I have been trying to contact Mission Knives for some time now with no success. Their web site is not taking orders, phone is not answered, and no response to emails. I am trying to get a G10 handle kit. Wondering if anyone knows the company's status. Thanks...
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Mission Knives Out of Business?
- Thread starter TucsonMSH
- Start date
Thanks, I tried FB as well. I am just trying to get a G10 scale kit, but alll efforts are proving futile. I thought I would check the forum to see if anyone knew anything. They posted that they are moving to a new location, but that also has been quite a while..
Thanks, they must still have something going on, but all attempts in contacting them have proved futile so far.
vjb.knife
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I used this Mission knife on my last diving job all the time. It held up well and not a hint of corrosion. I would get an orange one if they come back into business. I saw pictures of some of the new models from the Blade Show video on a website that said 'coming soon'. At least there is reason for hope now.
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For those who are obsessed with corrosion resistance (like me...), and for those who want a knife that is non-magnetic but still wants a really tough, strong knife, there aren't many real options. Zirconia ceramics, the various Stellites, Nitinol60/SM-100, Liquidmetal/Vitreloy, these are not bad materials, but they have limitations, either in toughness or tensile/yield strength. None of which are as durable and tough as Mission's custom heat-treated Beta C titanium alloy knives.
Let's say there is a nickel-based alloy, or rather a small, three-membered alloy family, whose mechanical properties, hardness, which is 58-63 RC with aging heat treatment (~67 RC with cold working+aging, but at this value there is probably no meaningful toughness), tensile strength (320-390 ksi), elongation (~2%) are not worse than the properties of better steels used for knives.
Their wear resistance is certainly worse than that of steels with higher carbide content, because there are no ultra-hard carbides in these alloys, but it is presumably acceptable.
And they are extremely corrosion resistant. In salt water, they are slightly worse than titanium, but better than all steels, even steels similar to 316 austenitic steel. Their corrosion resistance can be roughly at the Stellite 6/Talonite level, or slightly better. But unfortunately these alloys are almost impossible to obtain (the basic alloy is currently only produced in Russia and Japan, and its improved versions only in Russia), and they are not available in plate or flat bar form at all, but only in round bar or wire form, as far as I know.
Therefore, I think that until these alloys become available to knife makers, Mission Knives' titanium knives will remain the best alternatives to steel knives, even with their relatively low hardness, if someone is looking for a non-steel knife for heavy-duty use.
So it would be nice if they really made a comeback soon.
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The Japanese version's name is DSA760
The Russian version's name is 40ХНЮ-ВИ/ЭП793-ВИ
And the alloys improved by the Russia:
38ХНВЮ-ВИ/ЭП940-ВИ
36ХНЮФ/ЭК6
The best of them the 38ХНВЮ-ВИ/ЭП940-ВИ alloy
Edit:
I don't know if I can put an external link here, but here are the data for the DSA760:
And from page 35:
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I think that when I have time and energy I will collect and post in a new thread what I know about these alloys, documents, descriptions, etc. Although some of them are unfortunately in Russian or Japanese.
I don't know much about Böker CeraTitan, but to me it looks like Stellites with hard tungsten carbide particles in a soft cobalt-chromium matrix. I assume, although I could be wrong, that this material is softer and has lower tensile strength than Mission's Beta C titanium, so it is wear-resistant, but soft and not very strong, not suitable for heavy use. It would be nice to see hardness and tensile/yield strength values of this CeraTitan.
For those who want to get nostalgic, there are several saves of the old Mission Knives website available at archive.org
This knife is amazing, you are very lucky to have it.
Anyway, as far as I know, a hardness of 45-50 RC can be achieved with cold working+aging with Haynes 25 alloy.
Yes, both the H1 and LC200N are very corrosion resistant, so in practice, and for most people that level is more than enough, even in saltwater environments. But for an obsessive like me, it's not enough
Mission Knives & Tools, Inc. : Featured Articles
Mission Knives & Tools, Inc is the leader in Titanium Knife technology, producing the real US Navy SEAL dive knife and world class Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) tools.
web.archive.org
This knife is amazing, you are very lucky to have it.
Anyway, as far as I know, a hardness of 45-50 RC can be achieved with cold working+aging with Haynes 25 alloy.
Yes, both the H1 and LC200N are very corrosion resistant, so in practice, and for most people that level is more than enough, even in saltwater environments. But for an obsessive like me, it's not enough
vjb.knife
Platinum Member
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Do you have a website where I could view your knives?That‘s why i make them from heat treatable Titanium only
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vjb.knife
Platinum Member
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The UDT knife is capable of cutting an anchor chain. I have not tried that but have used it underwater a few times. The H1 and LC200N Spyderco knives have been put to the test by me in a marine environment extensively. I will say that they do require more sharpening than conventional high end steels but they take a nice edge and are good cutters. I used the yellow and orange knives for close to 5 years cutting some very tough things, and the LC200N model for about a year. They hold up better than the Mission Ti, but not as well as my Randall 16.For those who want to get nostalgic, there are several saves of the old Mission Knives website available at archive.org
Mission Knives & Tools, Inc. : Featured Articles
Mission Knives & Tools, Inc is the leader in Titanium Knife technology, producing the real US Navy SEAL dive knife and world class Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) tools.web.archive.org
This knife is amazing, you are very lucky to have it.
Anyway, as far as I know, a hardness of 45-50 RC can be achieved with cold working+aging with Haynes 25 alloy.
Yes, both the H1 and LC200N are very corrosion resistant, so in practice, and for most people that level is more than enough, even in saltwater environments. But for an obsessive like me, it's not enough
I gave this one to my Buddy in Hawaii when I moved back to the mainland. Cutting Firehose and Blue steel synthetic rope and nets are no picnic.
My Dive Knife Holy Trinity.
General use and rope cutting was easy with this LC200N blade
I always had the Mission knife with me on working dives and sometimes the orange Spyderco Autonomy automatic. That's me in the foreground (twin 50 tanks) and my dive buddy Marcus faintly visible to my left.
Making a fender basket with Boue Steel Rope
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