Titanium vs carbon fiber handles

J

Juanelfort

Joined
May 24, 2016
Messages
52
Hi,

I just would like to know if anyone here has knowledge about the durability of carbon fiber handles vs titanium handles.
As I know from bike sports they say a carbon frame will age. Daylight and humidity will cause little cracks in the material.
The reason I ask is, that I am not sure about a sebenza knife. The normal one has both handles made of titanium the other one has one each.
As I want to own my knifes as long as possible, I don't want to run into problems with the carbon handle in 5-10 years.....

Thanks in advance
 
Well the bike frames made of carbon fiber have a rider weighing various amounts. It also spends much more time in the sunlight. A knife sits in the pocket a lot and does not have as much energy placed on it (if you don't crazy hard use it). The carbon fiber is mostly for looks. The titanium side is for strength. I have seen carbon fiber knives from 10 years or so that look new. It is also sealed and very heavy duty. But YMMV and I am no carbon fiber expert.
 
CF is a great knife scale IMO, if it is well textured/scalloped. Smooth CF is like smooth Ti--There will be grip issues for some.
 
Every reputable company uses materials that will easily last 10 years. My relative used a plastic handled $20 SAK for 25 years and it still looked fine. Titanium and carbon fiber will both outlast you. Just don't drop carbon fiber on anything hard because it can chip. G10 will chip too.
 
I have both the regular titanium Sebenza and the carbon fiber version. The CF is my go to because of the amazingly light weight!
I have used the cf sebenza regularly for 3 years now and it looks almost new. Like mentioned above, be careful about dropping it and you will be good to go:thumbup:
 
Carbon fiber is excellent but the resin can deteriorate from UV light or other things .Titanium should last a lifetime !Besides you can easily engrave Ti as I've done on my Sebenzas.
 
In the case of the Sebenza, which has either a full CF scale or full ti, I'd opt for the full ti version (maybe consider inlays). I've had CF chip on me from 3' falls, but my micarta 21 has suffered 20'-30' drops and has only showed small scratches/dents; nothing that affected functionality.
 
Both have tradeoffs and it depends on how you plan to use it / what you need. The titanium will likely be more durable and outlast the CF when it comes to extensive / repeated hard use but it's also heavier and potentially not as comfortable to carry.

If you're looking for a knife to carry often for moderate use, I would go with CF.

If you need it to stand up to regular hard use and don't care about the weight, then go with titanium.
 
For those worried about UV deteriorating the CF, i wonder if you could use something like a 303 UV protectant spray on it? I know boating and automotive enthusiasts use that stuff extensively to protect plastics from UV. It's like sunblock for plastic!
I spray down my Royalex canoe and my car dashboards with it once to twice a year.
 
Juanelfort said:
Hi,

I just would like to know if anyone here has knowledge about the durability of carbon fiber handles vs titanium handles.
As I know from bike sports they say a carbon frame will age. Daylight and humidity will cause little cracks in the material.
The reason I ask is, that I am not sure about a sebenza knife. The normal one has both handles made of titanium the other one has one each.
As I want to own my knifes as long as possible, I don't want to run into problems with the carbon handle in 5-10 years.....

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

I would not worry so much about that how long will last carbon handle on knive . I have carbon fishing rod older then 30 years.....and they a still in prefect condition .And carbon is much more resistant to scratch then titanium , so will much longer have a nice look
 
Last edited:
K.O.D. said:
CF is a great knife scale IMO, if it is well textured/scalloped. Smooth CF is like smooth Ti--There will be grip issues for some.
Click to expand...

Well , that s way I hand wrapped carbon handle on this knive , grip is fantastic this way :thumbup:

2rd9ph1.jpg
 
I just ordered my first two total carbon fiber presentation side handle framelock knives. Only all CF on the presentation side of the handle, the look is nice, but mostly bought them for the weight reduction, because they are my first folders over 3.5 inch blade, which is very big compared to my others. Hope they hold up well. I have had CF inlays, but never full CF handle. We will see...
 
I am around a lot of carbon fiber bicycles (frames, rims, crank arms etc.,) I have never seen any problem from ultraviolet (cracking, delimitation, separation, blistering) the failures I DO see are two :

1. collision with automobiles . . . carbon fiber frames HATE that (and the riders frown on it as well).

2. separation at a metal to carbon component interface. Usually a threaded aluminum connecting point comes un bonded from the carbon / epoxy matrix.

I have some carbon handled knives but I would only have it for the looks. If I want a bomb proof knife I would still opt for Ti and really the scratched up Ti can be refinished if you want it restore the knife. Remove the scales and get them re bead blasted. I loves me some Ti handled knives. I can't wait to buy or make more.
 
Carbon fiber is cool looking for sure, and is light and robust.
But it's brittle, and you can get a nasty ding if your knife fall on something hard. Ti will just have a mark that gives personality, without any material removal.
I always goes for Ti, but I'm a boring person :)
 
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