Cheap Ti coming

N

Neophyte

Joined
Mar 9, 2000
Messages
80
Dear All,

Just saw an interesting article on the Scientific American website that might prompt some changes in the knife industry. Apparently a new and potentially quite cheap way of refining titanium has been discovered. It can be electrolysed in a similar way to aluminium, which would be much cheaper than the current chemical process. It wil be interesting to see how long this change takes to permeate our industry.

Regards, Neophyte.
 
The new process will significantly drop the cost of titanium. However, he cost of titanium products will not be affected as much. Today, the biggest factor in the price of titanium products is the cost of machining titanium.
 
I think that process only gets you to pure titanium, and almost all titanium used for knives is an alloy (6Al4V). If I remember right, commercially pure titanium is already a good bit cheaper than 6/4 Ti. So between making the alloy, and the difficult machining like Chuck said (he's the man for titanium), I doubt prices will change at all :(
 
Don't forget the "tech" factor causing a high demand. We talk about titanium every day, its a bitch to work, great for springs, etc. But the majority of the buying public ( non knife ) hears "titanium" and thinks super metal. Right now there is a commercial for something that starts with a "titanium" circular saw cutting a car in halfe with the narration " titanium, one of the sharpest metals known to man....", heck most of us know steel still makes a better cutting tool, titanium nitride is hard and used to improve cutting tools. The public, not knowing any better just need to hear "titanium" and they think the metal itself is the cats ass. So, long story short, I aggree with the above, I doubt it will make Ti any cheaper for us to buy. ( sorry for the rant :) ) - Charles
 
Right on Charles! That is a shaving commercial and I laugh everytime I see it.
 
Charles got it. It might make Ti more profitable for distributors and manufacturers, but I doubt those savings will filter down to us.
 
I thought that shaver commercial was a hoot too. The last time I saw it I listened a little closer and they actually say the blades are titanium "coated". I'm sure it's mostly for advertising hype but it may be effective for rust prevention.
 
Originally posted by Chuck Bybee
The new process will significantly drop the cost of titanium. However, he cost of titanium products will not be affected as much. Today, the biggest factor in the price of titanium products is the cost of machining titanium.
Click to expand...

However, it will make a lot of makers VERY happy!
 
made2cut,

they do say afterwards that the blades of the shaver are coated. But at first they say that titanium is one of the sharpest metals known. Put those 2 together, and people think it is actually pure titanium that the blades are coated in! NOPE!

You get the same thing with drill bits: folks think the TiN coated bits are just titanium! No way.

Chuck and others are bang on about ti and its machining costs and such. I was finishing up a ti project yesterday and it is NOTICEABLY more resistant to grinding and such than brass or 440-C! Chuck, what have you gotten me into???? :)
 
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