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- Dec 27, 2013
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Titanium alloy Ti 6Al 2Sn 2Zr 2Mo 2Cr is an interesting one. More commonly called Ti 6-22-22 or Ti 6-2-2-2-2, this alloy is used for extreme-duty aerospace purposes such as parts of the aft section of missiles and the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jet, as well as jet turbine engine parts.
Seeing that this alloy was likely to make a decent knife based on the composition, I was able to score a few small sheets at about 1/16" in thickness. The plan is to make a small batch of cai dao Chinese cleavers out of it. Before that happens, of course it needs to be tested.
Enter kiridashi test knives! In basic testing, this stuff did quite well. After cutting sections of fibrous rope, slicing up double-wall cardboard, and rudely whittling a large wooden dowel with a lot of lateral force, the tester was still able to shave arm hair, despite that I'm not very good at sharpening knives or shaving arm hair. It was sharpened with a 2000 grit belt on a grinder. The edge it produced was a micro-toothy type, which cut much better with a slicing motion than just pushing it through things. The edge took no noticeable wear or damage with basic testing.
Pretty exciting stuff, and I think the cai dao will be good kitchen knives. However, they can't be made until I set up a specialized heat treating apparatus to control warp during the quench.
Here are the initial testers, with another batch being made. Double convex bevel.
Seeing that this alloy was likely to make a decent knife based on the composition, I was able to score a few small sheets at about 1/16" in thickness. The plan is to make a small batch of cai dao Chinese cleavers out of it. Before that happens, of course it needs to be tested.
Enter kiridashi test knives! In basic testing, this stuff did quite well. After cutting sections of fibrous rope, slicing up double-wall cardboard, and rudely whittling a large wooden dowel with a lot of lateral force, the tester was still able to shave arm hair, despite that I'm not very good at sharpening knives or shaving arm hair. It was sharpened with a 2000 grit belt on a grinder. The edge it produced was a micro-toothy type, which cut much better with a slicing motion than just pushing it through things. The edge took no noticeable wear or damage with basic testing.
Pretty exciting stuff, and I think the cai dao will be good kitchen knives. However, they can't be made until I set up a specialized heat treating apparatus to control warp during the quench.
Here are the initial testers, with another batch being made. Double convex bevel.
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