Silver soldering titanium/steel

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I am building a couple of knives with Loveless style open end guards made from CP-2 titanium. I have been machining them very close/tight, pinning them and using a very thin layer of JB weld to keep moisture out. This works fine and looks great, but I wondered if anybody has silver soldered titanium to steel. It's probably a long shot, but it never hurts to ask.

I believe I'll try it if I don't get the "dire warning" type of responses.

Thanks
 
It doesn't work well. Titanium gets an oxide, like the surface of a bathtub, so nothing sticks using conventional means. It can be laser welded, but sometimes the welds to steel can be brittle because of their different cooling rates.
 
I thought about the oxides but I'd think the solder will flow in the 475F range and oxides would need quite a bit higher temps to form, 900F or so. Not correct?

Have you tried it yourself?
 
I *think* the oxides form naturally at any temp, like aluminum does. So having it stick to the oxide layer that's already there would be the issue.


-X
 
It won't work , I've tried !! Ti to steel ? They do it by explosive bonding in applications such as heat exchangers.
 
I appreciate the replies! They saved me from goofing up a guard that is pretty time consuming to make!

Thanks again!
 
The difficulty to welding/soldering titanium is the fact that it oxidizes. Remove oxygen and you solve that issue. That's how the pros do it, only with a much higher tech solution than this. If you wanted to, and only out of the "Can it actually be done by us?" spirit, I offer this proposed solution. I haven't done this, but if you really wanted to try, it should work.

Sandblasting cabinet
Get your sandblast cabinet. Get a heat gun, 400 grit sand paper, guard, blade, solder, flux, etc., inside the cabinet and kept airtight. Fill cabinet with nirtogen, argon, or other non-oxygenated environment. Lightly sand the titanium to remove the existing oxidation. Solder the guard on like normal, only using the heat gun instead of the torch. A heat gun will easily get the blade and guard up to heat.
 
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Great thinking on the blast box. I have a set of binoculars that fogs on one side and I was going to redo that side inside a clear plastic bag filled with nitrogen or argon. Now I will use my blast box.
 
Whew! I was expecting the first comment to be along the lines of "You'll shoot your eye out!"

Not sure how to be certain that all of the air is out of the box and replaced with nitrogen/argon. You could talk to a neon tubing bender and solve that I would think.
 
Thanks for the straight or it.
I am thinking about either epoxy combined with a visible pivot assembly, or a pair of 0-80 socket head screws concealing the pivot screw head on the bolster. This assumes that I will use the titanium as a liner. Can someone suggest another possibility.
I've made several lockbacks using stainless. This is my maiden voyage into liner locks and titanium, so any advice is appreciated.
Thanks,

'cacci
 
Just a thought, but wouldn't a heat gun running inside a small box quickly bring the temperature inside the box up to 400, melting the plastic gloves to your hands ;0)
 
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