YOYTi. (Why titanium?)

TLM

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Nov 16, 2019
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Vantaa, Finland
The temp at the mug lip cannot be greater the the temp of the liquid in it what can vary is how fast it heats up. If one has a mug made of material with exceedingly poor heat conduction the lip might never heat up very high as the liquid cools down before that. On the other hand that means that the mug is a heat insulator which means it cools down slowly.

We should have somebody with a thermal camera taking videos of SS and Ti mugs with hot water and see what happens.
 
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Springchicken

Full Member
Aug 29, 2005
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I'm not sure about titanium. I used to use a double-wall Ti mug but now only ever use my stainless Crusader.

I have tried Ti cooksets but found the heat distribution across the pan bottoms patchy, compared with aluminium or stainless.

The only advantages seem to lie in titanium's hardness, and therefore 'durability', and its lightness. However, for sheer out-and-out practicality, I don't rate it.

As for sporks, titanium or otherwise... they are the work of the devil and useless on every front!
 
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Kadushu

If Carlsberg made grumpy people...
Jul 29, 2014
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I put together a pot, mug, frying pan and meths stove combo in SS and it was heavy enough to convince me to switch to Ti. The difference is huge. However, if you're going down the lightweight route it only really makes sense to marry it up with other lightweight gear. Expense/price/value is whatever it is to you. You could spend £200 on titanium cookware that lasts decades or spend it on a few meals out/drinks at the pub that are gone in minutes.
 

lou1661

Full Member
Jul 18, 2004
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Hampshire
Does it really matter, we all have our favourite pieces of kit, they are all equally important to the person that holds them, does it matter if it is SS or Ti or wood? im not sure if any of this discussion is of any use other than to cause discourse.
 
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Pattree

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Jul 19, 2023
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im not sure if any of this discussion is of any use other than to cause discourse.

Nope not at all. Some weeks ago I was asked my opinion of a particular spork design. I said that it would be better in Ss than the current plastic. Asked if I would be interested in Ti I replied that I couldn’t see the point but that others might give different feedback.
The Ti stove post reminded me of the conversation and wondered what others might think.
 

Megatramp

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Feb 16, 2024
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Does it really matter, we all have our favourite pieces of kit, they are all equally important to the person that holds them, does it matter if it is SS or Ti or wood? im not sure if any of this discussion is of any use other than to cause discourse.

Discourse is the whole point! Or did you mean discord? In which case you're free to not take part.
 
the only titanium item i own is a spoon i found (looking like brand new) when i was working on Japan's largest camping ground (amazing what items people left behind) and which now lives in my shoulder bag (=for those unplanned occasions when i need a spoon and didn't bring my usual stainless steel spoon which i have for 20years and which has been all over the world with me); otherwise i stick with stainless steel
 

Pattree

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Discourse is the whole point! Or did you mean discord?
I presume that @lou1661 had simply suffered from the autocarrot and responded accordingly.

Just to state my stance:
I don’t buy expensive equipment and I am unimpressed by big popular names. I have been a winter camper by preference for decades and seen ice and snow on my single skin unnamed tipi. I would not dream of paying for Ti.
But
As I said in the OP - if it is what calls to you then all power to you - enjoy.
 

Megatramp

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Had a set of plastic sporks for family trips, from the same company as my ti version. Three of them shattered in use, probably due to something we subjected them to, but they have been replaced with ss.
 
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Pattree

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Agreed! When you cook with fire plastic isn’t much use, it droops. When you camp at close to zero plastic snaps. I switched to an identical ss design which I’ve used for more than 20 years. I even eat my family Christmas dinner with an SS spork. At no point did I consider any of the expensive Ti sporks that popped up when I was looking for alternatives to plastic.
 

demographic

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Apr 15, 2005
4,756
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-------------
I used to have a couple of those Light my fire placky spork things, liked the shape of em but they kept snapping after six months or so use at bait times in the van.
The. I helped a mate set up a rally computer in her Landrover for when she did a rally in Africa.
In return she gave me one of the titanium versions.
Years on its still good.
Yeah, Stainless would work but they don't sell em made from stainless and that shape* and its a lot better than a scabby old spoon



Thing about heat conductivity though...
If it transfers heat faster to yer lip, surely it requires less fuel to heat its contents up?
Some fairly spurious arguments being used to prop up prejudice in my eyes.

