Subject: Titanium Crowbar

From: Pat Kelley <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 04:22:02 -0500

I've seen Russian crowbars of solid titanium being sold by various
surplus outlets, and it has piqued my curiosity. Titanium
surely has its uses, by why would someone want to make something as
commonplace as a crowbar out of it? If they were looking for some
magnetic or chemical property, I'd think it would be easier and much
cheaper to use a stainless alloy. Does anyone know anything about
this?

-- 
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
               Pat Kelley ([email-masked])
    "I think, therefore you are. Don't make me regret it."
              http://www.flash.net/~manaret/
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From: Charles Lamont <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 22:23:54 +0100

Pat Kelley writes
>cheaper to use a stainless alloy. Does anyone know anything about
Weight?
-- 
Charles

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From: [email-masked] (Alan Shinn)
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 22:41:30 -0800

In article <[email-masked]>, Pat Kelley <[email-masked]> wrote:

> commonplace as a crowbar out of it?

 snip

I would guess that they are quite light, which is nice.I have an aluminum
(mostly) pipe wrench and though it sounds silly, I *really* like it cause
it is so light.

-- 
Al Shinn   (Tinker)
alshinn@ sirius.com

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From: [email-masked] (Kirk Hays)
Date: 17 Sep 1996 23:25:24 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
Roger Mitchell <[email-masked]> wrote:
|Three qualities of titanium that may make it desirable to make a crowbar from
|would be it's light weight, strength and the ability to use it in explosive
|environments where a spark caused by striking a steel one could cause a
|disaster.

Where do we find these amazing surplus titanium crowbars?

Kirk Hays
[I don't speak for Sequent.]

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From: [email-masked] (Roger Mitchell)
Date: 17 Sep 1996 14:53:02 GMT

Three qualities of titanium that may make it desirable to make a crowbar from
would be it's light weight, strength and the ability to use it in explosive
environments where a spark caused by striking a steel one could cause a
disaster.
				Roger Mitchell

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From: [email-masked] (James Wilkins)
Date: 17 Sep 1996 22:49:23 GMT

> cheaper to use a stainless alloy. Does anyone know anything about

They have so much titanium that they make sub hulls out of it. Maybe the
advantage is in ease of handling, like aluminum pipe wrenches.

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From: [email-masked] (Felice Luftschein & Nicholas Carter)
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 04:02:20 GMT

If you've ever hiked three miles up a muddy hill, to dig for rocks,
with three crowbars of different lengths, you'd come to
appreciate titanium pretty quickly!

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From: [email-masked] (Bruce Rowen)
Date: 19 Sep 1996 16:41:30 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, Pat Kelley <[email-masked]> writes:
>Kirk Hays wrote:

>
>   I've already had several Email requests for this. Call "The
>Edge Company" at 800-732-9976, and ask for a catalog. The 
>catalog's pretty interesting itself, though with a lot of 
>odd junk in it. I've seen them a couple of other places, 
>but I've discarded the catalogs. Also, I have no idea how 
>"amazing" the crowbar is; for all I know, it's a factory 
>reject. One thing that an earlier poster said makes sense; 
>I seem to dimly remember, now, that Russia is a major source of 
>titanium, so perhaps it's not as exotic as it seems to me.

If I remember my HS chemistry correctly, Titanium is the 4th
most common element behind oxygen, carbon, and silicon.
A real nightmare to process though!

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bruce Rowen 				National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Scientific Programmer				Array Operations Center
[email-masked]			  P.O. Box O  Socorro, NM   87801
(505)835-7329					     (505)835-7000
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From: [email-masked] (Vince Catalfo)
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 96 11:46:14 -0400

>cheaper to use a stainless alloy. Does anyone know anything about

Titanium is a huge Russian industry. At their level Ti is worth only 
$2-3.00 per lb. This is cheaper than stainless steel. Also Ti is 
extremely, stiff, its also very light, stonger than steel, and easy to 
machine. All this makes it right for the application. Also these are 
probably military suplus parts......

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From: [email-masked] (Randy Gordon-Gilmore)
Date: 20 Sep 1996 05:25:53 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, 
[email-masked] said...

>I've seen spec for titanium, 1/5 the weight of steel (aluminum is 1/3)

Actually, titanium is about 2/3 the density of steel.  Still gives impressive 
strength-to-weight ratios, though, for the heat-treatable grades.

Randy
--
[email-masked] ,----.___________  _______________  __________________
Randy Gordon-Gilmore  // =   =  === ==  || ==    == == = || == == ==  =  == =|
Benicia, CA, USA     /-O==O------------o==o-------------o==o------------o==o-'
                                  -=CB&Q 9900 "Pioneer Zephyr"=-

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From: Don Stauffer <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 20 Sep 1996 08:22:53 -0500

I used to work for a guy who had worked for a titanium metal supply company before.  He said indeed there 
is much titanium in the world (as well as other supposedly rare materials).  But the economics of 
processing it is interesting.  A given source and process is only economical or uneconomical compared to 
other sources and processes.  If you have a mine that costs a bit more to extract metal from than the next 
guy, your source is uneconomical!  

