Big fat titanium tanto

[Mecha]

Described as a "sumo tanto" by the sword mounter who made the tsuka and saya, this is one of the very first welded-edge multi-alloy forged titanium blade billets I made, so it was a bit of a test piece. The body of the sword is 6al4vELI body implant alloy, welded to a BT23 Russian armor alloy, with 15-3-3-3 aerospace alloy filler. It's hard to see the layers, but the HAZ is visible and didn't seem to go way with grinding. The closest analogy to a Japanese sword lamination is wariha tetsu, basically a bit edge.

It's a tall, flat hira zukuri grind, just over 20" to the habaki, and around 1.5" wide. All accents are polished buffalo horn, other than the copper.

Thanks for looking.

 

[The Zieg]

Described as a "sumo tanto" by the sword mounter who made the tsuka and saya, this is one of the very first welded-edge multi-alloy forged titanium blade billets I made, so it was a bit of a test piece. The body of the sword is 6al4vELI body implant alloy, welded to a BT23 Russian armor alloy, with 15-3-3-3 aerospace alloy filler. It's hard to see the layers, but the HAZ is visible and didn't seem to go way with grinding. The closest analogy to a Japanese sword lamination is wariha tetsu, basically a bit edge.

It's a tall, flat hira zukuri grind, just over 20" to the habaki, and around 1.5" wide. All accents are polished buffalo horn, other than the copper.

Thanks for looking.

This is jaw-dropping!

 

[Insipid Moniker]

Goddamn gorgeous.

 

[gotgoat]

uh Wow!

 

[toker]

That's gorgeous!

Dumb question, but I thought that titanium didn't make a good steel for blades?

 

[xxwarderxx]

That's gorgeous!

Dumb question, but I thought that titanium didn't make a good steel for blades?

I would direct you to watch Knife or Death S2E12 “Seax and Violence”, where you can see Mecha himself demolish the ‘knife’ obstacle course with one of his titanium blades. Seriously impressive stuff.

 

[betzner]

Hmm, THAT is absolutely gorgeous all over............................!!

 

[Mecha]

Thanks much everyone. I did my best with this one, but eventually these things get to a point where they're as done as they'll ever be, and continuing to mess with them ceases to improve anything. Each one is it's own animal. This one is razor sharp and with the high flat grind will cut targets easily.

That's gorgeous!

Dumb question, but I thought that titanium didn't make a good steel for blades?

Steel is an alloy with the base metal being iron. Just so, brass and bronze are alloys with a base metal of copper, while titanium alloys have a base metal of titanium. So titanium isn't steel.

You're correct, most titanium alloys, especially the common ones, don't make a very good blade, especially with the typical heat treatments applied to use them as structural parts or for chemical use, etc. By using certain ti alloys and applying a different sort of heat treatment than the industry standard, I can make them into blades that work really quite well!

 

[JParanee]

AWESOME WORK

 

[Richard338]

Great job overall. Given my own struggles I appreciate the high gloss finish achieved on the lacquer.

 

[Mecha]

Great job overall. Given my own struggles I appreciate the high gloss finish achieved on the lacquer.

That's why I paid a professional katana mounter to do that part. I don't do woodwork, HAHA!

 

[Mecha]

AWESOME WORK

Thanks JParanee, oh how I WISH I could send this one to you to cut up some mats.

 

[Esee4me]

Out of curiosity, what's the weight and balance like?

 

[hank_rearden]

Looks like what an oriental villain would use against James Bond.

 

[Mecha]

Out of curiosity, what's the weight and balance like?

I didn't get a chance to weigh it, but the bare blade was around 1 lb, likely slightly less. The mount was light weight too. Balance point was 2 inches in front of the habaki, and it did not have an extreme distal thickness taper, just a very mild one. The flat bevel angle was about 10 degrees included, or 5 degrees per side.

 

[john april]

looks excellent !

 

[Kailash Blades]

Very, very VERY cool

 

[Mecha]

Thanks!

 

[David Mary]

I would direct you to watch Knife or Death S2E12 “Seax and Violence”, where you can see Mecha himself demolish the ‘knife’ obstacle course with one of his titanium blades. Seriously impressive stuff.

Normally I don't watch forged in fire, but after a recommendation like this, I did decide to check out that episode, and of course fast forwarded to Mecha. What a performance!!!

 

[Mecha]

Normally I don't watch forged in fire, but after a recommendation like this, I did decide to check out that episode, and of course fast forwarded to Mecha. What a performance!!!

View attachment 1636895
View attachment 1636915
View attachment 1636897
View attachment 1636905
View attachment 1636906
View attachment 1636916
View attachment 1636908
View attachment 1636909
View attachment 1636911
View attachment 1636910

Haha! Yep that was a tough course. Notice the sand and pea rocks in that PVC tube! At least I got to show that the things work well and can compete alongside steel blades. The blade's light weight was an advantage for most targets, but there were a few where it was a detriment.