What the... titanium millie

hank_rearden

hank_rearden

Joined
Jun 7, 2002
Messages
3,411
my old-new ti millie locks up nicely at around 50%. the rather deep lock might be partly due to the way i grip the knife. anyway, i examined the bearing part of the tang and i can see a slight depression at the surface that meets the lock bar. my millie is the one that comes with a stainless insert on the lock bar. well, from the looks of it, it's the s30v steel that's looking to wear down. did they put a zdp 189 insert on the lock bar by mistake?
 
I'm not entirely certain which part you are referring to. Are you talking about the lock contact area of the blade? The wear you are seeing might be normal depending on the age of the knife and the average force with which it has been opened (i.e. flicking it open hard will cause greater wear and deformation). I'm sure if you disassembled it and removed the stainless steel insert, you'd see a matching "depression" on it. If the lockup is sound (no wobble, movement, etc) and your knife is fairly used, then I don't see any issues....

Good macro pictures would help greatly...
 
the trouble is i have trouble looking at it, more so taking a photo. i was using a magnifying lens. now that i tried swabbing it, it doesn't really look depressed or worn (meaning the tang.) there's just gunk and maybe fine metal shavings around the lock contact area. but yeah, lock-up is solid with no play. thanks for the advice.

re: flicking. i try fast and slow flicks and from the look and feel of it, it's not that hard on the contacts. the tang is nicely concaved. it's when i close it wherein i feel harsh grating. that's why i close the millie slowly using two hands.
 
Granted, I haven't had mine but for a couple of months, 40% lock-up, and I'm only seeing an ever so slight shine on the tang end where it makes contact with the lock bar. It would be interesting to know what type of steel they use for the lock-bar insert.

On a different tangent...my millie's tang has a similar radius, but not to such an extreme drop off, to the old school striders that I've seen- should there be concern in the future of blade-play?
 
I feel the grating when closing too. Mine doesn't have the insert, and lock-up is around 60%. There is no bladeplay though.

I guess if there is a serious issue I'll send it to Golden!
 
i'll just take this opp to say what i like so much about the ti millie: the smooth scales. frn or g-10 in clipped pocket carry simply don't work for me. the knife has to share pocket space with a couple things that need to come out often. the frn scrapes my finger tips and knuckles. so does the g-10 and (i imagine) CF. not so the ti's handles. the difference is so great i feel i need to buy a couple more millies in titanium. when clipped to the waistband, the titanium isn't any bulkier and it slides smoothly. only bad thing about it is the cold feel. titanium also resists bending more than g-10 when i cramp myself down.
 
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