This knife was inspired by the "Sekai Saikou no Ansatsusha, Isekai Kizoku ni Tensei suru" anime.
In the anime, the knife appears as a relatively small but intricately cut blue blade. The surface of the blade has a deep glasslike sheen.
I chose a 2mm thick grade 2 titanium sheet to machine the little knife out of. I considered tool steel, like how machined blades are usually made, but the durable blue tint was something only titanium could achieve.
I hand drew a pattern on paper that maximized the small square titanium plate I had available. The designs on the handle of the blade consist of a stylized D for my name and a stylized 21 for the year I made the knife.
Angle grinders are king. I first used an angle grinder to cut the basic shape out of the titanium sheet. I used spray adhesive to keep the paper template on the titanium as I cut it. Something I did not foresee was the paper burning up from the friction and sparks generated from the angle grinder.
After finishing the rough shape, I brought the titanium to a bench grinder to get the finer shape dialed in, faithful to my paper template. Then I began drilling out the carve pattern in the handle of the blade. It was ridiculously tough to drill through, even with the cobalt drill bits I picked up for the job.
Next, came the anodizing process. I tried a few different battery setups to achieve different voltages. It was relatively easy to follow voltage charts for anodizing titanium to specific colors that I found online.
The anodizing solution is made up of trisodium phosphate and baking soda. The battery setup is a mix of AA and 9V batteries depending on the desired color of the titanium.
The yellow shade was the first prominent layer I achieved. I then further increased the voltage of the setup to achieve the final blue tint.
Notice the fading color intensity further down the handle of the blade. I chalk this up to the concentration of the substances in the anodizing solution accumulating at the bottom of the bucket and the proximity of the blade surfaces to the second titanium piece in the anodizing circuit.
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