YOYTi. (Why titanium?)

[Pattree]

I didn’t want to hijack the titanium stove discussion but a more general discussion prompts my question.

Now - if you are a kit collector or take pride in ownership of particular kit then all power to you. My question concerns the practicalities.

Is the premium price of titanium (Ti) worth it?
I use stainless steel (Ss)sporks. I could use a Ti one at nearly three times the price. Firstly if I’m eating something bland like my morning porridge I can taste titanium (borrowed spork)
More significantly, the difference in weight between Ss and Ti is about 20gms. You gain much more than that if your hat gets wet.

I do understand ultra-lite back packing but is that degree of weight cutting really significant or does it become an end in itself.
Couldn’t you get the same weight reduction as using Ti kit by leaving one of those knives at home or just going for an extra carp?

I dunno, you tell me. I walked all over Ireland with a steel framed rucksack and 22kg of kit. Now I chuck everything into the back of the car and use a day sack so I don’t have to choose.

YTi?

 

[Decacraft]

Following on from my comment on the other thread-

If I were to hot tent and need to carry a setup quite a distance regularly I would consider one of the Ti folding woodstoves, but as its a short walk from the car to where I usually go I manage with my outbacker stove just fine.

I do like the look of the winnerwell backpack stove, but wouldn't want the Ti version because of how much the reported warping is and the double cost over the stainless version puts me off. With a small stove the weight saving isn't as much as a hot tent stove for me to spend the extra

 

[John Fenna]

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!

 

[Chris]

Is the premium price of titanium (Ti) worth it?

If you value it, yes.

There's no one-size-fits-all answer to this because it depends on your priorities/activity/ability to carry it. Plus there's the old adage that any old idiot can be uncomfortable.

 

[Van-Wild]

Ti isn't that expensive. I got a 550ml Ti mug for £19 and it came with a free folding Ti spoon. It's horses for courses isn't it?

 

[John Fenna]

I had a folding Ti Spork (given it because it kept folding when you did not want it to ...) and a Ti mug (it burned my lips with a hot drink - and hot drinks went cold quickly)
More Ti kit I do not own any more...
Wood, S/S, coconut are my choice - not too heavy (I do not carry kit far these days) and scald free! Home made kit is my priority (though I also love my Crusader mug - for which I have crafted a lid and coffee filter stand so it can be a billie and/or coffee machine as well as a drinking vessel ).
With Ti cook gear I found that it was too easy to burn food (especially if using a gas or primus type stove and more especially trying to fry on such a stove!) and any weight saving was minimal - though it tends to lighten ones wallet faster than the alternatives!
Nope - I just do not get Ti...

 

[Billy-o]

.. (it burned my lips with a hot drink - and hot drinks went cold quickly) ..

there, in a nutshell. the heat transfer is just too efficient

pretty on a knife though, where a few grams shaved does make a real deftness difference ... and you can get some pretty and colourful effects on it

 

[John Fenna]

Oh yes Ti Oxide is very pretty

 

[TLM]

On the third hand thermal conductivities of stainless steel and titanium are practically equal, Aluminium is way higher.

 

[Billy-o]

Funny that. Ti mugs always manage to sear away portions of my mouth and tongue, but not SS - at least not the dinged old Tatonka I've carted for 20 years Never mind.

I don't think I have ever taken a hot drink straight from an ally mug.

 

[TLM]

Their specific heats are also within 10% of each other but because of their different densities (SS almost double of Ti) and often thinner walls TI mugs are likely to heat up much faster. Though the end temp is likely to be about equal.

 

[Herman30]

I prefer stainless over titanium purely out of economical perspective. I would buy titanium if I weren´t so poor.

 

[Pattree]

Plus there's the old adage that any old idiot can be uncomfortable

And that’s my whole point! Is the weight difference sufficient to make me uncomfortable? Would I even notice the difference between Ss and Ti?
Say I packed pots, cup, cutlery, meths stove and comb (what else? Is there a Ti torch case?). Would the difference be more than rain on my clothes & pack and the mud on my boots?

If you are saying that I would notice the difference then you’ve partly answered my OP - thank you.
If you are saying that the difference is worth the cost to you then that’sa complete answer and thank you again.

 

[Pattree]

I prefer stainless over titanium purely out of economical perspective. I would buy titanium if I weren´t so poor.

Why?

 

[Megatramp]

Regarding weight, I have the same knife in both ti and al, the al is much lighter and considerably cheaper.
My ti cookware, on the other hand, is lighter because it can be made thinner than al, and is also more durable.
I mainly use it for motorbike or mountain bike trips when I carry everything, except my tent/hammock and sleeping bag which is lashed to the back of the bike, in a 30l drypack and my pockets. For this purpose, ti is awesome.
None of my ti gear was any more expensive than it's ss/al equivalent as I upgraded when I found it at the right price.
I wouldn't enjoy the trips any less if I didn't have it though.

 

[Megatramp]

DCF, anyone?

 

[Billy-o]

Their specific heats are also within 10% of each other but because of their different densities (SS almost double of Ti) and often thinner walls TI mugs are likely to heat up much faster. Though the end temp is likely to be about equal.

My physics isn't what it could be. But I remember my dad showing me how to do a differential heat treatment on a knife by just warming the back of the blade (blade upwards)on the kitchen gas hob. He explained the difference between heat and temperature as a way of understanding how the edge of the blade gets so hot as the heat rises through it and accumulates.

I wonder if this explains why a Ti mug cauterizes your face and a SS mug less so.

Apparently Stegosaurs operate on the same principle

 

[TLM]

differential heat treatment on a knife

There are a few different ways of doing differential heat treatment one of them is to just heat part of the blade that can be either austenizing just part of the blade needing hardening or in the tempering process just heating the part needing softening. There are actually several variants in doing either.

 

[Billy-o]

I imagine there would be a variety of ways of doing it, but the heat rising from the lot liquid in a Ti mug might produce a greater temperature at the lip than a SS mug (all other things being constant) for the reasons of density and thinness that you give ... is what I thought

 

[Stew]

I imagine there would be a variety of ways of doing it, but the heat rising from the lot liquid in a Ti mug might produce a greater temperature at the lip than a SS mug (all other things being constant) for the reasons of density and thinness that you give ... is what I thought

Without a doubt, ti is less pleasant to drink from than a stainless and also cools my coffee faster than stainless. It doesn’t matter what they science theory might say when it can be shown in practice.

I still use the ti mug though not sure I would buy one. I do like making pretty colours on all the ti though.