I was pleasantry surprised to discover that sheets of titanium are cheaper than sheets of steel. If ordered from Hong Kong, a titanium sheet 4mm thick, 4x10 inches, would only cost about 28 dollars Canadian, whereas the same thing from USA would cost almost two hundred dollars. The alloy Ti 6Al 4V seems to be the most popular and common, featuring high strength, lightness, and corrosion resistance.
It'd be cool to order one plate, cut it in half lengthwise, and then see if I can hammer-weld it into a longer bar. 4mm is thick enough for blades and more than enough for armour, and the lightness of titanium means it'd be extremely easy to slice things.
Downside is that titanium has a much higher melting point, by about a hundred degrees Celsius, so my forge might not be able to be hot enough to heat it up to working temperature. But hey, only one way to find out!
Titanium is lighter and stronger than steel. 4mm is enough to stop modern bullets even at point-blank range, so I was thinking of forging a cuirass from multiple sheets of titanium. But, if I can't hammer-weld them together, I can always cut them apart into scales and make titanium scale or lamellar armour. Titanium wire can also be used to make titanium chainmail, a curious thing to think about.
27-Jan-2017 03:52:21
