# Has titanium become cheap enough to make jewelry out of it?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-titanium-become-cheap-enough-to-make-jewelry-out-of-it/291098
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 21, 2005, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-titanium-become-cheap-enough-to-make-jewelry-out-of-it/291098 "2005-02-21T02:05:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2005, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-titanium-become-cheap-enough-to-make-jewelry-out-of-it/291098/21 "2005-02-21T08:51:47Z")
I have a titanium-cased Seiko watch. It was a Christmas present from my wife three years ago. We had a little more money in those days, but it wasn’t outrageously expensive. Strap and case are showing negligible signs of wear and, as already stated, the watch is very light for its size.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2005, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-titanium-become-cheap-enough-to-make-jewelry-out-of-it/291098/22 "2005-02-21T14:03:29Z")
Just what **Xema** said, titanium can be machined, I’ve done it. It has it’s own properties and you can’t run the machine like it’s steel or aluminum.
**Jnglmassiv** It’s a hunk about as big as a baseball flat on two sides, not a bat. It weighs about 5-7 pounds or so? No idea of the value. It was a scrap piece from the end of a part that was made.
\*\*Astro \*\* a titanium knife blade would be about useless as I think of a knife. Too soft to be durable but would hold a great razor edge. Wouldn’t last.
My last company makes titanium scalpels. They are ultrasonic and used mostly for minimal invasive abdominal surgery. For instance gall bladders. A 5mm hole on one side for the camera and a 5mm hole on the other to slip the blade in. As the blade vibrates about .050 of an inch, it slices the tissue and cauterizes the wound at the same time with almost no charing.
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### Author:  [@Synthesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Synthesis)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2005, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-titanium-become-cheap-enough-to-make-jewelry-out-of-it/291098/23 "2005-02-21T16:44:06Z")
Titanium is very brittle as well. It just doesn’t like to bend…and that makes it difficult for metal working in general. And the look and feel is so similar to stainless steel that I can’t think of a good reason to use it.
Aside from being able to say “its made out of Titanium”. You could just buy stainless steel and lie 🙂
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2005, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-titanium-become-cheap-enough-to-make-jewelry-out-of-it/291098/24 "2005-02-21T17:00:43Z")
> [@Synthesis](#):
>
> Titanium is very brittle as well. It just doesn’t like to bend…
Are you talking about pure titanium? Titanium alloys are flexible. Titanium bicycle frames have a reputation for comfort (flex). I have one and it flexes visibly.
> [@](#):
>
> And the look and feel is so similar to stainless steel…
Except for the big difference in density.
Anyway, is there such thing as “too expensive for jewelry”?
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### Author:  [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2005, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-titanium-become-cheap-enough-to-make-jewelry-out-of-it/291098/25 "2005-02-21T17:34:38Z")
> [@yabob](#):
>
> It’s expensive enough that it will be restricted to specialty uses, but it’s not a “precious metal”, per se, even though it is being used in jewelry a lot these days.
Indeed. The real question is, how do jewelry marketers convince enough people that titanium is valuable enough to be jewelry. Even silver is many times more expensive.
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### Author:  [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2005, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-titanium-become-cheap-enough-to-make-jewelry-out-of-it/291098/26 "2005-02-21T17:51:52Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#):
>
> Indeed. The real question is, how do jewelry marketers convince enough people that titanium is valuable enough to be jewelry. Even silver is many times more expensive.
In fairness, there’s considerations other than price. It’s hypoallergenic - nickel, for instance, gives a lot of people rashes. It takes a nice polish and doesn’t tarnish or discolor. It’s very hard and resistent to getting its appearance marred by being bashed around. It’s light. In short, it’s got practical features for jewelry use. Not that the jewelry companies are adverse to overcharging for it, if they can convince people it’s more valuable than it is.
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### Author:  [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2005, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-titanium-become-cheap-enough-to-make-jewelry-out-of-it/291098/27 "2005-02-21T18:48:31Z")
My ring was somewhere in the vicinity of $180. WAY cheaper than silver, and it’s unusual in that it’s black. It looks like onyx, I guess.
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### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2005, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-titanium-become-cheap-enough-to-make-jewelry-out-of-it/291098/28 "2005-02-21T19:47:59Z")
FWIW, the price drop several have mentioned already is due to the fall of the USSR. A pretty large percentage of the world’s reserves are in Russia, and the Soviet military kept tight control of it. Afterward, Russia went into the world market big-time to raise cash. They are even scrapping old submarines (yes, many of theirs had all-Ti hulls that magnetometers couldn’t detect) just for the metal.
