The other week I bought my first metal grip knife, the Hogue Elishewitz EX01 in black aluminum. I am suprised by the grip--the anodized aluminum has solid traction. Even when wet, the grip is good. I never bought metal grip knives because the handles looked so slippery. I am now looking into other metal handle knives like Microtech, Benchmade, Chris Reeves, etc. I assume these are all anodized in a similar fashion. Do they have decent grip as well? What is providing the traction--the type of anodizing, the type of sealant used in the anodizing or the type of metal?
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Aluminum and Ti grips
- Thread starter Pete2s
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Depends on the finish of the metal. The anodization is just an outer oxidation layer. All of the brands that you listed above have knives that should fit fine in the "traction under wet conditions" category, but remember, if it looks grippier, it could rip up your pocket more, or be tiresome when used for long periods of time (hotspots).
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Hey Hark, I will be glad to take it! Need my address?
It will go along good with my HTM-Madd Maxx.:thumbup:
Post some pics of that bad boy!
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Pete, unless I'm mistaken there is no sealant applied in relation to anodizing. Anodizing results from a chemical reaction of the metal with certain liquids while there is an electrical current running through the container holding the item to be anodized and the chemical in liquid form that provides the reaction.
If I'm wrong someone correct me please.
If I'm wrong someone correct me please.
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Anno rubs off fast against the inside of a jeans pocket, that and aluminum is cold as hell to use in the winter. Ti on the other hand... I've never owned a knife with Ti scales, though I definitely wouldn't say no to one
I really, really dislike Al grips. I have a Benchmade 940 and it's my biggest pet peeve about the knife. The design is wonderful, but the Al wears easily, shows, scratches, does indeed get cold, and the texture is just weird to me. I have held Ti knives and I am quite a fan but I don't own one at the moment. 
In the electroplating process, the part to be plated is a cathode and the metal to be deposited is sloughed off from the anode and is deposited on the part by means of a direct current in a plating bath. The anodizing process stands everything on its head and turns the part to be coated into a anode. In the case of a simple Aluminum anodizing set up, the part is suspended in a sufuric acid bath (on a Titanium rack on a buss bar). Direct current is applied using lead cathodes, and the part instead of being plated is oxidized. This coating is Al2O3 (an abrasive). The color is clear unlike Fe203 which is "rust" colored. The coating is typically 0.00030" thick. The microstructure of the coating resembles a honeycomb, and in the center of each cell there is a pore. These pores can be filled with aniline dyes to produce very vivid colors. Think of the old Aluminum drinking glasses. The newer coatings don't seem to be as hard as the old ones, but they seem to be more color fast (fade resistant).
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As mentioned the anodizing on aluminum is clear. A freshly anodized part has open 'pores' that are then submerged in dye to fill the pores and give the piece it's color. I believe there is some type of way that the part is treated to help retain the color and it can be a sealant or some type of heat. This is for type 2 anodizing. I'm not sure what the difference is with type 3 which is much more durable and also only comes in a few colors.
I doubt the actual sealant would provide any traction and it would be more a function of the finish prior to anodizing and the layer of aluminum oxide that is 'grown' on the finish.
That being said I'm not a big fan of aluminum handles and never use the few I have. They are cold and feel 'life-less'. Don't like Ti much either but more so than aluminum and do have and carry a few Ti knives.
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Worth noting is that Aluminum both 6061 and 7075 which are the aerospace grade military use versions that are most commonly used in knife handle making as these are the hardest or some of the hardest grades of Aluminum available.
That said the Rockwell RC on these variants of aluminum is very low somewhere around 5 to 7 for 6061 and like 9 to 11 for 7075 or something close to that, now compare that to 6AI4V aka grade 5 which is the common version titanium used for knife handles has a Rockwell of 31 to 35 and if Grade 5 STA is used it has a Rockwell RC of 41, even at 31 to 35 titanium is exponentially harder than even some of the hardest variants of aluminum available. It is my understanding that Rockwell RC numbers increase like the Richter scale where a number 2 is twice as strong as a number 1, so a 1 point increase is really equivalent to a 100% increase. If this is correct or even if its not titanium is almost immeasurably harder than aluminum.
Titanium handles are very nice its all I carry and use and they hold up better than anything I've ever used in the past.
That said the Rockwell RC on these variants of aluminum is very low somewhere around 5 to 7 for 6061 and like 9 to 11 for 7075 or something close to that, now compare that to 6AI4V aka grade 5 which is the common version titanium used for knife handles has a Rockwell of 31 to 35 and if Grade 5 STA is used it has a Rockwell RC of 41, even at 31 to 35 titanium is exponentially harder than even some of the hardest variants of aluminum available. It is my understanding that Rockwell RC numbers increase like the Richter scale where a number 2 is twice as strong as a number 1, so a 1 point increase is really equivalent to a 100% increase. If this is correct or even if its not titanium is almost immeasurably harder than aluminum.
Titanium handles are very nice its all I carry and use and they hold up better than anything I've ever used in the past.
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I have many Titanium handled knives and have noticed that the anodized ones (Camillus CUDA MAXX, Benchmade 940/43 Ti, and William Henry B-15) are much more resistant to scratching than the bare Titanium ones (Buck 186/560 and Chris Reeve Sebenza). I haven't carried the Spyderco Ti Militaries long enough to determine if they are anodized.
I think it's the matte finish on most aluminum and Ti knives. The surface is roughed up to create the matte finish, often by sand or bead blasting. I'm not sure if the Microtech knives have a matte finish--the stock photos look like glossy rather than matte but that may just be advertising.