Swat balis---What Al alloy

M

madscientist

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May 12, 2000
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I got one at a show yesterday, and besides having a wire ege I could run current thought it's not too, bad... It would be great with a 5inch weehawk with a live false edge but I digress.. Anyway does anyone know what aluminum alloy they are using for the handles. It is obviously much superior to to the old pot metal AL that is/was used in some of the cheapies. To my hands it feels like the t-6 alloy used in AR-15s. Yes I am a chemist so I could do an elemental analyis but that is somewhat destructive :-)

Ideas

Mike
 
Search back 4 to 6 weeks or so. There was some discussion of this, as the manufacturer told BF owner Spark it was a unique alloy. I don't doubt this, but never did find out the exact alloy content. It apparently is not either of the fairly common 6061 or 7075 series.
 
Its advertised as an Aluminum alloy thats stronger than Ti. I think I read this on one of the web sites that sells them. If its stronger than Ti, then I'd like to know what it is too.
 
From Spark:
"The handles are not made of 6061 T6, they are made of an aluminum alloy called 60/80/20 which, according to the manufacturer, is both stronger and lighter than titanium. He says he got it off a government contract (and that they sent it to him to mess around with)."

Well, I got my Tiger on Friday from TAD and while the service was top notch, the handles ain't. Mine already looks like I've been bangin 'em against a sidewalk from where the latch impacts the safe handle during manipulation. 60-80-20 is straight up FIRED!
 
Until I see the stats on this alloy, I will think that this whole statement "stronger than Ti, government contracted" is just a marketing ploy. I've been in metallurgy myself and am aware that some alloys can display stronger characteristics in certain tests, but it doesn't mean it is a "stronger" metal. And again the description is VAGUE at best, think about it "both stronger and lighter than titanium", is that Ti CP1? Just like aluminum, titanium has many different grades, alloys, and manufacturing processes. It all depends on what part of the research you are looking at. Also the government contracted part could be smoke up Uranus, even government contracts go wrong and there are "bad batches" in which case they would get rid of it with little fuss.

Please don't take my skepticism to the point where you think I hate the SWAT Bali. I have heard nothing but Ode's to the Tiger since it's released, and I am happy to hear that everyone is surprised at the quality of construction, I do plan on purchasing one or two of them, but the BM's come first in my book. I just really dislike deceptive claims, and there are a whole lot of them out there in today's world. Either way it doesn't sound like the handle coating they used holds up very well from Hoplophiles vented statements. Thanks for letting me loose on the metallurgical aspects of this thread.
Originally posted by Hoplophile
From Spark:
"The handles are not made of 6061 T6, they are made of an aluminum alloy called 60/80/20 which, according to the manufacturer, is both stronger and lighter than titanium. He says he got it off a government contract (and that they sent it to him to mess around with)."

Well, I got my Tiger on Friday from TAD and while the service was top notch, the handles ain't. Mine already looks like I've been bangin 'em against a sidewalk from where the latch impacts the safe handle during manipulation. 60-80-20 is straight up FIRED!
Click to expand...
 
Yea, I'm with you on the deceptive claims. S&W is marketing a Sc alloy revolver frame. After a little research, I found out that the alloy is Al w/ basically trace scandium. I'm not saying that the alloy is a bad one; the scandium definately does good things. It just seems deceptive to say its an Sc alloy when only about 1-2% by weight is Sc. Hey, maybe this is the same alloy the swat uses.
 
It's "Aluminum"....enough said! :barf:


"Hunters seek what they [WANT].., Seekers hunt what they [NEED]"
 
Hey, I just relayed the information I was told. If someone wants to tear their SWAT Butterfly up for analysis, be my guest. In the meantime, even though it's "just aluminum" I'm keeping mine. It's much quieter and smoother than any of the others I've handled and the play is almost non-existant. Everyone who's handled them has been impressed with how solid they are, and the lack of "butterfly rattle" they show.

Just my 2 cents...

Kevin
 
Spark,
While I don't have one, I don't question your assertion that it's an excellent balisong, precisely for the reasons you state. My only interest was in whether or not there was some new type of metal available for making balisongs. The comments one hears about aluminum denting, scratching, etc., should be viewed in conjunction with the many positive properties of aluminum, light weight but strong, ease of machining, etc. Everyone should also remember that one of the most precisely made, well designed brand of knives around, Microtech, uses aluminum for many of it's various handle styles.
 
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