-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is available! Price is $250 ea (shipped within CONUS).
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/
Talonite
- Thread starter jim burke
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 6, 1998
- Messages
- 2,300
Jim,
If you do a Search on Talonite you will come up with 151 pages going back to 1998 so there has been alot said about it.
Let me give you a run down on both it and Stellite 6K from my experiences with it for over a decade. I won't get into all the technical stuff.
It is a Cobalt alloy
No heat treating required
Rockwell averages 44-46
It's expensive
It won't rust
It can't be bandsawed with conventional bandsaw blades
To drill it you need a really good carbide drill bit
If you ream it, you need a really good carbide reamer
Carborundum saw blades will cut it
Diamond saw blades will cut it
It won't stick to a magnetic chuck
It grinds tough but clean with the ceramic/zirconia belts.
Aluminum oxide belts will grind it but wears them out faster
Don't grind it as thin as you would a steel blade, (.020-.024)
Sharpen it on a longer angle
It hand finishes ok
You can't file it with conventional files. Diamond ones work ok
When you grind it, don't let it get too hot
Chop saw it to length and grind to profile
It mills well with carbide end mills
You can't tap or thread it with conventional toolin
Don't treat it like a screwdriver
It bead blasts well
That should give you something to think about. I'm sure others will add to it.
If you do a Search on Talonite you will come up with 151 pages going back to 1998 so there has been alot said about it.
Let me give you a run down on both it and Stellite 6K from my experiences with it for over a decade. I won't get into all the technical stuff.
It is a Cobalt alloy
No heat treating required
Rockwell averages 44-46
It's expensive
It won't rust
It can't be bandsawed with conventional bandsaw blades
To drill it you need a really good carbide drill bit
If you ream it, you need a really good carbide reamer
Carborundum saw blades will cut it
Diamond saw blades will cut it
It won't stick to a magnetic chuck
It grinds tough but clean with the ceramic/zirconia belts.
Aluminum oxide belts will grind it but wears them out faster
Don't grind it as thin as you would a steel blade, (.020-.024)
Sharpen it on a longer angle
It hand finishes ok
You can't file it with conventional files. Diamond ones work ok
When you grind it, don't let it get too hot
Chop saw it to length and grind to profile
It mills well with carbide end mills
You can't tap or thread it with conventional toolin
Don't treat it like a screwdriver
It bead blasts well
That should give you something to think about. I'm sure others will add to it.
It makes good general use small knives. It wont withstand a lot of lateral pressure or use on hard substances, but it wears a real long time (its primary industrial use is wear bearing surfaces, high pressure steam apps, and cutting tools in industrial apps-the tips on most japanese resaw bandsaws are stellite and the blades they use to make cornflakes are too. The high pressure steam valves in nuke subs are faced with it and I understand that they also make the steam turbines out of it).............sooooo, it makes a great long wearing knife blade for general utility use, not for loggers or cowboys who might use it to pry off horseshoes!
When cutting it always use an abrasive wheel, when drilling it always use a carbide drill bit.
When cutting it always use an abrasive wheel, when drilling it always use a carbide drill bit.