Titanium Knife
Ti6Al4V blade. End of issue. Ask any Navy SEAL…or commercial diver.
Wrong steel
Benchmade offers many of their knives in more than one type of steel. For salt water use, you need to order the “H2O” model of a given knife or rescue hook, as the X-15 steel is highly rust resistant. The standard stuff won’t hold up against salt water.
You can mount it on a lash tab…
…which is what I assume you’re doing with your current knife. That’s what I do (it’s attached with zip ties), though some people prefer to mount it to a shoulder strap. It depends on the layout of your PFD and your personal preferences.
It’s just as fast and easy to deploy as a sheath knife; you just grab it and yank it from the sheath.
IMO, a folding knife in a PFD pocket is nearly useless as a rescue tool. It takes way too much time and fumbling about to deploy it and depending on the nature of the situation, that could be critical. As with my radio, I want my cutting device mounted where I can easily and rapidly access it with one hand, either hand.
Yeh, i know that now…$ spent and
i am a little pissed that my paddle shop carries this style …i called them 1st and told them it rusted and questioning why they would sell this type of knife for people sea kayaking etc…a kid @ the shop told me about Tuf-Cloth but the owner knew nothing about it. Hmmm? Not happy with them and now am making the best of what i purchased.
I guess I don’t stand corrected >.>
“Titanium alloys do have a higher strength-to-weight ratio than virtually all other metals. While you would have to have thicker cross-section titanium knife to have the same strength as a steel knife, that titanium knife would still be considerably lighter than the thinner steel knife.”
At least you understand this point. But you’re missing part of the equation. All knives (apart from trainers), necessarily come to as thin (fine) an edge as possible. You can make a spine as thick as you like, but as I said, ultimately it’s not going to make a difference, as I said, when used for a knife. That’s not the weak link.
“If edge were the most important quality for a dive or paddling knife to have, we’d all use carbon steel knives, because they have far better edgeability than stainless. Corrosion-resistance is more critical than edge-retention, and stainless, while better than carbon, is still vastly inferior to titanium.”
I guess we’re just going to have to disagree here. Edge retention is absolutely important to me.
“Before I got a titanium dive knife, I would spray my ss Tusa (not a low-quality knife)”
I’m a diver too, with certs from nitrox to advanced wreck diver (TDI all the way). Tusa is crap. And trust me, you don’t go to a dive company for a good dive knife.
“If you want to stick with stainless and do the extra work to maintain a piece of equipment that doesn’t get used very much, I have no problem with that, but there is no need to disparage those who have come to appreciate the benefits of titanium.”
My dive knife isn’t stainless. It’s a hard chromed O1 tool steel knife by Kevin “Mad Dog” McClung. I have no problems with it.
I will reassert: The benefits are corrosion resistance and non-conductivity. First benefits the masses, second benefits people with very sensitive jobs.
Commercial divers?
Ti? I have met more than a few commercial divers, and without a doubt they are using steel like a Green River.
SEALs? Not so much. You’ll find more SEALs walking around with a Glock knife than any other single brand. Marketing folks care more about which knives the SEALs are carrying than the SEALs themselves.
Cutting through thick aramid rope is a big task for any knife, Ti just isn’t up to it.
Navy SEALS
I know use Ti on the job as it is not magnetic and is inert in salt water. Agree it doesn’t hold an edge as well, but it serves well enough to cut anything a kayaker needs! Commericial divers I know also like it for the reasons above but agree it needs regular edge work.
About coke . . .
Beckt, are we sure it won’t dissolve the entire blade as well? 
Remember when people used to dissolve chicken bones in Coke?
Cheers,
G
wow…good to know, i learn so much
from P.netters!
Let me get this straight -
– Last Updated: Aug-16-10 3:59 PM EST –
You have a knife made of O1 and you're claiming that edge-retention is "absolutely important" to you? Pfft. If you really want a steel that has edge retention, why don't you have a blade made out of A2? Sure, it's tougher to sharpen, but it keeps its edge a lot longer and is a little more corrosion resistant than O1. So why don't you have an A2 blade? Maybe because you're making some tradeoffs?
How many knives have you had break? I personally have never had a titanium knife break, I haven't talked to anyone who has had a titanium knife break, but I have broken the tips off steel knives or chipped the edge a handful of times in all the years I have used knives. I'm not saying this means titanium is better, just that knife breakage isn't very common, but when it does happen, it can happen to any knife material.
"I'm a diver too, with certs from nitrox to advanced wreck diver (TDI all the way)."
Wow, I'm so impressed. I only have my NAUI through Rescue, and I also have EANx, as well as S&R, Navigation, and Deep. We could flex certs and log books at each other some more, but I don't know what that has to do with knife material.