The prices came back up several years ago during the Ti golf club head craze, but that’s subsided since.
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### Author:  [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2005, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-titanium-become-cheap-enough-to-make-jewelry-out-of-it/291098/29 "2005-02-21T19:55:15Z")
-
-
- Titanium isn’t used for lots of consumer manufacturing because it’s tough, and so is difficult to drill and machine. It is a suspension alloy like aluminum is; if it is heated to a liquid state, the alloy ingredients begin to separate out, ruining the alloy. So it can’t be cast, which is one big method used in the jewelry industry. The only way it can be solidly joined is welding in an innert gas chamber.
- Titanium is more expensive, but it’s nowhere near what Platinum costs. From an end-user standpoint, the place I buy metal for welding sells titanium. It costs about eight to ten times what the same piece in 6061 aluminum or 4130 steel would. It is a light-metallic brown, but different alloys are different colors and (as far as jewelry goes) the surface can be treated to change its color as well.
- Titanium is used for bycycles because it has very high fatigue resistance–so you can use thinner titanium and make a frame that is lighter, and the bike frame will flex a lot–but titanium can take that–where alumnum or steel would crack and fail under the same amount of flexing.
~
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### Author:  [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2005, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-titanium-become-cheap-enough-to-make-jewelry-out-of-it/291098/30 "2005-02-22T01:52:22Z")
> [@FilmGeek](#):
>
> My ring was somewhere in the vicinity of $180. WAY cheaper than silver, and it’s unusual in that it’s black. It looks like onyx, I guess.
$180 is way cheaper than silver? I’ve never seen a silver ring that cost more than $25. 910 sterling silver is seriously, seriously inexpensive.
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### Author:  [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2005, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-titanium-become-cheap-enough-to-make-jewelry-out-of-it/291098/31 "2005-02-22T02:49:25Z")
> [@racinchikki](#):
>
> $180 is way cheaper than silver? I’ve never seen a silver ring that cost more than $25. 910 sterling silver is seriously, seriously inexpensive.
It should be. Spot silver prices are over $7/oz, which is as high as they’ve been for some time. Through the nineties, silver averaged about $5/oz, going briefly below $4 at one point. Silver hasn’t been in double digits since the early eighties (a shortage scare briefly inflated it to about $20/oz). A ring weighing a fraction of an ounce simply doesn’t have more than a couple bucks worth of silver in it. Costs associated with fashioning it into a ring and polishing it up simply cannot be all that much. Jewelry markups are generally outrageous.
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### Author:  [@Hometownboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hometownboy)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2005, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-titanium-become-cheap-enough-to-make-jewelry-out-of-it/291098/32 "2005-02-22T02:55:51Z")
A couple of years ago, I ran across a [titanium crowbar](http://www.materials.com/Titanium_tools.HTML) and sent for it.
> [@](#):
>
> This 21 inch bar is designed for use in all light, to medium duty, prying and wrecking applications. This tool is ultra-light weight, weighing less than 40% of a comparable Steel bar. This characteristic will greatly reduce the work load on the user, especially when working overhead. These advantages are made possible by utilizing Titanium, which has one of the best structural strength to weight ratios of any metal. Typically, unalloyed Titanium is 40% lighter than steel and 10x stronger than Aluminum. Despite it’s light weight, this forged Titanium bar is actually stronger than your standard Steel bar. Additionally, this Titanium tool is absolutely impervious to the elements. This especially includes the highly corrosive marine environment. It will never rust, corrode or discolor in any way. It is non-magnetic and non-sparking, making it more suitable for use around sensitive electronic equipment and flammable fluids than a Steel bar. The design of this bar is ideal to provide the maximum leverage for removing nails, or other prying operations. Weight: 0.6 Kg or 1.32 Lbs. Cost: $39.95.
Mine was ten bucks cheaper than the price above when I bought it. I love the thing. It’s lightweight, strong and won’t rust or corrode. But mostly for me it has a satisfactory hey-I’m-in-the-future feel for an old science fiction fan (“In the future, titanium will be cheap and plentiful that it will be used for hand tools.”)
I’m still waiting for the picturephone in every home and personal jetpack.
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### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2005, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-titanium-become-cheap-enough-to-make-jewelry-out-of-it/291098/33 "2005-02-22T03:15:15Z")
> [@racinchikki](#):
>
> I have a spork made of titanium. It cost about $15.
I bought a titanium spork for a spork fan, and it ran me about ten bucks. Apparently, serious backpackers love these sporks because they are two utensils in one, and very lightweight.
