Mission knives

I

itstime

Joined
Oct 23, 2007
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Anybody have one? Like it?

Never had a blade made out of Titanium before. Up or downside to it?

Can't find a warranty on it either. Is it lifetime??

I would think titanium would be more prone to breaking.

Thanks in advance.
 
I have three, two skeletal handle neckers and a folder.

Titanium is less likely to break. It does not take and hold the razor edge a good steel blade will. But it's not as dull as some people believe. One of my neckers, actually the MBK Mission Boot Knife, is a regular utility knife in my kitchen.
 
I will try to spit out what I learned about titanium in the Air Force MANY years ago. Titanium is stronger per weight ratio than other metals. That does not mean in thicker portions Titanium will be as wear resistant. IE titanium is good for stress panels with many rivets across the skin of a F-4 fighter and much lighter than if you did this with the same amount of S30V stainless steel. But it is not practical to use S30V for the skin (to brittle) of an aircraft nor is it practical to use titanium (to maliable, or soft)for knife blades. Like the person before me said, it has very poor edge holding capabilities. Not bad, but very far from the ideal.

About you saying "it would seem to be more prone to breakage". Well you are right and wrong. In thicker stock it is very maliable "good tensil strength". For that matter in thin stock as well "ie" aircraft skin. But for a very fine edge I am not so sure. Since it has great tensil strength "being able to stretch without breaking is what I am trying to say" tensil may be the wrong term. I would think the edge of a blade would be less prone to chipping. But I do not have any experience with thin edges of titamium.

Well I probably stumbled all the way through it but I hope this helped. Others that are more technically minded will more than likely chime in and set you straight on titanium and probably set me straight as well LOL>
 
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According to Mission, the beta titanium that Mission uses will chop and pry anywhere anytime without breaking or chipping, including seawater and arctic conditions that are rough on many steels. It is forgiving that way. But we are talking about Mission's knives. Other titanium alloys have other problems.
 
i had a mission fixed blade. pretty cool, very light.

but i just couldn't get a decent edge on it. like eb says, its not horrible, but its not great either.

it think it is more of a novelty for the average user. its not magnetic, which is great for mine sweeping. its also rust proof, so its great for demining under water. neither of which i plan on doing any time in my life.
 
The Boker Cera Titan holds an edge much better than my other kitchen knives. It has included carbides which greatly increase the wear resistance. It also has Silver added to improve ductility. The only problem, they don't make it anymore. I don't think I'll ever wear it out.
 
I love mine; MPT. It'll shave hair but you must sharpen the knife just as Mission recommends. A minute or two on the buffer and the edge is back to shaving sharp.
 
Wow, I was checking out the Mission MPF1-Ti. I understand it's intended use but slap an S30V blade into one of those and you have a big,:) tactical Sebenza.
 
My MPF-1 doesn't seem to hold it's edge for very long either. But then it could be my lousy skill at sharpening it! :rolleyes:
 
I've had five (5), two (2) Mission MPS TI PE, two (2) Mission MPF-1 TI PE, and one (1) Mission MPF 3 TI PE.

Some of the older ones that were not made toward the end of John Mores (the former owner) reign are good, but trying to find one is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Mission had lots of Quality Control problems over the years and man knives were sent out without proper heat treat either in the blade or the handle and as one can imagine it caused lots of problems. There is no real way to tell the good knives from the bad until you get one. There was also a huge problem with theft at Mission and employees and former partners were stealing knives off the line and in pieces, collecting pieces from recycle and trash bins out behind the shop, reassembling them and selling them on the secondary market. Now all of these knives are in the mix.

Beta Ti is a decent blade material and in terms of edge holding and overall serviceability is on par with AUS 8 in my experience and the experience of other knowledge individuals on this form such as MR. Steve Rice A.K.A. STR he has his on forum here. Beta Ti is a very TOUGH material you can beat on the stuff without mercy, misuse, abuse, this is your knife your not going to break it. Nor is it going to rust, pretty much ever unless you can find some boiling sea water with maybe some types of heavy duty industrial acid thrown in for good measure. To be sure the knives that were made right are very tough but will required more sharpening than say Bos Heat Treated S30V, infi, or some other higher end steels that have had good heat treat. It is titanium after all it is geared more for bend don't break than tree topping arm pit hair.

Now to wrap this up, John died a while a back God Rest His Soul, the company was sold to a new guy who owns a shop that specializes in titanium machining for the aerospace industry. He has had the company for quite sometime, made many a statement about the piss poor quality control and QC issues occurring before Johns death, then turns around and begins to sell the stock pile of poor QC knives at discounted prices. Doesn't make sense if your trying to turn the image around, but hey what do I know. This has further complicated the whole QC problem as now more poor quality knives are entering the system. It is a mess, Mission has a forum on another knife site, want to see what I'm talking about go check it out, the fanboys are in upheaval, the new owner is MIA for the most part and vendors are attacking some of the companies most long time loyal customers.