Tusa isn't crap, many of their models get top marks with Rodale's Scuba Diving's Scubalab and other gear raters. You're either trying to be a gear snob or hoping to score points with people who aren't familiar with dive equipment.
That Tusa wasn't my first dive knife, by the way. that would have been the surplus Navy Mark III. I suppose now you'll say the knife used by Navy Seals is crap. That knife did have two issues which were apropos to this discussion. The first, it was heavy as anything. I might as well have been diving with an acme brick attached to me. Another plus for titanium.
The second, it was AUS-8, with a black epoxy finish for corrosion resistance. Problem was, that finish got worn off in places where the knife contacted the sheath, as well as along the edge. That's a problem I have with relying on surface-coatings to keep knives from rusting - those coatings can wear off - they WILL wear off, HAVE to wear off along the edge, where you sharpen them. That leaves the edge vulnerable to rust and corrosion. Use of a knife edge isn't the only thing that is going to dull the edge - rust along the edge dulls it, too. It's often going to be the first place on the knife to get corrosion, even corrosion you can't see, but which dulls the edge, because of the edge getting worked so much. If you have ever seen a Scanning Electron Micrograph of a properly sharpened knife edge, you know that there are all sorts of tiny ridges and grooves that increase the surface area and make all sorts of nooks and crannies for oxidation to occur. So while your chromed finish keeps the very rustable O1 looking pretty, it isn't doing anything to protect the functional part of your knife - the edge.
So again, for knives for diving and for saltwater paddling, it's going to come down to corrosion-resistance. In this environment, even edge is about corrosion resistance.
Obviously
You’ve never used a differentially heat treated O1 knife before. I have some A2 (and others) knives by custom makers, the O1 from Mad Dog wins.
You’re out of your depth here. Sorry if that sounds patronizing. But I have spent way too much time talking knives with people to even be motivated to “debate” steel vs. Ti, it’s that ridiculous.
And, Tusa is crap. They make a decent entry level mask, that’s it. It’s in dive stores everywhere because it’s higher margin massed produced Japanese gear made in pretty colours.
That’s okay
I’m feeling a little relieved that I am “out of [my] depth,” in your estimation. I think I should need to start worrying about myself if I found I was taking myself as seriously as you take yourself. Knives are just tools, as are you.
Thanks for keeping it classy down there
in Texas. They need people like you calling others ‘tools’ to keep their image bright. Good work patriot!
It would take a LOT of Coke…
…as you would have to keep renewing it, but given enough time (months or years) you could probably dissolve an entire knife if you really wanted to.
FWIW, I often use a citric acid solution for removing rust from old tools (planes, chisels, etc.) I’m restoring. It does a great job of removing rust without damaging the underlying metal. An hour or two of soaking is usually enough to clean tools down to bare metal. Citric acid powder is available at brewing and wine making suppliers.
That was lame.
I’m embarrassed FOR you.
Brian, that’s a good tip – citric acid
Vinegar - Practice
Two points here, one a reply and the other an ahah.
My Gerber River Shorty was showing moderate rust and I looked to the Internet for answers. I found a recommendation to use vinegar for rust removal. Wrapped the blade in a vinegar-soaked rag and left it in a baggy overnight. Most of the rust wiped off easily the next day. The remaining rust came off with vigorous scrubbing.
An ahah that hit me while I was doig this is that one side of this knife is blunt. I need to practice taking out this knife while under water and make a cut. Otherwise it isn’t going to be much good when I really need it
I’ve tried other methods…
…such as electrolysis, but I found that to be too complicated, messy and slow, plus you have the dual dangers of using electricity around water and you’re creating hydrogen gas in the process.
With citric acid, you simply mix the powder with water, stir it for a minute and drop the parts in. The solution is pretty benign and you can even drink it, before using it to clean tools of course (it tastes like Sweet Tarts). For parts that are heavily rusted, I’ll brush or scrape off any loose rust before soaking them. An occasional brushing while soaking will remove loosened material and allow the solution to get deep into the surface and remove all traces of rust. Once they’re rust-free, I rinse them under COLD* water then immediately hit them with WD-40 or a similar product to protect the clean and highly-reactive surface.
BTW, with any rust removal method, you should remove grease and oil before beginning the rust removal process.
- If you use hot water, the metal will begin to rust again immediately (especially with cast iron) and you’ll actually see the surface turn yellow. It wipes off when you oil or wax it, but it’s a bit disconcerting to see the immediate change.
remove grease and oil with?
Soap and water? Or a wipe with a cloth?
Just asking in case this is something tricky and not obvious.
g