Originally posted by missionknives
IMHO, Nitinol is the BEST blade material that I have ever come across. In fact, there probably won't be anything close for quite a while. It has been only recently (since the invention of heavy-duty CNC mills and special cutter technology, coatings, etc.) that machinists have been able to do anything with it. The sample billets we picked up were $500/pound and were made in 1979. A more realistic price now is in the high $900/pound range.
As with titanium, there are different grades of Nitinol. The grade I am referring to is definately not the one that you make eyeglass frames with. In fact, the stuff I am referring to has very little shape memory. We will be finishing up our 5 folder blades soon and will be testing this material. But, in discussions with the original US Navy Nitinol Program Manager, his words were...
1) "If I made a knifeblade out of my Nitinol, heat treated it to RC60 (note: it will go all the way to RC68!) and used a wire-edm machine to put a hacksaw pattern for the blade, I could saw through your heat treated ATS-34 blade and not damage or dull my Nitinol Blade."
2) "This stuff is Harder Than the Hubs-Of-Hell"
