Siberian Slasher Russian ti alloy blades

[Mecha]

Recently I got ahold of a small sheet of a Russian titanium alloy, grade BT23, for use in a small batch of special blades - the Siberian Slashers!

This is interesting stuff, crisp and icy, with quite the cocktail of alloying elements, and the first I've used that contains chromium:

5Al 2Mo 4.5V 1Cr 0.7Fe

This is nice alloy.

It's been tested for a few blade sizes, mainly larger ones, with this one being the first normal knife-sized Siberian Slasher, at 8.5" oal.

Here is a photo to show the knife's thin, slightly convex bevels:

Ridged spine for a little pizazz:

With a leather static cord type sheath made by Ms. Oye, Colorado elkskin over cow:

The plan for this Russian ti alloy is to make a small batch of nice light machetes, numbered, in my normal shape but with a lower grind than the sword-like ones. Of course there will be a few knives too!

Thanks for looking everyone, and keep a look out for the finalized Siberian Slasher machetes pretty soon I hope!

 

[Dawkind]

Ahhhh, looking forward to this...

 

[go0dMAN]

Interesting. What is the hardness of these alloy?

 

[Sled]

Chromium sounds like it should be a nice addition. Be watching this.

 

[Mecha]

Interesting. What is the hardness of these alloy?

I'd say it's among the harder ones compared to other ti alloys I've tested, and definitely springy. Unfortunately, I don't have a hardness tester handy at the moment. Hardness varies somewhat since they're heat treated by eyeball. Tested blades in the past varied from 50-53 HRc in swords of a certain alloy, to 54-56 in knives of a different alloy. My brother has produced HRc 60+ ti alloy specimens that still exhibited a fine grain, heat treated using my techniques but further refined for raw hardness.

 

[Bigjonhoss]

very nice

 

[Lorien]

man, I use my Mecha bush sword ALL THE TIME!

-It's super sweet for this time of year, since I can leave it in the sheath soaking wet worry free

-It keeps a working edge for a surprising amount of time- while it's not the best choice for a fine, razor edge, the work hardening aspect of the alloy ensures good cutting performance for a good long time.

-The low weight of ti cutters allows steady use for a long time, with very little fatigue.