the nerve to carry such an expensive knife.)

I took it to a chain store in a local mall called "Things Remembered". They'll machine engrave nearly any text on nearly any thing for a very reasonable charge. I think having my name done cost about $16.00.

If there's not a "Things Remembered" store in your area, probably any jewelry store can get it done--though it may not be in-house. I had a jeweler monogram a matching pair of knives, one of which I gave to my best man when I got married.

I've also used a carbide-tipped scribe to unobtrusively place my name or initials on other knives and tools--especially ones I use or keep at the office.

For a quality item like the Sebenza, I'd definitely spend a few bucks to make sure it stays mine (or at least, so that whoever gets it will know who they stole it from!)

David

Look in the phone book under "trophies". I recently had some stainless steel plaques engraved for my airplane at a trophy shop. They did a good job for just a few cents per letter. However, make sure they can engrave the material before you turn it over to them. The typical brass plaques are a much softer material than the titanium handle of a Sebenza. <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

By any chance would you know if you can dye the engraving?

Matt

Matt - Jewelry store. I've had a number of Wave's engraved with full names (FN MI LN) at $5 each knife. As a bonus, they are accustomed to dealing with sometimes delicate jewelry, so they pay close attention to engraving depth and feed pressure. Been a real pleasure dealing with them and quite a bargain. Maybe try them out with something else not so spendy first and see how you like the results???

However - IIRC, aren't the scales on a Sbenza made from titanium? If so, it will have an anodized finish like aluminum (reactive metal). The engraving lines will breach the anodizing - probably not a problem, but I'd suggest getting a friendly professional opinion from someone on a metal working group. It might be a good idea to fill the engraving lines and again, your local jeweler should be able to handle that for you (just make sure they don't bake the knife at anything above 400 deg F or safer, not above 300 deg F or it MAY alter the temper of the knife blade and liner lock).

How about gold leaf filled engraving? It should be very reasonable and the pure gold leaf is about as inert a metal as there is. If your jeweler wants "too much" for the gold filling, buy a leaf and do the filling yourself - it's not hard.

Name now, and if you like how it turns out, talk to the jeweler. Odds are they are using a CNC engraver and with a little wheedling, you might be able to hook them up with a little code to have it engrave a line drawing - say a double headed eagle or...? If you want to investigate that sort of thing in the future, let me know and I'll ask some guys in a machining forum I lurk.

HTH,

Tom

Check out Reeve's site for his engraved designs. He states that after engraving the cuts are anodized. I think the engraving is anodized for beauty but maybe also protection of the titanium.

CGG Design Sebenzas

Randy,

I peeped at the page you posted. I know a little about anodizing aluminum and almost nothing about anodizing titanium, but here's what I'm guessing based on what I saw:

Scales are clear anodized first - titanium has that light gray "natural" color when anodized, IIRC. A design is milled (cutting thru the anodizing) and then the scale is cleaned and again anodized - which affects only the freshly exposed metal. Before the new anodizing is "sealed", the scales are immersed in dye and then the anodizing is "sealed" (boiling water bath for aluminum anodizing; not sure about titanium). If another colored area is involved, the scales are engraved further and the anodize-dye-seal cycle repeated.

If I was doing that in alumunum, that's how I would do what I saw on the web site you posted - and depending on a few variables (like the exact aluminum alloy) quality control could be either simple or difficult. Perhaps someone who knows about anodizing titanium could comment?

Anodizing and coloring aluminum is easy enough to DIY with virtually no investment in equipment.

PS - OK; I just did a quick check and here is what I found out - it is even easier than anodizing aluminum AND the color is not dyed in - different depth/crystal formation of the oxide layer gives different hues - here are some examples

Aluminum anodizing is "soft" and readily takes dyes until it is "set" (hardened or sealed) with a boiling water bath. Titanium looks much simpler to anodize - see this site for an example. Of course, gaining precise control over color and uniformity is one of those QC things.

Here's a quote from another site:

"The colors produced by anodizing titanium are formed by the refraction of light off of and through the thin titanium oxide layer that is produced. These colors are called interference colors. There are no pigments or dyes involved. By combining various surface finishes, striking effects can be achieved."

I still don't know much about how to actually anodize titanium <grin> - aluminum is fun to anodize, though.

Tom