Making A Nitinol Knife. Part 2: Finishing The Knives!

Olightworld Affiliate Link: olight.idevaffiliate.com/idev... Use coupon code "GreenB" for 10% if you miss the sale. Finally! After a lot of emails, postage, grit, time, research and persistence we've made some Nitinol knives! Nitinol is titanium and nickel, it sparks hot and bright and it is tough as nails. Check out the process and final pieces in this video and the Part 1 video: • Making A Nitinol Knife...
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[@zirconia21]

Don't need a flashlight when you got that stuff and a belt grinder.

[@hanelyp1]

Titanium sparks are BRIGHT.

[@TheRealSnhyper]

Nitinol really just says "nah, I don't think I'll be a knife, or anything really. Have fun trying to use me"

[@GreenBeetle]

Heheh

[@Lumberjack_king]

Nitinal is just not meant for blades its far more useful for its applications in engineering and tech

[@beybladesinmyheels1267]

@@Lumberjack_king theoretically at least, since nitinol is a memory metal you could just heat it up and it’ll resharpen itself. Kinda like the synthetic knife from battlefield bad company 2.

[@Lumberjack_king]

@@beybladesinmyheels1267 interesting

[@3xeplodng_3agle_studios]

@@beybladesinmyheels1267 I forget the name but there was a research group working out how to successfully make nitinol blades, and body armor. It's also used in some medical devices

[@danthemakerman]

Ntinol: when you take Nyquil and Tylenol to try to forget all the money you spent on abrasives. Cool blades I dig the sandblasted look of the blade. Also those sparks were bananas!

[@santi-og3hx]

those scales are really cool, especially the green one. looks like some kind of skrillex album cover art

[@jason_x_90]

FYI, that handle material us called C-TEK. It's aluminum honeycomb that's filled with resin. You can buy it pre made or buy the honeycomb and do it yourself. I have a couple knives and even a pen made from it. Pretty cool stuff and good video. I had heard SM100 was a pain but didn't know it was this rough to work.

[@johnslugger]

*The best way to work with Nitinol is with electricity. Get a large 12 volt fork lift battery (1500lbs.) and use large 0000 wires and weld the Pos and Neg on each end of the Nitilol bar and this keeps it yellow hot for 10 to 15 minutes, long enough to make a knife. I use a 2000 amp knife switch and my assistant keeps the nitinol at the perfect temperature opening and closing the switch.*

[@GreenBeetle]

🧐

[@rorydonaldson2794]

Oh I was looking forward to seeing this project completed, it's a shame the material is so hard to work with but what an interesting metal

[@mikehendon7327]

- not really good at holding an edge - damn near impossible to work with - can't even get a cool finish Yeah, I'd file that under "was fun and worth doing...once."

[@nathanclarke6694]

I think the sandblasted finish on it is gorgeous; it's not damascus, but there's something to be said for a satin look on sharp metal.

[@kobbskyy]

AWESOME WE GET TO SEE HANDLES !!! YESSSS!!! amazing video as always steve, thank you !

[@pavelkravchuk7763]

Back for part 2.0. Hell yeah.

[@jaypearman9528]

Wow, thanks for doing the handles, I love that you are so creative and how you think outside the box for materials. Your the best 👍

[@baileylang1293]

They look absolutely gorgeous! Glad we got to watch the handle making!

[@Laser3303]

I like the workmanship throughout. Well done!

[@Runoratsu]

They came out looking amazing! 😍

[@mikedrop4421]

You are an absolute mad man. Don't ever change.

[@ilmbutton]

I applaud your persistence!

[@tybertimus]

A thing I've seen Alec Steele and Will Stelter do that should work well for surface grinding non-magnetic stuff with your attachment...they put masking tape on the two surfaces and then glue the masking taped sides together. You get a good hold, and it comes off without whacking the poop out of it later.

[@archivethearchives]

At last!! Great work and congratulations on your success.

[@STUFFWEDO]

Thank you for sharing. Nice experiment.

[@SlugzOnTheRun]

Man mad props for making two sick looking knives out of the biggest nuisance material ever. In one of our engineer modules we did a lecture on nitinol. It's got some crazy properties and crazy applications but is a NIGHTMARE to process. Most times they use vacuum arc welding or $$$$$$$$$$ as its more commonly known

[@bjf10]

Beautiful work as always.

