Thought I'd show you a different technique I use on my billet aluminum parts. Hard Color Anodizing forms a glass hard protective layer from the outer layer of aluminum material. It transforms it into aluminum oxide (which you may have seen written on the back of your sandpaper). Aluminum Oxide itself, is glass clear. For a brief moment in time, after it's formed, the cellular structure can be dyed with special inks. After the cellular structure closes, the color is locked under the glass hard layer (sort of like a tatoo).



This was the 600 fpe Carnivore 58 caliber.



Carnivore 58 billet again



Woodsman XLT 62 Carbine



The 250 fpe 32 caliber Prairie 3 Bench Rifle



And one more ... with all the billet anodized black. The Chief Justice 87 ... at slightly over 700 fpe.

The aluminum oxide is created with just the correct density of direct current amperage in a bath of sulphuric acid. It's a nasty process. Do it wrong, and you disolve the detail and crispness fit of the parts. Apply the dye wrong, and the mess is locked in when the cells close. So; this is a pretty stressful process to perform on parts you have huge time in producing.

Gary



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/12/2009 10:59PM by Jerry.

Just happened to have one of these lying around:



So, how do you "fix" an anodized part if it gets scratched, especially one with these types of patterns? (No need to panic . . . the rifle is fine). I know you can sand and reblue steel, but what about aluminum?



-- Jim



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/17/2008 05:33PM by Jim.

Good man ... I forgot about that.

And ... I have one in Black I forgot too .... I'll post it.

Gary

So how do you fix a bad scratch in anodized aluminum?

Would depend upon the color. Some things, with just some clear lacquer applied with a 3 hair brush. Or the appropriate color. You cannot generate a new layer of anodizing without ruining what's there.

It's very, very tough. Literally glass hard, so it does not scratch easily.

Gary

Even though these are good pictures, it always looks better in person. The color just catches the light in a way that the camera doesn't record. One picture that almost proves this is the picture of Gary and Kent posing after their last hunt. Gary is holding the Woodsman and the flash lights uo the stock and part of the anodizing just right.

Gary:

The first XXV Deluxe ( I think that was the name) had a beautiful annodizing job as well. I think it also had a bronze barrel, right? I wonder whatever happened to it?

Karl

Yeah Karl,

I wonder too. It's in a wormhole somewhere with many others.

Actually, that was an acid etched steel shroud. I'll have to get a pic. I forget.

Gary

Karl,

I recall now. I was thinking of the XXV Royale. But ... I bet you were thinking of this far older gun. I just called it the XXV Magnum at the time. I try two ways of showing it here. One with photobucket ....

And one trying to grab it from old files ....

OK ... I'll have to edit it in ...

OK ... they're .jpegs ... but the program here won't accept the suffix ... says they're not jpgs. Jim ... did we alter that?



Very early 25Mag ... early anodizing ... and early Gary.



And ... yes Karl ... you have a great memory. Aluminum Bronze barrel inside the shroud. One of only several made.

Note: Jim ... I had to run them thru Photoshop and rename them. I have a few million named .jpeg ... so we need to ask it to accept that suffix. And also ... why doesn't the file size Photoshop gives you match the file size Rendezvous sees? I can size many pics to .... approx. 85-90K in Photoshop ... and Rendezvous will say they are over 100K ... so I have to go back and take them to 75-80K in Photoshop before the forum is happy with them.



Gary



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/20/2008 01:03AM by barnespneumatic.

OK . . . .jpeg should be allowed on all forums now.

Not sure about the file size issue . . . apparently there's a discrepency between how Photoshop counts file size versus how PHP (the scripting language that this forum uses) counts file size. Could be a rounding issue? I don't know, but usually I resize my pics to a maximum width of 800 pixels and save them as JPEGs with medium compression, and they come out between 50-75K.



-- Jim

P.S.: Love the ever-present bamboo in the above pics.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/20/2008 01:11AM by Jim.

Now ... THAT'S service!!!

Instant gratification. That's ALL I ask.

Perfect. You da man.

Gary

(These smilies are killin' me ... luv 'em)

OK. However; Photoshop asks you for a dpi resolution. I've been stating 72 for the forum. My pics are all over the board thru the years. So, I've been setting it for 72 rez. Then, about 10" wide max. And then, it gives you a sliding scale which is calls "file quality" or some such ... right before the save process is done. Some pics will take a scale of 7-8 on a 12 scale. Some need to come down to 3 ... even though all are being converted to 72 dpi rez. At that point ... photoshop will list the file size (as you slide the scale). I can't let it get above about 75-80K ... or Photoshop will bust me for having a 106K or 109K pic.

At any rate ... it all works and we're making friends.

Gary

Well the bamboo looks the same but somethings different about Gary, I can't quite put my finger on it but there is something different there...

Found yet another anodizing pic. Very colorful. These are parts of Jerry's Woodsman.

Gary

Gary,

Foe those old pictures with the jpeg suffix, try renaming them xxx.jpg or "save as "xxx.jpg." Then try posting again.

Jerry,

You are correct. But .... it's a pain to run the last 13 years of pictures thru photoshop to rename them. I think Jim said we can train the forum to accept .jpeg. Hope so.

Gary

I don't think you even need to open the photo to rename it. I would just go to the folder via explorer (not internet explorer) and find the file name then right click, select rename, enter the name.jpg and see how that works. Still not nearly as good as having the forum accept .jpeg but a little better than going through Photoshop.

Aren't computers great?

Oh yeah ... computers are magic. So long as they like you. ;?)

Thousands of pics are in the program of the website writing program. The masters are scattered over five worn out computers from the last 13 years. Nothing's as simple as it should be.

And ... right. Sure. Right before those old computers blinked off, I rushed out and bought the 500 gig remote back-up drive I have now ... oh wait ... they weren't around 10 years ago .... ah .... well ... the stuff is in there .... somewhere. So, anyway ... all I have to do is fish them off the server and the webwriting program.

Gary

Gary:

Yes, that's the one I was thinking of. I almost ordered one instead of the Nitro....if it ever surfaces I would definately want to rescue it from the wormhole its hiding in now.

Karl

There are a bunch of them in hiding. Hope you snag one sometime. ;?)

Gary

Another thread saved from the basement ...

Gary