Cleaning titanium prior to anodising

[ps_bond]

I know HF is the recommended treatment, but I think I might like something a little less problematic around the place to do it. I've seen some suggestions of 0.5M sodium fluoride + 0.5M ammonium persulphate, but I'm not sure that that's all that much better; it'll still attack glass (particularly as it's used at heat). Tumble polishing with abrasive media - fine, but surely you're going to get oxidation forming quite rapidly, especially if it's in a wet medium?

Any suggestions?

[Wallace]

Something maybe from Alan? Failing that, I did see this. Isopropyl alcohol seemed to work!

[geti-titanium]

I've used a product called 'Titan-Etch C' from Balco, but to be honest, we didn't get any better results than just washing in the ultrasonic prior to anodising, so we don't bother with it any more.

[ps_bond]

Thanks Alan - I'd looked at Multi Etch from Reactive Metals, but there's the joy of shipping small quantities of hazchem then.
Silly when I can buy HF on EBay...!