[@GreenBeetle]

Hey guys! Critical editing mistake at launch I had to take this down for a few minutes and repost the correct version!

[@RadDadisRad]

Alright what did you do differently on this video?

[@lucasgumbiner8673]

What was the mistake? I didn't notice anything obvious on the first one.

[@GreenBeetle]

Stuff…. Minor stuff but important I’ll spill beans later

[@simpleman806]

Made me think that I was losing my mind.

[@GreenBeetle]

If you’re here you are part crazy. I’m sorry!

[@DanHelfond]

Handles are beautiful. Congrats on the sponsor!

[@keiphillips7648]

Sweet, Great vid as always GB

[@jedhassen720]

Your videos make my day, cheers mate.

[@GibsonCutlery]

Came out looking great!

[@jimjenkins673]

Perfection all around 🪲

[@americanjaeger4131]

Good choice on the scales

[@BeardManTimLaird]

I really think they came out great. Too bad they are hard to deal with, but that matt sand blasted look is very nice. Great job!

[@matthewplayer8337]

Guys from the abyss movie would def need these.... Otherwise not so much. Kiddos for the hard... extremely hard! Work. Thank you.

[@VOVAR]

Your work is amazing 💪👍

[@MattCayen]

Nice song to end this project XD. Represents rly well the amount of troubles you've encountered through this. GJ, very determined man. Clearly an important quality in the field 👊

[@kennycampbelljr5896]

Those knives are gorgeous 😍

[@doxdoomsday4948]

Great job!

[@professionalidiots101]

Gotta admit the handle scales look amazing 👍🏻

[@wavecreatures]

Still a thing of beauty Steve!

[@melgillham462]

I think that's one of those Japanese knives, "shenobefun" 🤣 looked good though.👍

[@dmg4415]

@Santi says gorgeous! I just says YES! Maybe a set of kitchen knives? In Damascus?

[@Mitzkal]

Love both.

[@thejasonrk]

its cool that it would be unbreakable and if you ever manage to bend it you just have to heat it up to whatever its memory temp is

[@StuartSmithHandForgedKNives]

those are great. Love it

[@GreenBeetle]

🙏

[@ramirosmith9558]

Nice job man

[@DasBootsDaddy]

Those were pretty sweet.

[@stardusk1726]

Took a long time for this to come out but good job on getting it done

[@la.r182]

ALWAYS use weldingglasses if you work with titanium alloys.. the sparks are so bright they can blind you! stay safe.. nice project.. sry for bad english.. greatings from germany

[@Doc-Holliday1851]

I was thinking about the utility of a nitinol blade today. One could theoretically make a very long knife or sword portable by bending it and installing a heating element in the blade. When the blade is needed, press a button and the blade will snap back into its original blade shape

[@boyna1987]

Altought It may look at first a love story, by the end felt like the pricess was so rude that crushed the prince's heart. RIP Carbides.

[@trueherbsman]

just friggin' gorgeous

[@MCsCreations]

Pretty awesome looking knifes, dude! Beautiful work! 😃 But yeah, it's always fun to try new materials! We just need to learn and do not stay using those difficult ones! 😂 Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@MrMarsBlades]

Fit and finish is good as always, at least it is looking through a screen from Australia, thanks for being the guinea pig on the Nitinol steel, never again for you and never ever for me! Cheers

[@MrCrazyjayh2010]

Great experiment. I like the handle scale material. It would be nice if nitinol held an edge though. As tough as it is to work with you would think it would be a superior blade material.

[@mickeyblade9742]

For that much material and the hardness of it I would probably use some sort of oil or coolant while milling it. That might be why the carbide end mills broke so suddenly

[@kdjnhdojgdjjdhrge7824]

those scales are nice as

[@ThinkFaster66]

That little divot or deeper cut that occurs on the surface grinder at either end of the stock happens in woodworking too. When planing wood, we call it “snipe”. It’s common so we always plane wood long and then cut down. Obviously not ideal for such a high dollar piece of material, though, I’m sure.

