Actually, anodizing by it's very nature prohibits scratches, but there is products that can be used to coat it like a clear-coat. Aluminum is soft, but the process of anodizing changes the surface to aluminum oxide which is much harder than aluminum. In the Moh's hardness scale, aluminum is 2.5-3 and aluminum oxide is 9. Now this would apply in true terms only if the entire unit were aluminum oxide but it's not, only the outside layer is and that's only 1mil.
Here is a cross section image of teh pores that are created when aluminum is anodized. It creates these pores which are able to absorb dyes and when everything is done, those pores are sealed to prevent the color from leaving.
These are seen under a microscope for better illustration.
Here is an example of a black/clear marble.
Or I can do stripes
Now that example is only one style of black/clear marble. It's infinitely variable in that I can make the clear spots larger or smaller, more dense, less dense, etc. Just depends on how you want it and if you specify something particular I CAN do it.
As an example, Fisty up there has requested a Dragon that is laser engraved on the exterior, then colored differently than the rest of the barrel which I believe we decided would be a red/black marble with the dragon itself being green. That is totally doable. I just asked her to find me the dragon that she wanted engraved onto the side of the host so that I could make a template to mask that area.
Here is a cross section image of teh pores that are created when aluminum is anodized. It creates these pores which are able to absorb dyes and when everything is done, those pores are sealed to prevent the color from leaving.
These are seen under a microscope for better illustration.
Here is an example of a black/clear marble.
Or I can do stripes
Now that example is only one style of black/clear marble. It's infinitely variable in that I can make the clear spots larger or smaller, more dense, less dense, etc. Just depends on how you want it and if you specify something particular I CAN do it.
As an example, Fisty up there has requested a Dragon that is laser engraved on the exterior, then colored differently than the rest of the barrel which I believe we decided would be a red/black marble with the dragon itself being green. That is totally doable. I just asked her to find me the dragon that she wanted engraved onto the side of the host so that I could make a template to mask that area.
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