Zirconium

BrandantR

BrandantR

Well-Known Member
I've been thinking about purchasing some zirconium to use for bolsters on my folders. I really like the looks that it gives when matched up with the right scale material. I've never worked with this metal, so I have a few questions.

Can you grind it with standard ceramic or aluminum oxide belts? Can you drill it with standard HSS drill bits? Is that nice, dark color seen in the finished product its natural color, or is there a bluing or heat coloring process involved? Any other tips, tricks, or gottcha's that I should be aware of? I want to educate myself the best that I can on this material before I commit to sending in an order. That stuff is too expensive to find that I don't have the skills or tools to work with it. I appreciate any help that you folks can offer.
 
I noticed nobody answered you, so I thought I'd give you my take on Zirc. In a nushell its akin to working with Titanium....with maybe a bit more difficulty. It will grind on standard belts, just eats them up slightly quicker then Ti.

Generally you see a nice, glossy black on Zirc fittings. This is achieved via "heat" coloring... I use a propane torch. Zirc can be "quirky" in that you have to polish it to a super fine finish prior to heat coloring to get that glossy black....the quirk is that before heating, you have to be CERTAIN that its squeaky clean....otherwise, if there are any contaminates, you'll get most of it nice an glossy black, but IF there are any contaminates, you'll get flat black spots where any contaminate was..... the bugger with it is that IF any flat spots show up after heat coloring....you pretty much have to redo the entire piece.... meaning you'll have to go back to at least your finest grit, re-polish, and then heat color again.

Probably the biggest concern with Zirc is to NOT let any little piles of zirc dust build up when grinding......it gives off super bright sparks, and if any "piles" of dust ignite, it burns similar to magnesium. It can be a learning process to understand working with it, but its no different then any other "new" material a person tries. Personally, I wrecked some before I understood how to use/work it.....but thats just part of the game. :)
 
Thanks, Ed. I was beginning to wonder if anyone on here had experience working with zirc. I truly appreciate the advice. It sounds like I have all the tooling to work with this material and I realize that it will take some trial and error to figure it out. Thanks for the info. If anyone else has anything else to suggest, I would appreciate it.
 
I've never used but you may wanna call Chuck or Jessica at Alpha Knife Supply. They sell it and are usually very knowledgeable about the products they sell. Also, they're great people to deal with if you aren't already aware of it.
 
I have used it a few times myself. It's like titanium to me. Like Ed mentioned, maybe a little tougher. I find that it heats easily with a propane torch. It seems to get that deep black color better for me if I quench it in Parks 50 instead of water. I heat it pretty to a bright red. You may go hotter if you like. I would experiment with it a bit. I've used it for full scales on my Pocket Cleaver and used it for spacers on hidden tang bowies.

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Here's a pic of it on my Pocket Cleaver. I did a orange peel finish on it, rather than high polishuploadfromtaptalk1449611578416.jpg

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