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### Author:  [@NillyWilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NillyWilly)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2005, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-titanium-become-cheap-enough-to-make-jewelry-out-of-it/291098/34 "2005-02-22T03:41:25Z")
> [@DougC](#):
>
> -
> -
> - The only way it can be solidly joined is welding in an innert gas chamber.
> ~
Actually, per the History Channel’s program on the development of the F-14, they titanium box beam of the aircraft was welded with an electron beam. It appeared that they were doing it in normal room atmosphere although I guess the shot coudl have been done very close to a glass partition so no reflections were seen.
~Nilly
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### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2005, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-titanium-become-cheap-enough-to-make-jewelry-out-of-it/291098/35 "2005-02-22T03:44:13Z")
At the Smoky Mountain Knife Works website,
[www.smkw.com](http://www.smkw.com)
I typed titanium into the search engine, and it showed me 105 knives. Many had titanium handles, with the blades made of stainless or ceramic. Some had a stainless blade, coated with titanium nitrate (black.) I didn’t look at all of them, but I didn’t see any with a blade made from Ti.
Titanium, when heated with a torch, gets a rainbow of colors. You may have seen this effect in jewelry.
[http://smkw.com/webapp/eCommerce/product.jsp?Search.y=8&range=61&Search.x=11&SearchText=titanium&Mode=Text&SKU=UCHD57](http://smkw.com/webapp/eCommerce/product.jsp?Search.y=8&range=61&Search.x=11&SearchText=titanium&Mode=Text&SKU=UCHD57)
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### Author:  [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2005, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-titanium-become-cheap-enough-to-make-jewelry-out-of-it/291098/36 "2005-02-22T04:49:55Z")
It should be noted that titanium is inert _as a bulk metal_, because it immediately forms a thin film of TiO2 that bonds strongly to the metal and protects it from further corrosion. In the molten state it is as reactive as magnesium, which is why special measures like argon atmospheres have to be used in welding it.
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### Author:  [@matt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2005, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-titanium-become-cheap-enough-to-make-jewelry-out-of-it/291098/37 "2005-02-22T07:37:23Z")
> [@NillyWilly](#):
>
> Actually, per the History Channel’s program on the development of the F-14, they titanium box beam of the aircraft was welded with an electron beam. It appeared that they were doing it in normal room atmosphere although I guess the shot coudl have been done very close to a glass partition so no reflections were seen.
>
> ~Nilly
Electron beam welding currently needs a vacuum. You can’t generate the e-beam without one.
But this will change! Last year a welding gun was invented that uses a plasma held in a magnetic field to seperate a vacuum from the air. The plasma acts as a “window” to let the e-beam out.
You can read about some of it below, you need to be a subscriber to get the whole article.
[http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18324543.400](http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18324543.400)
I’m thinking “lightsabre”!
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2005, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-titanium-become-cheap-enough-to-make-jewelry-out-of-it/291098/38 "2005-02-22T08:07:07Z")
> [@AskNott](#):
>
> Titanium, when heated with a torch, gets a rainbow of colors. You may have seen this effect in jewelry.
> [http://smkw.com/webapp/eCommerce/product.jsp?Search.y=8&range=61&Search.x=11&SearchText=titanium&Mode=Text&SKU=UCHD57](http://smkw.com/webapp/eCommerce/product.jsp?Search.y=8&range=61&Search.x=11&SearchText=titanium&Mode=Text&SKU=UCHD57)
And [bicycle frames](http://www.titaniumarts.com/pages/bikeart/bikeart.html?content=3).
By the way, does anyone know how this anodization process creates color? Is it an interference effect, or simple absorption by the oxide?
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### Author:  [@matt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2005, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-titanium-become-cheap-enough-to-make-jewelry-out-of-it/291098/39 "2005-02-22T09:03:07Z")
The “rainbow” is a straight interference effect caused by a transparent oxide, think oil on water.
I read a paper a while back where interference colour was used to determine a metal oxide thickness, but the details escape me.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2005, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-titanium-become-cheap-enough-to-make-jewelry-out-of-it/291098/40 "2005-02-22T13:56:35Z")
The rainbow looking coloring is done by heat. Titanium exhaust pipes will color near the engine pretty fast.
**Asknot** mentioned coatings, here is [the company that invented Titanium Nitride coating](http://www.bus.balzers.com/)
A lot of the tooling I work with in my machine shops has a coating of one type or another. There’s some neat stuff and a lot of R&D going into it.
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