*Mebbe do now but not back then.
 

Nice65

Brilliant!
Apr 16, 2009
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I used to have a couple of those Light my fire placky spork things, liked the shape of em but they kept snapping after six months or so use at bait times in the van.
The. I helped a mate set up a rally computer in her Landrover for when she did a rally in Africa.
In return she gave me one of the titanium versions.
Years on its still good.
Yeah, Stainless would work but they don't sell em made from stainless and that shape* and its a lot better than a scabby old spoon



Thing about heat conductivity though...
If it transfers heat faster to yer lip, surely it requires less fuel to heat its contents up?
Some fairly spurious arguments being used to prop up prejudice in my eyes.

*Mebbe do now but not back then.
I don’t like using it to scrape out other titanium things, it sets my teeth on edge, but I bought a Ti LMF spork after snapping yet another plastic one spooning baked beans out of the tin.

Bought a bit of it when Lixada, Firemaple etc were still cheap AliExpress items and don’t regret it. I only use a 1L pot and a cup with folding handles. It’s terrible for cooking anything bar water which it excels at. I also have a love of titanium torches anodised with colours, for no other reason than they look good.
 
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Billy-o

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Apr 19, 2018
2,039
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Canada
Very fond of my LMF Ti sporks, stashed away in different useful places. One at work. Watching a good vid on fermentation at the moment ... no Ti involved, sadly. Though I can see a case being made for a great big Ti bowl.

:)
 
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Pattree

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Stainless would work but they don't sell em made from stainless and that shape*

*Mebbe do now but not back then.
IMG_6562.jpeg

I’ve had five of these stainless steel sporks for nearly 20 years but you are right in that they aren’t Light My Fire. Given the exact shape I suspect that they are illicit copies and that accounts for why you can’t get precisely this shape in stainless steel any more.
In fact I have some slightly elongated ones of a lighter gauge steel that I prefer to use. They are still available. The “knife edge” is more effective if that’s an appropriate description. Two swipes takes it clean through a sausage :lmao:

As stated previously, never had one in Ti.

pee ess:-
I’m trying to give away all my plastic sporks but I’ve been given a lot over the years and I keep finding them. I still have this green one and a pink one for certain and somewhere there is one with an RAF logo.
 
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spader

Native
Dec 19, 2009
1,330
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Scotland
Does it really matter, we all have our favourite pieces of kit, they are all equally important to the person that holds them, does it matter if it is SS or Ti or wood? im not sure if any of this discussion is of any use other than to cause discourse.

Here we are to discuss on the kits, how useful they are, their strengths, weakness, and justification for paying more if they are worthy in some respect or better in durability and performance compared to the other kits in the same categories.

These points can only be learnt by directly using them in real life, but also by discussing with the other members sharing their thoughts, ideas and experiences on them.
 
I have had Ti cookwear in the past ... sold it all on ... These days my favourite billies are made from old biscuit boxes, mugs are S/S or coconut, just made a load of beercan meths stoves and carved some new wooden forks ...
Ti - deffo not worth it for me!
sorry for going somewhat off-topic, but do you treat (=seal) the coconut shells somehow?! plenty of coconut palms of various varieties over here (and gourd "trees") so shells are easy to come by. however i had several shells leaking on me when used as cups -- i presume when removing the flesh the "waterproof" layer gets removed, too.... (only sealant which comes to my mind is bees wax, but that's as common as hen's teeth around here...)
 

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