What are the Pros and Cons of Titanium as a Knife Blade?

Mecha said:
All that said above, the pros and cons when used as a knife:

Pros:
-no rust
-tough and resilient
-can be very thin
-easy to maintain, very low maintenance
-lightweight
-resistant to crack propagation
-will not break while batoning or subjected to shock stress


Cons:
-unlikely to compare to the high blade performance of advanced wear-resistant hard steels
-lower hardness and density means can't chop a cinderblock without damage to the thinnest part of the edge
-low density/weight means heavy chopping/cutting requires speed (can be dangerous)
-more likely(?) to get dull when cutting highly abrasive materials like sandbags


Simply put, titanium, in the right alloy and with the right heat treatment, does function well as a knife and is totally worthwhile to use, and can even become the favorite knife of many users. It's extraordinary as a long blade for several reasons.

Just like amongst the various steels, which are all different, titanium alloy is yet another way to get the job done, with its own quirks, nuances and feel. It by no means displaces steel, but I say it's well worthy of taking a seat with them at the round table of cutlery.
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Here is a question. In a bushcraft type situation, will the blade throw sparks? And if it won't
 
I doubt grinding Ti produces many nano paritcals. Even with welding P100 filters are fine. Welding smoke is still mostly particulate and not fume and not anywhere near nano scale.
 
Storm W said:
Here is a question. In a bushcraft type situation, will the blade throw sparks? And if it won't
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If you have a sharp corner and you're using a Ferro rod it will... If you're talking flint and steel type sparks, I don't know.
 
Storm W said:
Here is a question. In a bushcraft type situation, will the blade throw sparks? And if it won't
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The titanium from the blade itself is probably not able to make a spark that can start a fire in a bushcraft type situation.
 
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Natlek said:
Some years ago I read some article about landing gear on airplanes . We know that weight in airplanes is very important so the lightest possible materials for making parts are required.............the story was about ball bearing made of titanium alloy in landing gear .I've tried several times over the years to find it again but without success .

The only thing I'm sure of today is that it was a titanium alloy of 60 HRC and that research article was from Krupp , I think .
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Some of my early research yielded a study conducted by the US Air Force in the early 1970s, testing titanium alloy ballistic plates hardened in to the mid 60s HRc. These hardened plates were bonded to tough, soft 6al4v backing plates.

The results were that the armor was stellar, but the cost to make and shape them was way too prohibitive and the testing ceased.
 
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What would one like this with a 3” blade run me?
899-B4-F7-F-FFD9-45-E7-AA50-02-E18880-BCB8.jpg
 
I've made quite a few titanium knives. They all worked well with carbidized edges.

Most went to people who wanted an ultra light defensive blade that was also rust proof.
 
I haven't seen anyone mention SM-100 which is about 60/40 nickel and Ti.
It's a very odd material to use in a folder, I have a Ferrum Forge Stinger in SM-100 that stays in a temp/humidity controlled room and some days it hangs up and is nowhere close to smooth.
It's not terribly difficult to sharpen, but certain types of stones load quickly so it's not a very intuitive process.
In a fixed blade it's interesting, as long as it's relatively thick behind the edge it can get stunningly sharp and stops well.
It's expensive, but if money is not an issue, sure, check it out. I like the unusual color of the material and it performs as well as any other high end blade material.
On the other hand, if you are on this forum you will probably feel the difference but I doubt 99% of non-knife enthusiasts would notice.
 
ElementalBreakdown said:
I haven't seen anyone mention SM-100 which is about 60/40 nickel and Ti.
It's a very odd material to use in a folder, I have a Ferrum Forge Stinger in SM-100 that stays in a temp/humidity controlled room and some days it hangs up and is nowhere close to smooth.
It's not terribly difficult to sharpen, but certain types of stones load quickly so it's not a very intuitive process.
In a fixed blade it's interesting, as long as it's relatively thick behind the edge it can get stunningly sharp and stops well.
It's expensive, but if money is not an issue, sure, check it out. I like the unusual color of the material and it performs as well as any other high end blade material.
On the other hand, if you are on this forum you will probably feel the difference but I doubt 99% of non-knife enthusiasts would notice.
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Thanks! Money is pretty much always an issue for me.
 
