Here is a rare one to see

[vjb.knife]

1961 Imperial non-magnetic UDT knife and sheath.

It's one of my favorites.

Vince

 

[Tom Militano]

Your right, I've never seen one like that before. It looks like it's in pretty good shape.

 

[vjb.knife]

The knife was originally made by Imperial for the us Navy UDT teams. Designed in late fifties and made until the 1980's in several batches. Only about 1300 or so were made by two or three companies. They are non-magnetic made of haynes alloy no.25 which it consist’s of a copper-chromium-tungsten-nickel alloy. The reasons for choosing this alloy aside from the non-magnetic, non-rusting and non-sparking properties is its ability to be hardened to allow it to hold a cutting edge. Haynes Alloy No. 25 is mainly used in the aerospace industry for turbine engine parts. Later models were made of Nitinol, a Nickel Titanium alloy developed by the Naval Ordnance Laboratory in MD. The saw back is capable of cutting wire rope. It had to have a low magnetic signature so not to set off mines and therefore could not have any steel or iron content.

Regards, Vince

 

[Doug C]

Vince,
You do have a rare bird indeed,and kept it in very good shape. :thumbup:

 

[tom mayo]

haynes alloy no.25=STELLITE Alloy.

Mr Haynes developed Stellite back in the '20s

 

[Keith Montgomery]

Very interesting grind and a saw that looks like it might actually be useful.

 

[vjb.knife]

While Stellite and Haynes Alloy No. 25 share some similarities; primarily that they are both based in Cobalt Chromium and Tungsten there are still notable differences which make them different. The main one is that No. 25 has over 3 times the Nickel content and No. 25 has less than half the Carbon content of most Stellite alloys. I believe they were trying to obtain a lower magnetic signature and retain toughness. The saw is useful and is capable of cutting steel cable / wire rope.

Vince.

 

[untamed]

Wow! A rare one indeed! A bit of history you've got there friend.

 

[[DRS]Church]

Hello, new guy on the forums. My Dad has one of the nitinol blades. The blade has no handle on it. My father is a leader in the field of nitinol and the blade was given to him by an exx-biz partner. Any idea what it might be worth?

Thanks Church

 

[[DRS]Church]

I can post some photos if you guys want to see it. I have already been told that there is no way Dad has one:jerkit: Would its worth be ruined if we put a handle on it? I would say so. Does anyone have a pic of a completed nitinol knife?