I sold all of mine after my mpf 3 which I had carried for about 3 years had to be repaired because the lock bar interface was not made correctly and the lock was wearing premature. It doesn't do me any good to buy a knife made out a material which will last for a couple of generations but has a poorly made lock that won't last 3 years of EDC. Kinda defeats the purpose of using the material to begin with, I can go buy cheaper knives that will last longer.

If they can get their act together and make the knives correctly they really have something with that material but for right now, seeing as how the new owner is MIA and not producing any new knives since he bought but still trying to sell off the old questionable stock. I'll tell you what I'm telling everyone else, STAY AWAY.
 
Good post Mike.
Hopefully Mission will listen to it's customers. There is a place for Mission Knives in the knife world.
 
Lycosa, it hurt to write that, I knew John, looked at buying Mission before he died and really loved the beta ti material and the whole concept the knives that were made properly were a force to be reckoned with. There is one batch of MPF 1 floating around that is made entirely out of BETA TI, handle and blade, all of the others had 6Al4v handles and beta ti blade. I know this because like I said I had two MPF 1, I noticed some differences in color and finish, one was darker with almost a gold hue to it and was kind a rough to the touch like shark skin.

So I fired off an email to John asking, he told me the story and explained to me that one of the ones I had was one of that batch. Shouldn't have sold but I had to for reasons I've explained here a hundred times already. Anyway I still have the email, and this was discussed on the Mission forum as well with a former Mission employee chiming in to back John on the validity of the story.

If you have one of these are can find one, hang on to it as it was well made and is by far the toughest folding knife you could ever ask for. There was only 100 of those made.

Your right though Mission should listen to its customers instead of allowing it vendors to attack customers because customers are bringing up quality issues about the high end knives their buying, and your right Lycosa there is a place for Mission Knives in the knife world. The general consensus starting for form now is that the new owner bought Mission for its inventory of beta ti and 6Al4V to use in its other business and is just selling off the old stock to recapture what capital it can.

I hope that is not the case and somehow the thing can be turned around, if for nothing else other than John, he was a good man, I miss not being able to talk to him.
 
I figured Mike would chime in on this sooner or later. Good posts Mike. :thumbup:

Straight to the point and nail on the head as usual really. I have one of the ones I got from Mike, which is the one he carried and used the most from the looks of it. I had it out just the other day using it again. I have little issue with it really. Best edge keeper its not, no where near but you know I've had worse certainly. As to how it compares to other folders by them I can't say. Its the only one I have owned to use but I have seen other folders mailed to me by others for work.

Personally the worst part about the folders is the pocket clip set up. Cheesy is the best description I can come up with. For one the clip moves side to side easily, the pivot doesn't stay tight and it was just generally speaking a really bad way to do it. Usually this is why they are mailed to me to be honest. The second worst thing about them is the detent ball which is well, iffy at best and on the ones with steel blades, not titanium there was no reason not to use a steel detent ball but they didn't do that at Mission.

I corrected the clip on my own from Mike as well. You can't use a steel ball bearing in the lock for titanium though or the steel would be gritty and rough, and it would dig out a channel over time in the titanium so in that case you are kind of stuck with the nylon insert ball that flattens out over time and use.

There is a thread in my forum on the knife I own now for anyone that wants to search there. One thing for sure these are durable long lasting materials. The 6AL-4V frames are not any negative really. If the blades were made from that then you have an issue for sure. There was never any real reason to waste beta ti on the frames in my opinion. Grade five, A/K/A knife maker grade A/K/A 6AL-4v titanium is just fine for handles. Its what most makers use in fact for liners or slab folder frame locks. Its just the blade that would need something better. Beta is fine and it can cut and perform. You'll be sharpening it more than most steel blades though. As I said, I've seen some with the A-2 blades though. Most excellent steel. Tough as nails, can rust though. I'd prefer that personally over the Beta but then again, rusting is not an issue for me like it would be with Mike living near the salt water as he does.

STR
 
Hey Mike,

Im not sure how you have so much good info about mission, but I appreciate all of it very much. I am extemely interested in buying one of their blades (MPS-Ti or MPK-Ti), do you know how I could go about getting a good quality knife from them or would you be able to advise when they get their act together? It seems you have access to sources of info that are not available to the general public and if I am going to spend so much money on a tool I would like to ensure that I get the very best quality possible...not sure how to go about doing that after reading your post.

Thanks in advance,

Chris
 
There are a couple of hundred different types of titaniom depending on use. Beta in Mission knives is good if you have good one as explained. They will load a diamond plate and they need to be cleaned often. I can get a good one shaving sharp with a 1200 diamond grit plate. They are not as hard as sharpening a ceramic blade, but one must not use a lot of pressure . The teeth will be pushed over and be taken off. Ceramic the teeth just break off. Light touch on both.
 
Never wanted one of the Ti knives but have wanted one of the early A2 folders and the Mission 10 in A2. keepem sharp
 
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