So yes, there is much titanium in the world. But as long as you can buy it from other people who can sell 
it for low prices, these newer sources will not be processed.
-- 
Don Stauffer in Minneapolis

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From: Steve Herrick <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 23:33:23 -0700

I've seen spec for titanium, 1/5 the weight of steel (aluminum is 1/3)
and tensile strength for some alloy/heat treat combos in the 240,000 range
(this is higher than some stainless steels)

Sure I'd like a crowbar or any other tool made out of Titanium.....

Hrolthgar -   [email-masked]
           Steve Herrick

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From: [email-masked] (Robert Nichols)
Date: Sat, 21 Sep 1996 21:30:16 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
Vince Catalfo <[email-masked]> wrote:
:
:Titanium is a huge Russian industry. At their level Ti is worth
:only $2-3.00 per lb. This is cheaper than stainless steel. Also
:Ti is extremely, stiff, its also very light, stonger than steel,
:and easy to machine.
     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

This is the first time I've seen that quality ascribed to titanium.
Where do you find this "free machining" titanium, and how can I be sure
some joker hasn't substituted the kind that "wears out a half dozen or
so carbide end mills per 14" turbine blade," to paraphrase a description
that appeared earlier in this newsgroup?

-- 
Bob Nichols         [email-masked]
Finger [email-masked] for PGP public key.
PGP public key 1024/9A9C7955
Key fingerprint = 2F E5 82 F8 5D 06 A2 59  20 65 44 68 87 EC A7 D7

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From: [email-masked] (Mark Fraser)
Date: 20 Sep 1996 15:33:47 GMT

Anyone who has used a crowbar to make holes in the ground for posts 
that will be pounded down with a big ----ing hammer so that one can
hang barbed wire to keep cows under some geographic constraints, 
will know that lifting the crowbar out of the ground to make another
jab is the most tiring part of the whole job.  I WANT one, just in 
case I ever, ever have to do that again....

Roger Mitchell ([email-masked]) wrote:
: Three qualities of titanium that may make it desirable to make a crowbar from
: would be it's light weight, strength and the ability to use it in explosive
: environments where a spark caused by striking a steel one could cause a
: disaster.
: 				Roger Mitchell

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From: Pat Kelley <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 03:14:21 -0500

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From: [email-masked] (PARSEK)
Date: 20 Sep 1996 22:39:48 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
Vince Catalfo <[email-masked]> wrote:

>machine.

Don't forget great corrosion resistance.

>All this makes it right for the application.

'Gold plated' design was never a hallmark of Soviet engineering.  Lurk a
bit at sci.military.moderated.  For instance, each shiny new T-72 comes
with a lead mallet to 'persuade' the transmission to shift. 

Ti ingot was a fairly important export in an economy perpetually strapped
for foreign exchange.  Giving some snarling Tartar seargent a Ti
crowbar to make his life more fulfilling is more than a little strange.

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From: [email-masked] (David W. Taylor)
Date: 26 Sep 1996 19:56:19 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,

>advantage is in ease of handling, like aluminum pipe wrenches.

Wouldn't you WANT to use a titanium crowbar if you were moving 
large ti pieces ??? Possible problems if some kind of welding 
were needed come to mind,,,,interesting toy though...

--

David Taylor  [email-masked]  Ph(503) 613-8132 Portland OR.
My opinions are mine ,, and nobody elses.

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From: [email-masked] (Peter Drumm)
Date: 27 Sep 1996 10:47:38 GMT

In message <[email-masked]> -
[email-masked] (David W. Taylor)26 Sep 1996 19:56:19 GMT
writes:
:->
:->In article <[email-masked]>,
:->James Wilkins <[email-masked]> wrote:
:->>In article <[email-masked]>, Pat Kelley <[email-masked]> wrote:
:-> 
:->>> I've seen Russian crowbars of solid titanium being sold by various
:->>> surplus outlets, and it has piqued my curiosity. Titanium
:->>> surely has its uses, by why would someone want to make something as
:->>> commonplace as a crowbar out of it? If they were looking for some
:->>> magnetic or chemical property, I'd think it would be easier and much
:->>> cheaper to use a stainless alloy. Does anyone know anything about
:->>> this?
:-> 
:->>They have so much titanium that they make sub hulls out of it. Maybe the
:->>advantage is in ease of handling, like aluminum pipe wrenches.
:->
:->Wouldn't you WANT to use a titanium crowbar if you were moving 
:->large ti pieces ??? Possible problems if some kind of welding 
:->were needed come to mind,,,,interesting toy though...

Maybe they're just surplus from Chernobyl? :)

[email-masked]
Wausau, WI. 44d 58m 00s N x 89d 36m 45s W
All opinions are my own, even if they are wrong!

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From: [email-masked] (George Carlson)
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 12:13:49 GMT

>:->>> surplus outlets, and it has piqued my curiosity. 

Titanium tools do not cause sparks, and can be used in hazardous
workplaces.

George Carlson   KC5RCC
Geotek Design Services
[email-masked]