handle materials, titanium vs the rest

[misterjuiceman]

for people who have used knives with titanium handles, what are the advantages versus g-10 or aluminum handles? it seems that the springiness allows for the RIL, but what else does it offer? as far as I know, aluminum is lighter, and the stuff used in higher end knives can withstand fairly high pressures. and g10 seems to provide better grip (depending on the knife), and is nearly indestructable.

for example, for a user knife, what will the titanium military offer that the g10 doesn't?

 

[ginshun]

I would say framelock vs. linerlock is the biggest difference. That is a pretty big difference though. Titanium is also virtually corrosion free. Less parts in the Ti version = less pieces to fit together, and in general simpler is better.

That and titanium's inherent coolness.

 

[Charlie Mike]

Yup... ^ said it.

Ti is God's gift to knife nuts.

 

[C Ben Susrool]

,,,

for example, for a user knife, what will the titanium military offer that the g10 doesn't?

Better, more secure,stronger lock. :thumbup:

 

[misterjuiceman]

is a titanium frame lock actually stronger than a stainless steel liner lock? what about in comparison to a well built (spyderco?) lockback or an axis lock?

 

[ginshun]

is a titanium frame lock actually stronger than a stainless steel liner lock?

probably

what about in comparison to a well built (spyderco?) lockback or an axis lock?

probably not

clear yes and no's are tough when it comes to lock strength and security though.

 

[orthogonal1]

Strength is dependent upon a lot of basic design variables, materials being just one of them.

Do the google search of "lock reliability" or "lock strength" at "site:http://www.bladeforums.com" and you'll find much discussion.

And, if you are technically minded, look at a few material stress and strain sites so you can get an idea of how to estimate a theoretical strength.

 

[misterjuiceman]

clear yes and no's are tough when it comes to lock strength and security though.

yeah, I was kind of hoping someone had calculated psi ratings for the stainless steel of the thickness used in the military, vs the titanium used in a sebenza or strong liner lock (since I'm guessing that info isn't really available for the military ti).

 

[3Guardsmen]

I would say, based on my very limited knowledge of the materials used in knifemaking, and if you were to take out the fact that, on a frame-lock, your grip provides an additional level of protection against lock release, that the G-10 Military's .050 stainless steel liner lock, which is nested into the G-10 handle, is every bit as strong, if not a tad bit stronger, than a .125 Titanium frame-lock version of it would be. It would be very interesting to see what guys like Sal and STR have to say about it, as they are true experts where knifemaking materials and lock strength are concerned.

Regards,
3G

 

[ginshun]

There is more to it than just calculating the stress present in the liner or the frame though. All things being equal, hardened stainless is going to have a lot higher yield stress than titanium, but all things are not equal. Since you are talking about compression and buckling you have to take into account the slenderness ratio of the shape that you are talking about. Since the titanium is thicker, not only is the cross sectional area more, but the lock bar is not as slender. So not only is the stress going to be higher in the liner lock, the allowable stresses are not going to be as easy to figure out as just comparing the yield or ultimate stresses of the steel and titanium used. The allowable stress, as in the stress that will actually cause it to buckle, is probably actually higher in the titanium framelock than it is in the steel linerlock. The point of stress that you'd have to look at on the framelock is the area of the cutout, which probably isn't that much thicker than the linerlock lockbar, but its a lot less slender. Honestly the stress on a liner lock or frame lock is a very complicated system. I very much doubt that it is something that you can accurately predict with a few simple calculations. Its probably more suited to be handled with a computer model and FEA.

I don't have any idea what the actual numbers would be, but I'd be willing to bet that if you were to stress them both to failure, usually titanium framelocks would come out on top of steel liner locks. This is just do to the slenderness and thickness of the two lock types.

Framelocks are also more secure, because squeezing the framelock makes it tighter, while squeezing the handle of a liner lock can often times have the opposite effect.

Worrying about this stuff is really all for naught anyway. If you buy a nice knife from a reputable company like Spyderco, Benchmade, CRK, Strider, Emerson, etcetras, and the lock ends up failing on you, 99.9999% of the time, that failure was caused by you doing something stupid, not by problems with the lock design or build.

 

[SIFU1A]

I would say, based on my very limited knowledge of the materials used in knifemaking, and if you were to take out the fact that, on a frame-lock, your grip provides an additional level of protection against lock release, that the G-10 Military's .050 stainless steel liner lock, which is nested into the G-10 handle, is every bit as strong, if not a tad bit stronger, than a .125 Titanium frame-lock version of it would be. It would be very interesting to see what guys like Sal and STR have to say about it, as they are true experts where knifemaking materials and lock strength are concerned.

Regards,
3G

thought the millie certainly has a good lock (a suprise to a lotta folks who think liner thickness is what matters in liner locks, it really doesnt, though i prefer thicker when possible) i dont know about being stronger than a frame lock, i would have to say thats debatable, they are imho one of the better LL's around no doubt.