need help with making titanium wire clips

M

Muaddib1116

Joined
Dec 26, 2010
Messages
1,091
I posted this in the General Knife Discussion section, but got no joy, so I thought this might be a more appropriate place to ask. Sorry if it's not.

So I had this idea to make ti wire clips for my Sage's and Caly's. I very possibly bought the wrong stuff, but I ordered some 1/16" ti rod from mcmaster. They only had one alloy in that diameter, which they call Grade 2. It's super plastic, which is great for bending the rod into shape, but then it's useless as a clip. I was hoping one of you knife makers who has experience heat treating steels (and I assume other metals) might have some ideas on how I could give my creation a spring temper. If it's not possible, I'm not going to be too broken up about it, but I think it would be pretty neat. Thanks for any help guys.
 
You're still posting in the wrong forum. Why not ask the knifemakers who do this for a living? I'm moving it to Shop Talk.
 
Ti should be easily bent when heated. When it cools, it will return to it's normal state. Since it contains no carbon, it isn't heat treated in the same way you heat treat steel.
 
Well, the problem is that it is easily bent at room temperature, and I need to get it either more stiff or able to bend more without plastically deforming. Otherwise, as a pocket clip, it's just going to bend out the first time it's snagged on something, and it won't have good pocket tension.
 
Muaddib1116 said:
So I had this idea to make ti wire clips

I very possibly bought the wrong stuff, but I ordered some 1/16" ti rod from mcmaster.

They only had one alloy in that diameter, which they call Grade 2.
It's super plastic, which is great for bending the rod into shape, but then it's useless as a clip.

I was hoping one of you knife makers who has experience heat treating steels (and I assume other metals) might have some ideas on how I could give my creation a spring temper.
Click to expand...

6AL 4V also known as Grade 5 is the alloy you want

1/16 seems pretty thin to me in a wire clip.
 
That's the diameter of the steel wire clips that Spyderco makes. I'll have to look around for a different source then. Thanks!
 
I dont think even 6al4v is going to give you the spring you desire as compared to hardened stainless like in your stock clip.
I could be wrong but I just dont think Ti will be as good a spring as hardened steel in this application.
CW
 
Oh well... it seems that maybe this was doomed from the start. I'll let you guys know if I get any good results. Thanks for the help.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top