[@roberttodd619]

Munitions metals are always odd to work with and really expensive to acquire. Really good follow up i wasn't sure if it was possible to get a blade out of nitinol.

[@sevenarchers5953]

Hey Steve, Nice job. I really like the look and how well the blade finish and handle material complimented each other. This seemed like one of those jobs where you think .."no sweat, I can knock this out with no problem". Then about half way through (and 3 end mills later), you're saying to yourself.."what have I gotten myself into?!?" Anyway, thanks for the sequel. God bless, and take care.

[@GreenBeetle]

Exactly!

[@SamTownsBladesmith]

I admire your perseverance mate, the result was great, nice and clean. I would agree with you, however; never again. Haha have a good one

[@Shab-z]

Steve's back! The knife community's Ben Kraznow. Keep doing cool shit Steve.

[@the_lancaster_libertarian]

If anyone likes edc lights olight has their i3t and i5t. I recommend them both.

[@aserta]

4:46 this is like planer snipe.

[@13Dixiefried]

Love the handles especially the green one lol. But those knives are a nice conversation piece, that there only use is to open mail or cut cheese lol. Other than those two things, not much else.

[@Evolyutsiya]

I think those scales are really cool looking, will be perfect on the knife with the 3D weave effect damascus! Oh yes i still remember 🤣

[@johnruiz6743]

Beautiful knife though! 👍

[@jonathanenck3814]

Handle scales for the knife are great looking. But If you never touch them again I totally understand. Still an interesting project, frustrating as it was

[@gushlergushler]

Seeing you use the holy blue dykem I all of a sudden heard Alec Steele sing from my speaker.

[@GreenBeetle]

I hear it every time I crack the bottle

[@_BLANK_BLANK]

Hey, they came out looking really nice though.

[@RobanyBigjobz]

Not convinced something that won't hold much of an edge qualifies as a knife. Really interesting to watch all the trials you had using the stuff. Sometimes the negative results are important to put out there.

[@kumadogjack]

Put painting tape on both pieces before you glue, saves lots of time on clean up

[@dragonwaterforge]

Awsome

[@xxxdiresaintxxx]

I think I'd rather a nice Damascus blade frankly. That being said, you did a great job.

[@krissteel4074]

Glad to see you get a win in the time honoured tradition of, if its your problem, pay someone else to have the problem instead. In the case of this material no one would blame you either, its truly a horror show of somewhat esoteric materials technology. Also I was thinking the other day, with such greats as cutting paper for an hour and hand sanding for an hour... what about you give the kids what they want and an hour of a knife sitting in the oven tempering? It'll be up there with the watching epoxy dry, attaching bolsters, hand filing guards and the other romantic arts of knife making most people have on ffwd

[@GreenBeetle]

😮

[@neonsilver1936]

I just have to say, I *REALLY* like that handle material. That is, and I do not say this lightly, truly BUSSIN.

[@GreenBeetle]

Is bussin like “Gary Busey-in”?

[@rabbidrick7533]

I work with younger people that say bussin so I just say busting instead. They are aren't fans of that. Example, that pizza was busting huh fellas lmao

[@vincentstraub9895]

Also knife is wicked!!

[@Doctorlockpick]

You should bend the blade then hit it with a flame and see it straighten out

[@OriruBastard]

Grats. Now you got yourself a pair of self sharpening knives. Just put 'em on a hot water whenever they start feeling dull. :p

[@stancoironworks]

pretty amazing knife tho!

[@TheRogueRockhound]

Dood I need to get you some stone for some handles, I bet jasper or some obsidian would work well with your style Cool upload man and lemme know about the stone!

[@GreenBeetle]

Stone handles! Where can I see some examples?

[@TheRogueRockhound]

​@@GreenBeetle Good question lol, I find a ton of awesome material and every time I watch your vids I think how cool stone handles would be. If I send you a softer material, such as obsidian, you wont need any specialty diamond tools to shape/form and good sheen would accent the knives well. Chat soon!!

[@simpleman806]

Those would definitely be some wall hangers

[@thebmac]

Well... You don't know, until you know. Handles look great though!

