What does "in-the-white" mean? Aluminum...

[Renaissance Redneck]

Pardon my ignorance, but I know next to nothing about aluminum products.

I'm building a custom AR for my daughter. I plan on having the receivers anodized in a color of my choice (you don't want to know the color; at least it may assault your sensibilities anyway!).

I don't have pics yet, because I haven't taken actual possession of the lower yet (still at FFL; 10 days and all).

The stripped upper is raw aluminum; not blasted, not anodized, just raw, shiny metal.

On the other hand, the lower came "in-the-white", and it's actually WHITE in color! This surprised me; I thought I was going to get a piece of metal that looked just like the upper. This lower looks like it may have been bead blasted, and has a distinct white color with a matte finish. During the short time I examined it at the FFL, I can imagine the metal to have been first blasted, then anodized to a white color; or else painted with a flat, matte white paint.

I'm wondering what sort of treatment is applied to the lower to make it "in-the-white". Will I be able to anodize the upper and lower together to make a perfect match? Or will I need, instead, to apply an opaque surface treatment after anodizing such as Cerakote?

Thanks in advance!

[Munny$hot]

Plain steel

[THT]

It could be a corrosion-inhibiting coating or wax that is stripped prior to anodizing. We have some sample lowers and BCGs here that are "in the white" and they are shiny as it's truly bare metal.

[klewan]

Find a hidden area and scrape it with a knife blade. Is it a coating or just the pattern from whatever they did to clean it...go from there. You'll need upper and lower to be bare aluminum if you want to anodize

[Whiterabbit]

"in the white" means no coating. Bare metal. In the white means the barrel is not yet blued. It means your lower is not anodized. It means your product is raw.

It COULD be covered in wax, oil, dust, paper, cosmoline, whatever. Just no paint, blue, powdercoat, etc.

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There is no reason it should be white, and that is puzzling. Were it me, I would scrub with acetone to prep for coating. if acetone and soft scotchbrite didn't take it off, then off to beadblasting.

[Renaissance Redneck]

Find a hidden area and scrape it with a knife blade. Is it a coating or just the pattern from whatever they did to clean it...go from there. You'll need upper and lower to be bare aluminum if you want to anodize

I considered that, and you confirmed my thoughts for a next step. I'll probably call the manufacturer and check with him if there is any sort of finish on the metal, but I don't want to come across as a complete idiot if indeed the white color is normal! Thus, this thread.

Thanks for all the answers so far.

[Renaissance Redneck]

"in the white" means no coating. Bare metal. In the white means the barrel is not yet blued. It means your lower is not anodized. It means your product is raw.

That's what I thought too; but as I said, this one is actually WHITE, not raw metal. It shocked me when I saw it.

[russ69]

"In the white" means that the metal is unfinished. Just bare metal without finish coatings. No bluing, anodizing, paint or any other finish.

Oops, I guess I type too slow.

[Renaissance Redneck]

I just e-mailed this question to the manufacturer; I'll let you know what he says when/if he responds.

FYI, the manufacturer is Nodak Spud http://www.nodakspud.com/AR%20Lowers.htm

[kalieracer]

It means raw and uncoated. Did you buy one of their retro lowers? That people send off to get anodized colt gray?

[Renaissance Redneck]

It means raw and uncoated. Did you buy one of their retro lowers? That people send off to get anodized colt gray?

Yes, that's what I bought.

[Renaissance Redneck]

[Whiterabbit]

Frankly, I'd still hit it with brake cleaner and see if anything comes off. If its really bare metal, wont hurt anything.

I'm surprised you got something from Nodak. Every time I visit that website, they are out of stock on everything.

[The Bubble]

Most of the coating you'll find on metal relates to the lube used in the cutting process. By the way, AL doesn't corrode via oxidation but more so exfoliation. AL doesn't rust. I realize a lot of y'all know that but just wanted to throw that out...

[Nathan Krynn]

You would be surprised the differences in forgings too. For instance Cerro really looks tumbled but alcoa (think it was theirs) has this media blasted appearance. Same call out on the metal but they looked completely different. We will have some Brass Aluminum one in 2014 so it will be interesting to see them.

Also the forge house grinds down the OD if their is a high spot and some people think we did it or it was a blem but it is not. Blast it prior to coating (like you should) and you never see it.