ElementalBreakdown said:
I haven't seen anyone mention SM-100 which is about 60/40 nickel and Ti.
It's a very odd material to use in a folder, I have a Ferrum Forge Stinger in SM-100 that stays in a temp/humidity controlled room and some days it hangs up and is nowhere close to smooth.
It's not terribly difficult to sharpen, but certain types of stones load quickly so it's not a very intuitive process.
In a fixed blade it's interesting, as long as it's relatively thick behind the edge it can get stunningly sharp and stops well.
It's expensive, but if money is not an issue, sure, check it out. I like the unusual color of the material and it performs as well as any other high end blade material.
On the other hand, if you are on this forum you will probably feel the difference but I doubt 99% of non-knife enthusiasts would notice.
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That's because SM-100 (NiTiNol) isn't a titanium alloy, per se. It's mainly nickel, but uses a lot of titanium as an alloying element, to form an intermetallic compound/alloy. It's not like a titanium alloy in crystalline structure or behavior - it's a very different and unique thing.

I've heard a lot of good reports about it as a blade, that's for sure. Apparently whoever heat treats it for blade use really needs to know what they're doing. It would be interesting to see a harsh blade test done with it.

Quite a few people have asked me about it, and the best answer I can give is that it's not a "titanium alloy" in the normal sense, and behaves way differently than a structural ti alloy like I use.

Fun fact about nitinol: many eyeglass frames claim to be made of "titanium" for marketing purposes, but are actually made of nitinol. Titanium and its alloys are super hypoallergenic, but people with nickel allergies quickly find out that their frames are not actually titanium when they get a rash on their face. 🤣
 
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I got a stupid question.. I bough titanium knife as my emergency dive knife (sea water). I noticed it's not very sharp, altought it cuts ropes mediocre (not sharpened yet).

My stupid question is: if i sharpen it, does it lose it's sharp edge more easily? Not tend to use it any other time, but only if got stuck in some line.
 
Blaqua said:
I got a stupid question.. I bough titanium knife as my emergency dive knife (sea water). I noticed it's not very sharp, altought it cuts ropes mediocre (not sharpened yet).

My stupid question is: if i sharpen it, does it lose it's sharp edge more easily? Not tend to use it any other time, but only if got stuck in some line.
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You’ll just have to sharpen it and test it for yourself.

As mentioned earlier in this thread, those ti “diving knives” seem to have really bad heat treatment and in my opinion are pretty crappy. Yet there are some folks who like them and say they work fine. I suspect there is poor quality control and some are better than others.
 
Terrible idea. SM-100 is titanium/nickel and probably the best it gets, and is VERY hard to sharpen. There are SO MANY kinds of steel that would be fine with a dunk in the ocean as long as you wash them and oil them afterwards. Nitro V is fine and not even that expensive.
I could not imagine being tangled up in rope underwater without a knife that would cut through at least 3 times the worst case scenario in under a minute.
 
ElementalBreakdown said:
Terrible idea. SM-100 is titanium/nickel and probably the best it gets, and is VERY hard to sharpen. There are SO MANY kinds of steel that would be fine with a dunk in the ocean as long as you wash them and oil them afterwards. Nitro V is fine and not even that expensive.
I could not imagine being tangled up in rope underwater without a knife that would cut through at least 3 times the worst case scenario
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Again, SM-100 (NiTiNol) is a unique thing, it's not a titanium-based alloy, and doesn't act like a titanium alloy. A NiTiNol blade is not a titanium blade, per se, isn't in the same category, and isn't directly comparable. The only reason the material is called "titanium" is for marketing purposes, because it has a lot of titanium in it.

en.wikipedia.org

Nickel titanium - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

 
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