la griffe titanium

[gteague]

picked up one of these yesterday and i only discovered this forum after i'd placed my order or i might have thought twice about ordering from botach, but they seemed the only ones on the web (at least they were the only ones google could turn up) who had the titanium model and other than the no-discount, high price and an invalid tracking number, i had absolutely no problem with the order.

it has #0029 on it, but in searching for threads on this model most of the posts are from several years ago. does this number mean this was only the 29th unit made? i read somewhere they had to be hand-ground, but it seems like they should have made more than that by now unless i got one that was really old stock.

can titanium be sharpened? the blade is fairly sharp, but the edge is very rough and seems like it has large burrs in it--it will not cut paper cleanly at all. i'm not very good at sharpening, but i have the spyderco sharpener and a dmt diamond slim tapered one that i use to sharpen serrated blades.

thanks,

/guy

 

[MORIMOTOM]

re: botach, avoid ordering on line. if you are able, walk in and hand pick your item.

yes, it was probably the 29th unit made. i have no idea how many exist.

titanium can be sharpened, but it is difficult. if you keep it touched up with the spyderco stones it should stay relatively sharp.

ti is not the best metal for a knife blade, more of a novelty. benchmade used titanium with a carbide edge for their 970st (early emerson cqc7) and was designed as a demining tool, not necessarily for cutting.

the burrs on the edge are to be expected. ti is becoming more common in knife blades, though usually with a carbide edge. warren thomas uses a carbon fiber overlay and a titanium/carbide edge. very sharp knives, though i dont know how durable.

 

[SIFU1A]

have ya gotten the thing?? i have heard botach will claim to have something then end up not having it. after looking i guess ya did lol.

the serial # IIRC would indicate the 29th that yr they start from 0001 every yr.

you can get Ti knives sharp but they dont hold an edge like 154CM or any good steel,

 

[gteague]

have ya gotten the thing?? i have heard botach will claim to have something then end up not having it. after looking i guess ya did lol.

the serial # IIRC would indicate the 29th that yr they start from 0001 every yr.

you can get Ti knives sharp but they dont hold an edge like 154CM or any good steel,

yeah, i got it just fine. i paid nearly $40 for overnight so that i would know right away whether they actually had them in stock.

that makes sense about the serial # -- i thought that many more than 29 were made by now! underneath the emerson logo is a number that looks like it's separated by a vertical bar '9|9' or perhaps it is '919'.

tks for the info on the sharpening. i might try to touch it up a little this evening using a diamond tapered sharpener.

oh, and i might mention that i bought a titanium neck knife from brigade quartermaster about 18-24 months ago. not sure if it even had a brand, but it was so crudely made and ugly its been in the bottom of my knife chest since i bought it. no matter i overpaid for this emerson, it's 10 times the knife.

/guy