Titanium

[Bill Harsey]

The price is going up.

Yesterday I placed an order for more of the 6AL4V Titanium (MILSPEC T9046) That I use around here for folding knife frames and springs.
It is already getting expensive at 40 dollars US per lb. and is supposed to go higher soon, word I got was 50 dollars per lb. by end of year or early next.

If your sitting on the fence about anything made from titanium you may want to get it sooner than later.

[Jack Moroney (RIP)]

Seems to me I recently read something about this problem which leads me to the thought that you can thank your congress critters for this. As I understand the situation this is the buy American crap at its finest. Mother Russia has the mother load of this stuff and is moving to consolidate its holdings; we can get it relatively cheaply outside the US but because it is an important part of the stuff that goes into our defense industry and aircraft in particular we have to "protect" our producers by putting a high tarrif rate on the imported stuff.

[TFM]

Originally Posted by Jack Moroney

Mother Russia has the mother load of this stuff and is moving to consolidate its holdings;

If I'm correct they horde the scandium too, which sparks my curiousity with a question for Mr. Harsey. Do you make any knives with scandium, or are there more cons than pros for using this material on a knife?

[Team Sergeant]

Originally Posted by TFM

If I'm correct they horde the scandium too,

No, you’re not correct. (If you’re going to post on this board don’t post hearsay, especially if you are not experienced in the field.)

The Russians “produced scandium”. Most scandium is presently being recovered from thortveitite or is extracted as a by-product from uranium mill tailings. I’m sure we (the United States) could have done the same.

The element was discovered by Nilson in 1878 in the minerals euxenite and gadolinite, which had not yet been found anywhere except in Scandinavia. (Hence the name.)

Team Sergeant