Refined SR-71 titanium alloy knife

Mecha

Titanium Bladesmith
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Dec 27, 2013
Messages
9,882
Hello all,

A little while back I was lucky enough to get ahold of a few pieces of a cashed SR-71 Blackbird, some of which was turned into knife blades.

Here is another knife made from the aircraft's wreckage, in completed form, Mecha style.


Golden color is from the modified heat treatment, used for over-alloyed titanium. This knife is not very hard, sort of a space-age bronze knife. Incredibly heat-resistant material.

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Chisel grind, flat on one side and slightly diamond-section on the other.

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Spine has a diamond shape on the distal end, reminiscent of high-performance aircraft.

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Snug leather sheath to protect the blade.

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The bolt handle ornament is also from the SR-71 pieces. Each threaded fastener has a serial number, along with many other small pieces of the meticulously-made aircraft. The lanyard hole is a rivet hole.

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Below are a few photos of the piece being shaped into the knife billet before refinement.

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It's a real pleasure to make use of such an amazing piece of aerospace history, no pun intended.
 
How do you even go about procuring the material/wreckage? Craigslist? (joking, but kind of not joking...maybe it is that simple...)

I understand if you can't reveal this, but just curious.
 
How do you even go about procuring the material/wreckage? Craigslist? (joking, but kind of not joking...maybe it is that simple...)

I understand if you can't reveal this, but just curious.

Ha! Well it's kind of a long story with some sensitive info. There were multiple crashes in the US, some more catastrophic than others. There was a time in the past when crash hunters would try to get to these areas and find pieces, and some had success. Eventually it was made illegal to access these areas and collect scrap, but the stuff collected before then was grandfathered in and is ok to possess. So there is a little bit of it out there.
 
Ha! Well it's kind of a long story with some sensitive info. There were multiple crashes in the US, some more catastrophic than others. There was a time in the past when crash hunters would try to get to these areas and find pieces, and some had success. Eventually it was made illegal to access these areas and collect scrap, but the stuff collected before then was grandfathered in and is ok to possess. So there is a little bit of it out there.
It reminds of some fiction, where in a meteor crashes to earth, eventually is found and forged into an impossibly strong sword.
 
Wonderful !

A futuristic knife , ahead of its time ...made from an historic icon of past technology that was so advanced most people couldn't believe it , even after it was made public .

Most cool !

An aircraft so advanced, in many ways nothing's really quite caught up with it yet. :) Thanks!
 
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