Ti Kitchen knives

[fishbulb]

I have found that any steel kitchen knife I get as a gift usually gets eaten by rust before the recipient gets even a change to appreciate it. I have been looking into rustproof kithcn cutlery. I recently saw a Boker titanium kitchen knife that was advertised as being able to hold an edge 6 times longer than standard steel chef's knives.

This is exactly opposite everything I have learned about Ti vs. Steel.

As I understand it, the reason that very few knives have Ti blades is because it will not take and hold an edge nearly as well as quality steel.

I know some makers use a sort of titanium-derived crystal on the edge that shreds like a serrated knife, but I can't find any mention of this in the Boker website.

I would appreciate any insight into this.

 

[Architect]

Fishbulb, you don't say where you are located, but unless you are storing your knives in saltwater, there is absolutely no reason that a kitchen knife would rust.

Two simple rules, rinse and wipe down dry after every use, period. Even my carbon steel kitchen knives only require a very occassional oiling when treated this way. The ONLY problem that I have had over the past ten years with a couple of Wusthof Trident chef's knives is that the handle material is deteriorating because my wife keeps leaving the knives in the sink. The handle material stays in contact with any water on the bottom of the sink which corrdes the handle and the pins.

I have nothing to add about TI blade steel performance, but except for the gimmick part of it, I can't understand why anyone would want/need TI kitchen knives. Maybe there is enlightenment out there on this subject.

 

[fishbulb]

Sorry about that, I wasn't clear enough.

.

I have found that any steel kitchen knife I get as a gift usually gets eaten by rust before the recipient gets even a change to appreciate it.

I meant that these are knives that I am purchasing and then giving to others as gifts. The knives rust because they do not know how to take care of them. Kitchen knives that I personally use do not have rust problems, as I follow the same common sense preventative steps as you

 

[johnniet]

Are these carbon steel knives?
ATS-34?
It's still hard to believe that they are rusting away so quickly, unless they are constantly soaked or something (in which case the handle of a non-steel knife might have some trouble also).

 

[fishbulb]

Yes, they are carbon steel kitchen knives. I gave some relatives Ontario chef's knives because I really like these knives. Almost all of the people who received them told me that they rusted to the point of ruin very quickly. This is because they treated them like the cheap stainless knives they were used to.

Any opinions or knowledge on either Ti or ceramic bladed chef's knives would be appreciated.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

I don't know about Boker's crystallized titanium, other than that it looks good, but if your friends don't know how to take care of steel, don't get them ceramic. They'll chip it or snap the blades too easily.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

I have seen blades and other tools being advertized as "Titanium" when actually they were just steel with a hard edge coating, TiN I think. This will increase edge retention for a significant period of time, and to a large degree is actually self sharpening. Assuming that you don't overstress the edge coating and collapse it.

Titanium alloys have a very high wear resistance, however a low strength and impaction resistance when compared to high grade cutlery steels. For kitchen knives, a high wear resistance is of little to no advantage as dulling will be by impaction and deformation, thus it would surprise me if Titanium alloy blades would make better performing kitchen knives edge retention wise.

In regards to rusting, this can be a problem if you are doing a lot of salt water related prep, and/or using some of the more acidic foods. The right combination of these materials can cause rusting on carbon steels in minutes, so you would want to rinse and wipe down the blade every time you stopped cutting to keep the rust at bay.

-Cliff

 

[clarkjd]

Another possibility is that they are washing the knives in the automatic dishwasher! another no-no for good kitchen knives!

John

 

[SDouglas]

I have not used the Boker Ti kitchen knives but I have read a little bit about them.

They did not go into any specifics but I sort of got the impression that they had found a way to embed some type of hard carbide in a Ti matrix.

Because I like Talonite which is very hard carbides in a Cobalt matrix I have often fantasized about someone actually developing a process of putting hard carbides in a Titanium matrix that could potentially be 6 to 8 points harder on the Rc scale than Talonites Cobalt matrix.