Originally Posted by Robvolz

I keep finding Cinelli and 3TTT stems in black with visible damage. Maybe they were allowed to slam and that created a silver ring where no ring belongs, or maybe unlike silver, they can't be buffed or at least re-anodised as easy.

I have found some really fun Panto'd stems in black, from Colnago, DeRosa and even local companies, Davidson and Strawberry. But, they are scratched to heck.

The black stems aren't anodized. Are they powder coated? Dipped? How does one protect the panto? Fill in with wax to remove later or just re-run your Dremel along the recessed parts and hope to not slip?

What successes have people had, what are your tips?

As always, thank you
Robert
Portland