[@zachpetty2930]

Could you try inconel, I've got some and have only seen one person make a knife out of it before but I think you might would like it better than this stuff. Anyway great video as always keep it up my man.

[@alkeryn1700]

i wonder if it can get back its shape if you bend it.

[@cuanham]

They look very nice, but I do agree you could have made some spectacular demascus with the overall cost of those

[@pedroandrade4344]

Use the previous pieces with a canister and steel powder

[@yeetmcmeat]

Here i was thinking just a titanium knife would be hard but nitinol, wow.

[@ambsquared]

Love how that resin/aluminum material turned out. Looks like that metal is a bear to work with. You’d think something that resistant to abrasion would hold an edge well.

[@roberttodd619]

Nitinol is a metal manufactured by the United states to incase munitions ie bombs it is in no way a reliable source for forging a reliable knife. It's meant to fragment and burn at extremely high temperatures. It's not aluminum but there may be a percentage of tin in it.

[@IllNacs]

@@roberttodd619 Excuse me sir, i do believe you are mistaken, perhaps you heard where Nitinol got its name (Nickel Titanium 'Naval Ordnance Laboratory') and simply assumed it was used in bombs because of the word "Ordnance"? After a quick google search and some very light ready it is known that they used it in high pressure hydraulic titanium tubing(a coupler specifically). I can personally find no evidence that Nitnol was ever used in bombs, or documented to "fragment and burn at high temperatures".

[@georgejones5019]

@@roberttodd619 I worked with explosives in the USAF. That is incorrect. Nitinol is "Nickle Titanium" hence the name NiTiNOL. NOL meaning Navy Ordinance Laboratory. It was discovered trying to make a heat and corrosive resistant alloy. It's commonly used in robotics or mechanical applications as a sleeve for wiring to prevent chaffing from movement or vibrations. It's also used in some medical equipment such as bone staples or stents.

[@brendanhayward1803]

wow! that's proper commitment to content beautiful work. funny that something so hard wont hold an edge.. any idea why?

[@GreenBeetle]

I don’t know. Sorta crazy. It’s not awful at edge holding according to the chart it’s just very meh. Definitely should be better.

[@Mr-Mojo92]

That is interesting material when Cutting and grinding it looks like it,s titanium almost It's a cool metal though wow Normally I don't like this way of making a knife but this I love green beetle you make it awesome And very interesting to watch👋👏👏👍👍♥️✌

[@alaxbird4954]

Its an alloy of Nickel and Titanium

[@detcader_]

If it loses its edge, what happens when you heat it up? It’ll be cool if it even regained any sort of sharpness

[@jpolhamus71]

Thats gorgeous!!! What are the advantages of nitinol? I would love to have one just like this knife

[@GreenBeetle]

Stainless, 20% lighter, 3x as expensive.

[@1ch190]

So if you bend it prying with it you might be able to heat it and it may return to it's former shape? What's the purpose of heat treatment when no deformation stresses have been induced in the material from machining or hardening from transition through different lattice structures

[@GreenBeetle]

hardening is the purpose, to HRC of 60-61

[@tellket]

Why don’t you add your touch/makers mark? How’s a person to know you crafted these? I watched the new grinder review. It looks nice. Thanks for the post!

[@oneshotme]

So was it worth it?? Enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up

[@RadDadisRad]

What’s different about this one from the earlier one?

[@clydecox2108]

Nitinol? Never even heard of it. But I didn't know you do knifes for customers. Nice knife

[@timothynaquin8899]

That is one hot sparky metal

[@evaderknives]

I learned with titanium, blue tape & super glue in the middle is so much easier to remove. Ok I've only gotten that far, haha. Back to the video, hope all is well, take it easy.

[@Headliner99]

I’m struggling with how one can keep up with how all the pieces go together when you can’t see the pattern. Do you have to etch each piece before welding so yo can see the pattern? Thanks for this incredible video!🐋

[@GreenBeetle]

Yes

[@bobjones8864]

Love the handle material. Enough of the exotic metals for a while.

[@jasonburns956]

How do you get the sandblast finish on the handle after the scales are attached without damaging the scales

[@GreenBeetle]

Scales are taped w nylon tape

[@JohnsonKnives]

cool! ill just stick to 80crv2...