Preferred finish

[RetMTFE]

I'm going to break down and buy a couple Al 80s. I'm looking at brushed (natural) or shot blasted finish...no paint. What's your preference and is there a particular reason for your choice?

 

[SparticleBrane]

Brushed -- retains the look over time (other than getting slightly more dull). I just don't like the texture of the shot blast tanks. I have also read that the shot blast tanks have issues with stickers staying on the cylinders but have no direct experience with this.

 

[WD8CDH]

If you can find them, my prefered finish for an aluminum tank is a true natural finish, not brushed, not shot blasted, just the origional finish of the tank after heat treating. They are hard to find but the most common size is the AL 80. I own at least 7 tanks in this finish.

Luxfer's Supernatural scuba tanks - Luxfer

 

[spectrum]

Of the 2 you are better off brushed. Shot blast will look a little more like the timeless hot dipped galvanized finish of a steel cylinder but it also provides a gazillion little pits to harbor corrosive salts.

Pete

 

[SparticleBrane]

If you can find them, my prefered finish for an aluminum tank is a true natural finish, not brushed, not shot blasted, just the origional finish of the tank after heat treating. They are hard to find but the most common size is the AL 80. I own at least 7 tanks in this finish.

Luxfer's Supernatural scuba tanks - Luxfer

I've only found one dive shop that had this finish, and they had 4 cylinders. I could only afford one Al80 at the time, so I have this loner Al80 in the 'natural' finish. I wish I could find another one, or two, or three...

 

[phipsi246]

I'm going to break down and buy a couple Al 80s. I'm looking at brushed (natural) or shot blasted finish...no paint. What's your preference and is there a particular reason for your choice?

It is next to impossible to get any sticker (including visual inspection) to stick to a shot blast tank. They look nice, but are more of a nuisance than other finishes.

 

[WD8CDH]

I found that Cyl-Tec has a few 30CF, 50CF and 63CF cylinders in natural finish in stock.
1 (888) 429-5832

 

[WD8CDH]

I'm going to break down and buy a couple Al 80s. I'm looking at brushed (natural) or shot blasted finish...no paint. What's your preference and is there a particular reason for your choice?

There are actually two versions of brushed:

Brushed, no coat
Brushed, clear coat

 

[Florabama]

Shot blast or brushed is fine -- just don't buy a painted tank -- either steel or aluminum. When I'm VIPing a shot blast, I find VIP stickers stick just fine if you wait until the tank is filling on the whips and is a little warm, then stick it on there. I put them on all the time and don't have any problems with them coming off.

 

[keyshunter]

RETMTFE,

Do not buy a clear coated tank, particularly for use in salt water. The finish will eventually develop cracks which will make salt impossible to remove. For this reason, I ended up stripping the six that I had.