Knives w/ Unconvential Blade Materials

C

Cyber_Demigod

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May 1, 2016
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So I have been interested in knives that have... unconventional blades, made of things other than steel. The only real requirement is that it be a functional cutting tool with a handle,
I would like to hear of what you all have seen or found in regards to this.
Here is a list of materials confirmed to be usable as a knife blade, only a few of these are theoretical in my mind, just for fun, but most of these I have actually seen types of blades use them, or read about them.

This includes -
  • Other non-steel metals (Copper, Bronze, Gold, Iron, Aluminum, etc....)
  • Stones, Crystals, etc... (Arkansas, etc.. usually napped)
  • Gems (Sapphire, Diamond, etc..) - I imagine the blade would not really be made of it, but rather coated in it like those diamond grit saw blades or carbide grit. I suppose synthetic sapphire is possible however expensive
  • Plastics (Acrylics, ABS, GRN, Polycarbonate etc.. ) - I own a few of these, like "Wife Knife" and those CIA Non Metallic Knives.
  • Composites
  • Resins
  • Glass, Volcanic Glass/Obsidian and Fiber optic Glass (various types and compositions, Napped and blown, or cast blown) - Saving up money to get one
  • Bone and Antler (Animal hopefully) Looking into it now, just lost an ebay bid on one of these
  • Horn, and Turtle Shell (Made of Keratin like hair, not bone) - I am about to purchase one of these
  • Ceramics (other than plain old zirconium dioxide aka ZrO2 aka zirconia)
  • Wood (Various kinds like Oak or Pine, Various treatments, like Sealing, Poly, Shellac, or Varnish) - I know this works, for a fact, because I have seen a knife made of would cut paper, it was this wood chefs knife
  • Chitin (The material hard insect shells are made of, as well as crustaceans which are pretty much sea insect) - Not sure if this is possible, but if you can make a knife out of bone, why not this?
  • Seashells (Calcium Carbonate) and other things of same material (really rare only seen it once and I don't think it was really sharp, just an art piece)
  • Ice (I have seen a few poor youtube videos, I am sure it could be done well, like a silicone mold that was joked about by ThinkGeek)
  • Metals with certain properties, or odd or strange metals (Magnetic, Memory Metal, etc..) - Most of these things are not real yet but could be if a knife maker wanted to experiment - just a random idea


Some of these seem pretty ridiculous, but if possible I would still want it, because why not?
I am also really into unique blade types, opening devices, locking devices, etc...
As well as functional novelties - not non-functional (I don't want a mickey mouse knife or anything, it has to be novelty via function)
 
I believe some custom knife maker in the early 90's made a tactical folder with a carbon fiber blade.
 
Lots of folks making CF or G-10 neck knives, punch daggers and other last ditch stuff.
 
I've seen carbon fiber knives from "Benchmark" - and a custom knife maker currently making knives by napping blocks of fiber optic glass.
 
Beta titanium knives.

Cobalt knives.

Last but certainly not least the rarest of them all - the Crysknife.
 
David Boye uses dendritic cobalt to produce some exceptional boat knives.
 
newdebate said:
OP, you might look at the Miltner Adams ma-6 LiquidMetal fixed blade folder.
Click to expand...



EXPLOSION BONDED TITANIUM

Sorry, I just can't get over the MA-2 promo video. Do they come with free steroids and boob jobs?

[video=youtube;Ifv9ZNMw9Os]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ifv9ZNMw9Os[/video]
 
Ancient Hawaiians made daggers out of marlin bills. They also used shark's teeth to provide an edge on some of their weapons, as did some other Polynesian/Melanesian cultures.

10574465_10207442736001871_2306694240635087001_n.jpg
 
Cobalt diving knives, very very interesting.

I like blades made of unordinary materials, I'm not really sure what it is about them but i get this feeling that I got to buy them all ( than again it's like that with most knives)
 
I know alot of ancient civilizations used bronze for swords, and some others used obsidion.
As for the neck knives, fred perrin (one of my favorite knife makers) made some little bowies and la griffes out of g10/cf.
 
what is Stellite? i thought i'd google and it appears to be cobalt and chromium comp alloy. a number of makers have used this and it was popularized,IIRC, by Rob Simonich(deceased). seems like if you look around people are still experimenting with this alloy and still making knives (and i've seen axes made of it online, but no idea of it's shock resistance) with it.
 
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I make a lot of Ti blades.





 
i've never actually totally understood the process of carbidizing titanium; is it a layer within the ti? is the ti folded around the carbide layer, similar to finnish and swedish style knives? or is it laid down as part of the making of the titanium?
 
[video=youtube;P949Pq-PN1s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P949Pq-PN1s[/video]

Its like hardfacing.
 
And here's a Beta-Titanium Sword. The blade is very light, razor sharp, super hard (Yet flexible) and is virtually rustproof.
 
Charlie Mike- thanks man, that's the best/easiest to get description i've had! (looks kinda fun actually). you always get a pretty toothy edge with that, correct? i mean it can slice, but it's not a slicer-like my kitchen paring knife doesn't make a good knife to baton with. that said :D how fine of an edge can it get?
David Stifle-awesome sword! it's almost sci-fi (guess i'm getting old-ha). is beta ti different from 6al4v or whatever the acronym is, and is your sword then carbidized?
thanks, Neal
p.s.-sorry for all the questions.
 
I've been able to bald a 2" wide patch of leg hair in one pass with a carbidized Ti blade.
 
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