Titanium frame: Question.

Eamonnator

I have a 1999 titanium mountainbike frame, Raleigh make. When new, it was painted, but over time,the paint got scratched and marked. So a few years ago, I stripped the paint from the frame, thinking, that I would be left with a lovely bare titanium frame. But, the finish on the frame is not uniform, in some place, where the frame was welded, there is some discolouration. The frame appears to have been discoloured by heat. In other places, the finish is quite rough.
Can anybody give me advice, on how to get the frame all the same colour and with a nice smooth finish. I want, if at all possible, to do the job myself, and as cheaply as possible.
Thanks in advance.

tigerboon

I would imagine emery cloth (it's a type of fine sand paper used for metals) and a lot of elbow grease will get you a fairly uniform finish. Make sure you go with the grain of the metal. I assume the colour disfiguration is the blue from high heat during the welding. I wouldn't think you can do a lot about that. I have an old titanium raleigh m-trax from around that time and was thinking of stripping the old paint to give the raw titanium look. Some people on forums say to just leave the titanium bare. It'll dull a bit as all metals oxidise (not to be confused with rust which occurs in iron - there's iron in steel). Others say to clear coat it to keep the shiny appearance. Is there much of the discolouration?

Eamonnator

Yes, the discolouration is blue. There's not much, in 2 or 3 places at points, where frame was welded. It was my intention to leave it as bare metal. I know, it's only cosmetic, but I want the bike to look as well as possible. I am getting a 2014, lightly used XTR group set and some nice new wheels for it, so I don't want the look of the bike to be spoiled. Apart from the cosmetics, the frame is perfect.
I will certainly try the emery cloth, thank you.

tigerboon

I would think it's a very fine grade of emery cloth you want as you are looking to polish the metal rather than sand it down. I'm no expert in this by the way, just remembering back to metalwork in school which wasn't today or yesterday. If you used a paint stripper the metal would be as it was prepared by the factory for painting which would be a fairly good standard.

Eamonnator

It's a few years, since I stripped the frame, I think, I used Nitromors.

tigerboon

Have a look at retrobike.co.uk

Eamonnator

Will do. Thanks.

FirstinLastout

Rather than emery paper get some Scotch Brite. Like the emery/wet&dry you can get it in a range of grades and is not as abrasive as the emery and more suitable.
See if you can get it in a roll or long strip.
If so wrap a long length of it 'round a tube holding each end in a hand and run 'em up & down vigorously as you move along the tube making your most ridiculous sex face.... especially if the wife has just walked into the room.
Generally the scotch brite is available in pads so you may have to make do.
When you're asking for it see if you can get a small amount of Pickling Paste, this is an acid paste rubbed onto welds to remove the discolouration.
But too much applied for too long will equally leave a faded like mark around the welded area.
Careful though 'cause as I said it is an acid so take care handling it particularly in regards to your eyes.
Personally I wouldn't bother about the discolouration as it is part of the bike and it's history, cheaper and easier to just learn to love it.

27cyrix

G3 scratch remover with microfiber cloths, I use it to polish cpu heat sink.
CPU heat sink is made of copper. The surface will become dark due to the heat from cpu and oxidation.
After polishing, it looks like a mirror.