Where Not to Buy Titanium

farid.

Knife Maker
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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Dear members,
Since I started making folders I have only used TIMET titanium and I have been very happy with the materials which I have purchased. In the last few months I have been thinking to offer a basic folder for around $200, nothing fancy just a good high performance cutting tool with a tool steel blade something like D2 or D3 steel, so I started thinking about how to obtain the same 6AL-4V sheet material from another source other than TIMET so I could keep the cost of manufacture down and still be able to offer this folder at this price, I looked at some of the titanium rolling companies in the far east and it all looked very legit when you look at their web sites so I made an enquiry regarding 6/4 titanium sheets, this was the first time I thought about buying anything other than TIMET. I figured all the (torx , Allen key socket head, Phillips head or broad head etc) screws in most folders in the world are either made in China, Taiwan or some other place in the far east, at the end of the day 6AL-4V is what it is whether it is rolled in this country or that country, how wrong I was.

The company I approached was http://www.hymetals.com/index.asp They came across very professional at first and answered all my emails over months which went by. After we negotiated the price per sheet and came to the payment they would not accept any other method other than a bank transfer, no paypal, no credit card nothing other than a bank transfer. After the transfer they sent all the details of the shipping to me and also forwarded all the details to my shipping agent.

After shipping I waited to receive the titanium sheets which were 3 full size sheets of 1m x 2m which were cut on my request to 9 sheets of 666mm x 1m. After weeks of waiting the material was handled by my shipping agent and was delivered to me.

The wood crate which it came in was in perfect condition , when I opened it I noticed there is something wrong with the sheets, they were all warped and bent also not water jet cut like I requested but guillotined which furthermore corkscrews the material . I got in touch the very same day with the company and told them the problem and they first did not believe me so I had to take clear pictures of each sheet which was warped with a straight edge next to them and email them pictures, that was not good enough so they said ‘the crate was damaged in the shipping’ , I then emailed them three clear pictures of the crate in perfect condition and that also was not good enough, it sounded like they were in denial.
To cut a long story short I sent them emails demanding either my money back or for them to change this material, they were not interested to help me since they had my funds in their bank account. Many emails went and a very few replies came back and I guess I finally got the message after weeks of trying to sort this problem out I wasn’t able to get the company to change the material.
These people are nothing less than ‘Thieves’ and they still trade in China, the person I delt with calls themselves ‘Carol’ while I have found out the manager is called Eric. http://www.hymetals.com/index.asp


Weeks went by and I did not use this material, I finally called my good friend Brad on Skype at Peters Heat-treating, I talked to him about this material regarding all kinds of things and I finally cut off a few samples and shipped them to Brad. I told Brad I could not get a true reading on this material when I test it on my Wilson hardness tester, hardness all over the place. A few days later I got an email from Brad in regards to the titanium. The testing equipment which Brad uses is I believe a NITON X-ray gun which analyses any material and tells you what exactly is in that material. I was shocked to find out the titanium sheets were all pure titanium and not grade 5 6AL-4V.

Pure titanium can be found on folders which have titanium bolsters and I have also seen makers use it for the side plate which does not have the spring cut out, but that is beside the point, I had bought 6/4 titanium not pure titanium.
After I tried to reason with these Chinese people I got nowhere, They are Thieves and I called them thieves but I know that doesn’t remedy anything at this point, I have also told them I will expose them for lying to me and sending me material which was supposed to be flat which was Not, it was supposed to be grade 5 6AL-4V and it turned out to be ‘pure titanium’ , there has not been any more replies to all my emails for weeks from this company. Just pure Chinese Thieves what else can I say.

In my quest to offer the users an extremely reasonable folder in this price range I wanted to buy the same exact 6/4 material from a rolling mill other than TIMET I could pass on the savings in cost of the TIMET material to my customers and it has had detrimental outcome for me. I have paid this Chinese company a lot of money + all importation taxes custom cuties + all shipping agent handling charges and it all have cost me a huge amount of hard earned cash.

I will just stick to TIMET material from now and I plan to expose these Chinese people who work at HYmetals. The funny thing is they also have threatened to expose me for calling them Chinese Thieves. ‘You are’


I like to say to all people at http://www.hymetals.com/index.asp and the person who calls themselves ‘Carol or Eric’ you are ‘Chinese Thieves’ … and I will continue to expose you on the internet for the rest of my life so you will never rip anyone else again in this industry or any other industry. You are Thieves.



I like to thank all members for taking the time to read this very long message, although the pure titanium material can be used for overlays on top of 6/4 liners, bolsters and many other things or jewellery but that is not the point of this long message. I can only run my business with two things, Honesty and Integrity, these are the qualities which are embedded in me and my business and I won’t change that not for the rest of my natural life,

I just don’t know how others can !
 
Brutal story, and good to know! Hymetals turns up whenever I google search for different specific alloys. Will make sure I avoid them. Sorry about your luck.
 
That just stinks bad, Farid. :barf:

The quality and purity of 6al4v titanium stock can vary greatly, just like with steel. Only recently has "inexpensive" 6al4v titanium stock hit the markets, which is muddying the legendary reputation of titanium's strength. Almost all titanium ore comes from Russia, but alloys and stock are finished in many countries. (Almost all titanium alloy smelted is 6al4v)

The alloys made in the USA and the ELI version of 6al4v (grade 23) are much nicer than the cheap grade 5 bar stock I've experimented with. I used some Chinese bar stock and it was so impure that I swear the sparks were off-color when I cut it.

The best titanium alloys I have messed with by far are from the USA, no question.
 
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Farid...

As you know I am not a knife maker but I know HUNDREDS of knife makers and THOUSANDS of knife buyers. I HATE people that cheat other people...especially people I consider friends like you.

You can count on me passing this message around because I agree it is important to expose those that cheat my friends and folks in the knife community in general.

Gordy
 
I'm with Farid on this one, I have done enough business in China to know I have zero interest in dealing with any company from there again.

I have been trying to contact and perhaps drag HYMetals into doing the right thing for Farid. I think it's clear so far that they have the money and they sent something so they did their part and they are happy with that. We are following as many lines of attack here as possible but this is just typical of dealings in China. I could tell literally hundreds of stories about bad business in China ranging from a bit of lost money to totally ruined lives.
 
To get them really worked up - call them Chinese Gangsters.

I'm sure that was a lot of money.
 
A real sad case of 'no good deed goes unpunished'. You tried to save your customers some money and got burned in the process. Hopefully another alternative will present itself. Good to alert the community of this precautionary tale.

---
Ken
 
farid,

I am sorry to hear that you were taken by these scum, but therein lies a lesson for us all. If anyone wants to do a transaction with us using a non-contestable form of payment (bank transfer, PP gift, and such) we should think twice about doing business with them. Sometimes they are just trying to save a buck, but just as often they are trying to make sure that the buyer has no recourse if there is an issue. Best to walk away and do business with someone willing to take forms of payment that protect the buyer.

Best of luck in the future farid, and thanks for sharing this with us.
 
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