San Mai Japanese-made Tanto series and titanium ti lite discussion

jencarlos said:
You are probably talking about the blue one. However, both versions of the knives have anodized titanium scales. the color and whether or not the handle is polished is all that is different.

Titanium is a pretty ugly looking metal when bare ;)
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Not true, the gray Ti-lites are bare, beadblasted titanium. I had six VG-1 versions at one point, down to the last one now.

This one I went a little over the top on the anodizing;)

IMAG0092.jpg


~Chip
 
KenHash said:
Really? Then CS catalog's wording is rather misleading. I've only heard the term "anodized" when referring to the blue handle.

From the 2006 Cold Steel Catalog on the Titanium Ti Lites:

"THE HANDLES, MADE OF FORGED TITANIUM, ARE AVAILABLE WITH OUR ORIGINAL FINISH OR WITH A POLISHED, BLUE ANODIZED FINISH. THEY HAVE BEEN CNC MILLED FOR A VISUALLY APPEALING LOOK, AND FOR MAXIMUM STRENGTH AND SAFETY, WE HAVE EQUIPPED OUR TILITES™ WITH FULL LENGTH TITANIUM LEAF SPRING LOCKS (PROVEN, IN OUR TESTS, TO HOLD 100 LBS)."

https://sales.coldsteel.com/cs_images/2006catalog.pdf
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WValtakis said:
Not true, the gray Ti-lites are bare, beadblasted titanium. I had six VG-1 versions at one point, down to the last one now.

This one I went a little over the top on the anodizing;)

~Chip
Click to expand...

Apologies. I must be incorrect. I guess it just the blue one then. Thanks for the correction!

:)
 
Had to check my Ti-lite to see which style false edge it had...couldn't remember. It has the square transition, but I definitely like the curved transition better, so yet another reason to continue looking for a VG-1 version...
 
I decided to delve into my archives to do some research on this topic myself. (I know this isn't very impressive scholarship now that Cold Steel has added many years of catalogs to its archive on the new Web site. But I have a few different catalogs than what appear on the site. Plus, mine still show the original prices!) Here's what I learned with regard to the early Ti-Lite history.

The Ti-Lite was introduced in the Spring 2001 catalog. The only version was the gray titanium-handled model (26S) with the Gen 1 features.

IMG-5419.jpg



As you can see, the pocket clip had the bead-blast finish. The description doesn't mention the pocket clip material, but it's steel. How do I know that? Because the model doesn't change for the 2002 catalog, but the description now includes that fact.

IMG-5421.jpg



The Spring 2003 catalog sees the introduction of the blue, anodized titanium model (26SB) and the Zytel-handled version (26SP). While the description still specifies steel clips, only the original model's clip is shown and it's still the bead-blasted version.

IMG-5423.jpg


IMG-5424.jpg



In the 2004 catalog, all three clip styles are depicted, one for each model. The new swedge appears, but only on the Zytel version.

IMG-5425.jpg



2005 brings the introduction of the six-inch Ti-Lite (26SXP, only available in Zytel and not yet designated the Ti-Lite VI). This is also the year that the clips are switched to plain, polished steel on all of the four-inch models. (Note the unique, slotted clip on the six-inch version. This was only used for two years. When I saw a picture of one of these several years ago, I had forgotten about their existence and was fooled into thinking it was a counterfeit!)

IMG-5426.jpg


IMG-5427.jpg



I don't have a 2006 catalog (it's an inexplicable gap in my collection that bothers me like an unreachable itch!), but Cold Steel's archive (thanks for the link, Ken) shows no changes that year from 2005.

IMG-5447.jpg



The 2007 catalog describes the change to VG-1 steel for the titanium models and AUS-8A for the Zytel models. The photo depicts the Gen 1 titanium versions, however.

IMG-5429.jpg



By 2008, the titanium models were gone, replaced by the 7075 aluminum-handled versions, available with both four- and six-inch blades. Based on what I've seen, no photos of the Gen 2 titanium-handled Ti-Lites were ever used in the catalogs. Even when the descriptions changed, the knives shown were Gen 1.

-Steve
 
Not to revive a dead thread, but I currently own the original AUS-8 Ti-Lite without steel markings, it's also got the "squared" off false edge, and the darker non-polished clip engraved with CS logo. So to attempt to date my knife I did a bit of research by downloading every year of CS catalogs, and from what I can see, from the introduction of the Ti-Lite in 2001, up until 2006 they used AUS-8A blade steel. 2001 - 2003 the Ti-Lite had no Cold Steel logo printed on the pocket clips, with Cold Steel introducing the blue anodized version in 2003. In 2004 they began engraving the Cold Steel logo on the pocket clip, and the blue version in the catalog shows a matching blue pocket clip. From 2005-06 they switched to the polished pocket clip on both versions, still with AUS-8 blade steel. In 2007, the last year of production for both titanium handled versions, they would switch blade steels to VG-1. Finally in 2008 they switched to aluminum handles, and back to AUS-8.
so from what I can tell... There exists 4 versions of both titanium handled ti-lites, for a total of 8.
 
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