From what I have read "Type II" will change colour, most anodizing I understand is type II.
HA III isn't supposed to change colour. (L2P is supposed to be HA III)
I read a fair bit in to this on other forums a while ago, for best even colour results you leave the flashlight assembled so the heat is even throughout the whole thing as smaller parts will change colour faster than heavier/thicker/larger parts but if its all screwed together it acts as 1 piece when heating.
I'd like to give it a go but I don't have a oven. I'd like to see others trying as well and posting results as well though.
Don't worry. I won't cook it (L2T) I agree it has one of the best finishes I have seen and it would be a shame to ruin it. Though if I had more than one I would probably do it. I always had an "issue" with fire lighting as a child. I still like to light fires and burn things now.
I've roasted an L2i (supposed to be HA II) for 3-4 hours @ 500 degrees and today, 4 hours in the broiler and it is still a nice shiny black. The lights that seem to change readily are Ultra/Trustwhatever with their home/garage ano job. Solarforce ano (even their inexpensive lights) is superior.
After reading the original post I threw the head and body of my cut-down mini-mag in the oven to see what would happen. After all, it's a mule to test out some of the things I've been reading here.
1.5 hours at 500 degrees and I ran out of time, after it cooled I find I kind of like it! I was just messing around so I didn't bother with the tailcap or bezel. The cut off part of the body didn't go in the oven, in the picture for comparison.
I have four more mini mags I plan on cutting down soon, blue, red, shimmer and silver, I think I'll throw the cut off portions in the oven to see how they look.
Oh, and one more thing. In my rush to put something in the oven I forgot to remove the O ring from the body, didn't realize it until I pulled it out of the oven. After it cooled I rolled it off, lubed it up and put it back...good as new!
This thread gave me an interesting idea. My brother and I were using the self lubricating ceramic based coating called cerakote on firearms. We made some pretty cool looking 1911 pistols that way. Sandblasting one of these Solar Force hosts that I bought and making it a dual or triple tone cerakote finished flashlight might be kinda neat looking... Maybe an all matte sand or OD green would be cool too. Hmmm........ This picture below is ceracoated matte black on the slide and matte OD green on the frame. I think this would do nicely on a torch that was going to see any hard duty, and look pretty badA$$ in the process. Thoughts? BTW, very nice looking projects you have there, Foy!
I'll tell you what is bad-a$$ . . . is that Remington. I've heard of Cerakote but don't know much about it. I definitely want to try that on a flashlight . . .
Thx for this very informative thread Foy! I'm contemplating picking up a Stone White JM07. Have you ever heated up any bare Al? If so, what color does it turn into? I'm not sure about the color so just in case I don't like it, would be awesome if there was an option to change it.
