Carbidized Ti for EDC? (Sharpening?)

Comeuppance

Comeuppance

Fixed Blade EDC Emisssary
Joined
Jan 12, 2013
Messages
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I'm not trying to get past any metal detectors or anything, but I do like the idea and the appearance of carbodized Ti knives. Is it functional enough for EDC, in that it can be honed and sharpened? Or, is the layer so thin that I would just abrade it away instantly and be left with soft Ti?

I'm lookin' at you, CM. If you could wave the concept of Carbidized Ti, it would be called Charlidizing.
 
Any metal which conducts electricity can be detected. That would be all of them.
Conductor moved through a coil induces electricity and can be measured. (You moving through the metal detecting gate) Or moving the coil over the conductor does the same thing.(TSA swiping you with these little paddles)
 
Carbidized Ti blades hold up very well. They don't hold a "scary sharp" edge as long as a steel blade, but will hold a "utility" edge for a long time. Most of the carbidized knives that I sell are for defensive purposes, but users have reported they are great for general use as well.
 
Carbidized ti knives are easy to sharpen. The carbide layer is only on one side, and you sharpen the other side.
 
While sharpening Ti the thing that you have to pay attention to is the burr. Ti is soft so it will raise a bur faster than steel.
 
Ti is non ferrous... therefore won't set off a magnetometer.
 
[video=youtube;9wKFN09kd9g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wKFN09kd9g[/video]
 
^^ That's pretty sweet. Thank you all for the info - I think I'm going to sketch up a design for a little ringed Ti fixed blade. Something like a double-edged and heavily modified silent soldier.
 
I've got a Watson HITs in Ti. It has the carbide on one side. It's strictly for SD/FP and I have tested it on a few metal detectors and it does not set anything off. That said, I would never try to take this on a plane.

Ti blades have always fascinated me. Now that I've been carrying one for about 2 months, I'm sold on the lightweight and the corrosion proof properties. When I get back in the States it'll be my running knife. I have tested the edge on paper, cardboard and some cordage. With the carbides, the edge is very toothy, aggressive and micro serrated. For SD, with enough force I'm sure it will cut but it's no scalpel, that's for sure.

I've been eye balling the Mummert Daeva lately but I think it's a little too small in the handle for my liking. I might try to see if I can snag a small fixed blade in SM-100 sometime this year.
 
It will not defeat airport security. Those aren't metal detectors. The airport security scanners would detect a plastic butter knife, even if it was concealed in the rectum.

The more you know!
 
Charlie Mike said:
It will not defeat airport security. Those aren't metal detectors. The airport security scanners would detect a plastic butter knife, even if it was concealed in the rectum.

The more you know!
Click to expand...
That's true. The new scanners, which aren't very common just yet, will find even a plastic knife. However they penetrate only down to the skin and don't go through. I also don't believe that they scan from below. Good that we have to take off shoes but socks would be even better.

The old detectors would find any metal object even titanium. It has to do with induced electricity and not magnetism. Its kind of a reversed electro magnetism if you want.
I guess the myth that titanium can not be detected by metal detectors will never die. Might actually be good if the evil doers continue to believe it, but will be sad if a harmless Knifenut has to surrender his expensive titanium blade to some security guard at a landmark or public building.

If it's really necessary I'd metal detect a few titanium objects and post a video. But just think about it, don't they also work on nonmagnetic gold for example?
 
Maybe I've been walking through the wrong metal detectors?
 
When chisel sharpening a coated blade, gently wipe the coated burr (edge trailing) back into the grinding plane and grind the burr off (edge leading). This works on ceramic coated blades as well as Carbidized blades. Diamond hones work best because of the hardness of these applied coatings.
 
I neglected to mention that the best tool for burr wiping is the side of a ceramic knife blade.
 
Charlie Mike said:
Maybe I've been walking through the wrong metal detectors?
Click to expand...
Lol. I wouldn't tell them.

Titanium doesn't induce as much electricity as copper, a better conductor, would. But of course it's still detectable. However if you keep it small enough it will not set of more of an alarm than a metal belt buckle or wrist watch. Depending on how sensitive they set the alarm trigger you might get lucky. Now if you keep your watch, belt buckle and small titanium object, all together on you, it's more likley to exceed the threshold they set. Therefore if the threshhold isn't super low and you want to smuggle it through make sure that at least you have no other additional metallic objects on you.

Once in India I set of an alarm and had seriously removed everything, watch, money and belt. So they used the hand detector and all I found was a tiny metallic candy wrapper in my pocket. Another time I had my folder when entering a Mall and nothing happened probably they set it to go off only if there's enough metal for a gun on ones body. Also I bet my folder had less metal than most ladies jewelries and they wouldn't want to stop every second customer for a more thorough search.

Often times they have a row of LEDs showing how much metal you have on you and only if they reach the end of the bar, which usually has red LEDs, they pay some more attention to you.

Another interesting thing is that the slower you walk through the coils, the smaller the peak of induced electricity should be. With a smart design however they could overcome this limitation and I'm sure they do this already. :-)
 
This guy is ALWAYS in my wallet.
 
Nice "emergency/bug out" gold rations you got there Matt. In handy mini wallet size. ;):thumbup:
I use to keep a full British sovereign (my favorite gold denomination) in my wallet "just in case".
 
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