Ti Framelock life-span?

J

Josh_43

Joined
Apr 7, 2003
Messages
56
Anyone have a cracking or metal fatigue failure with a titanium framelock, particularly since they are thinned down/rounded for better flexing?

At some point, it will eventually suffer metal fatigue failure, from moving back/forth - is that failure so far off (ie 1 million open/close cycles) that the it makes it irrelevant? Or is something closer, like 1 or two years of daily use?

Any repetitive "open-close-type" tests?
 
I've never heard of any formal tests. I've also never heard of any Ti framelocks suffering catastrophic breakdown from fatigue. And that includes a lot of knives now by CRK, Strider, Camillus, and Benchmade.
 
I've never heard of metal fatigue as an issue with a Ti framelock. If it was an issue, you would probably hear about it here. I wouldn't be concerned.
 
I don't think fatigue takes place with the amount of travel the lock tab has. Your not taking it beyond its elastic bending point (don't remember the exact terminology)
 
Actually, I've always wondered about that...

will my chris reeve withstand daily use (opening / closing) for 100 years...I mean we still have knives from the past 2 centuries that are functioning. will our modern-day knives work just as well in the future? :confused: ;)
 
The problem, really, seems to be a loss of "springiness" rather than metal fatigue. I know the CRKT S2's had this problem right away. Other brands have had problems but less so than the S2. The only framelocks that I know of with no history of this problem are the originals - those made by Chris Reeve.
 
Chris Reeve has been making Sebenzas for 15+ years, email him and ask if he knows of any problem with those.
 
Thanks for the info, and your experience. Kind of what I suspected. Wasn't asking specifically asking about CR, but in general - and reputable makers like CR (or BM with Skirmish) wouldn't use Ti if failed, so I'll take that as the answer.
 
A ti-frame/liner lock is great. Titanium has this strange quality where it will not warp unless both shocked and heated at the same time. IE: It will always move into the same spot when engaged.
-KC
 
A lot of the cheaper framelocks and thick liner locks use heat treated 410 or some such stuff, ESPECIALLY the imported ones........I would imagine that it would be much more susceptable to such problems than titanium..........
I am sure everyone knows that 6/4 is the best formula for this use, there are about 30 different mixes of titanium.......some are not nearly as good.
 
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