titanium thong tubing

[TiSurvival]

Has anyone ever worked with titanium tubing to make the lanyard hole in a knife? Just out of curiosity, I thought it would be cool and i am currently looking for some 1/4" Ti tubing to see how it would work out. Your thoughts?

 

[TekSec]

It will work just fine but it doesn't flare as well as other materials just because of it's "springiness". I did one with Ti pins and tube and just epoxied the thong tube in and then rounded the inside lip with a Dremel and a cone shaped stone.

 

[TiSurvival]

you think it would work better with lower grades of Ti, like gr1 or gr2. both of those grades have the consistency of gold or silver, if you've ever worked with those.

 

[TekSec]

I used the standard 6al-4v stuff because that's what I had. The lower grades would probably be more malleable so that may be the key.

 

[TiSurvival]

yea, ive worked with gr2 before and its like working with aluminum. but it wont corrode or stain like steel or aluminum. The problem is finding it cheap and or finding it in non bulk. Maybe I can start a group buy on here or something.

 

[TiSurvival]

here are a few pieces I made with Ti tubing:

Here are some pieces I finished today, black/green g-10 and California buckeye burl. The lanyard tubing is titanium.

also a quick question, if you see the second picture from this post, you can see the tubing got flattened and its thicker on one section. How do you guys avoid that mushrooming effect? on some pieces I actually like how it looks like that, but to avoid it, is it just a matter of pre sanding/ grinding before installing? I left about 1.5mm of tubing sticking out on each side, glued it, and then ground it flat.

 

[TekSec]

I usually just hit the inside of the tube with a cone shaped grinding stone in my Dremel to open and round the lip. To pre-round it if it get a little deformed, I use a hand reamer like this one first.

 

[TiSurvival]

will the cone shaped grinding stone take care of the outer lip deformities of the tubing though?

The tubing mushrooms a bit sometimes and even though I sand it the metal seems to stay there. Id like to have a clean outer edge

 

[TekSec]

Ah, I see what you're saying. No. The only thing that will solve that is filing the tubing flush with material by hand and then hand sanding it smooth. Your grinder must me pulling the material over and causing it to deform.

 

[TiSurvival]

thanks for the help TekSec. On some pieces it actually looks nice. ( I think) It looks like molten metal, but from now on I will try sanding it down as much as possible before gluing it in place. :thumbup: