- Joined
- Dec 5, 2005
- Messages
- 27,886
Sam Taylor, aka Mecha, aka Mad Science Forge;
Sam is a pioneer of forged titanium cutlery, and his specialty is swords. His work's been progressing in leaps and bounds, and rustic, hand forged pieces such as the one featured in this thread are now all but extinct. In fact, this one might be the last.
The swords that Sam's producing are increasingly complex, and yes they are all titanium. Titanium has one key attribute of concern to collectors, and that is EXTREME corrosion resistance. Theoretically, one of Sam's titanium swords will last 1000 years. Or more. This characteristic is useful to a guy like me as it allows me to be lazy when it comes to maintenance. However, this characteristic is the least interesting to me, compared with other attributes of beta titanium that have super high value for a brush clearing tool such as this one.
Titanium is inherently shock absorbing. That's probably the wrong descriptor, but conveys the idea well enough. Compared with steel, titanium deadens the feeling of impact under load. Unlike steel, titanium doesn't 'ring'. While the material is springy, it isn't springlike when it comes to feel.
Flexibility is really important for a tool such as this. Fatigue life of titanium is insanely long, so a little flexibility doesn't hurt from a durability perspective. The flex, coupled with the damping effect makes for a tool that hits hard yet yields under oblique strikes without transferring a lot of shock.
Work hardening is a slightly less tangible aspect of this beta titanium. In my experience using this material, (see this thread ) I found that while it was difficult removing the burr from the edge of this material, once I got out and started using it, the sword's edge got more and more refined. It was really weird, heading out with a mediocre edge, and after working the hell out of it, come home with it in better shape. Exactly opposite of what I'm accustomed to.
Titanium is incredibly light weight. This thing only weighs 275 grams/ 9.75 ounces. While it's only 3.4mm thick, it's 22.5" long, so that weight is incredible. Swinging this thing around, well, I could do it all day. It's the maximum length that I feel comfortable using and gives me a lot of reach compared with other choppers I'm accustomed to using, but it's so light that it simply disappears when I'm carrying it around.
Julie Barber, (oye_leather on Instagram) made a beautiful scabbard for this piece from supple, smooth deer hide. The handle has a matching wrap over cord wrap. I love her unique approach to sheath work, you really should check her stuff out. Really great quality.
So, I had a couple hours yesterday to work on a trail alignment that's ready to cut and I was really looking forward to getting out there with this machete thing and get some work done. I was able to record a couple of segments, which you can view in fast forward below. If you want to watch both full 12 minute segments, they are on my Youtube channel. Kind of boring to sit through it all, but I recommend checking out parts and turning the sound up a bit so you can hear this thing hit stuff. It has a unique sound to it which is pretty cool.
[video=youtube;ISdZ4RTb5yQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISdZ4RTb5yQ[/video]
[video=youtube;0Z8nUIG7ht0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z8nUIG7ht0[/video]
Sam, thank you so much, brother! I LOVE using this cutter, it's one of the best ones I've ever used. It's different from everything else I cut with, in none but the best ways.
Sam is a pioneer of forged titanium cutlery, and his specialty is swords. His work's been progressing in leaps and bounds, and rustic, hand forged pieces such as the one featured in this thread are now all but extinct. In fact, this one might be the last.
The swords that Sam's producing are increasingly complex, and yes they are all titanium. Titanium has one key attribute of concern to collectors, and that is EXTREME corrosion resistance. Theoretically, one of Sam's titanium swords will last 1000 years. Or more. This characteristic is useful to a guy like me as it allows me to be lazy when it comes to maintenance. However, this characteristic is the least interesting to me, compared with other attributes of beta titanium that have super high value for a brush clearing tool such as this one.
Titanium is inherently shock absorbing. That's probably the wrong descriptor, but conveys the idea well enough. Compared with steel, titanium deadens the feeling of impact under load. Unlike steel, titanium doesn't 'ring'. While the material is springy, it isn't springlike when it comes to feel.
Flexibility is really important for a tool such as this. Fatigue life of titanium is insanely long, so a little flexibility doesn't hurt from a durability perspective. The flex, coupled with the damping effect makes for a tool that hits hard yet yields under oblique strikes without transferring a lot of shock.
Work hardening is a slightly less tangible aspect of this beta titanium. In my experience using this material, (see this thread ) I found that while it was difficult removing the burr from the edge of this material, once I got out and started using it, the sword's edge got more and more refined. It was really weird, heading out with a mediocre edge, and after working the hell out of it, come home with it in better shape. Exactly opposite of what I'm accustomed to.
Titanium is incredibly light weight. This thing only weighs 275 grams/ 9.75 ounces. While it's only 3.4mm thick, it's 22.5" long, so that weight is incredible. Swinging this thing around, well, I could do it all day. It's the maximum length that I feel comfortable using and gives me a lot of reach compared with other choppers I'm accustomed to using, but it's so light that it simply disappears when I'm carrying it around.
Julie Barber, (oye_leather on Instagram) made a beautiful scabbard for this piece from supple, smooth deer hide. The handle has a matching wrap over cord wrap. I love her unique approach to sheath work, you really should check her stuff out. Really great quality.
So, I had a couple hours yesterday to work on a trail alignment that's ready to cut and I was really looking forward to getting out there with this machete thing and get some work done. I was able to record a couple of segments, which you can view in fast forward below. If you want to watch both full 12 minute segments, they are on my Youtube channel. Kind of boring to sit through it all, but I recommend checking out parts and turning the sound up a bit so you can hear this thing hit stuff. It has a unique sound to it which is pretty cool.
[video=youtube;ISdZ4RTb5yQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISdZ4RTb5yQ[/video]
[video=youtube;0Z8nUIG7ht0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z8nUIG7ht0[/video]
Sam, thank you so much, brother! I LOVE using this cutter, it's one of the best ones I've ever used. It's different from everything else I cut with, in none but the best ways.
For a working tool, the 'factory edge' was just fine!
