Well, frankly, this topic just didn't make a lot of sense to me.
I have both the small and large Kit Carson U2 dive knives, and a 5" drop point hunter from Tom Mayo, all made of Talonite. Kit tells me he has never had one of his cobalt alloy dive knives returned due to blade failure. And they are MADE for prying.
So, what went through my mind is just exactly what benefit was to be gained by this lamination project. I called Rob Simonich and he explained what his goals were. In no particular order, they are:
Increased resistance to bending. Talonite is quite flexible, and the 6Al4V outer layers add stiffness (the prototype was made of a core of 1/16" Talonite with outer layers of 1/16" 6Al4V).
A cheaper and lighter blade material. Talonite is fairly expensive; the alloy alone for the large U2 (1/4" thick) was $350. Using the Ti alloy will decrease the cost, and make the blade lighter.
The 'cool' factor.
I pointed out to Rob that his project was the reverse of the usual method of lamination, in which a harder, less flexible core was laminated between layers of softer, more flexible material. He was aware of this, and still considers his project to have merit.
Time will tell; I await the results with anxious anticipation. I would suggest to 'practical use' that the use of M2 as a core would be rather inappropriate, IMHO. First of all, you lose the corrosion proof nature of the blade, and secondly, even if this is acceptable, to use a traditional billet steel would be too mundane. A better choice would be something like CPM 3V, again, IMHO.
Questions, suggestions and comments, as always, welcomed. Walt
