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Comment by megraf | Hacker News Reader

Resting next to me is a titanium ring, it is extremely light, resistant to ambient temp change, and is usually cool to the touch. It cost $15 or so. It wears in a really beautiful way, aging like it's enjoying itself.

On my finger is a tungsten carbide ring, it's extremely dense (that of gold, slightly heavier than uranium), and has a lot of interesting properties. It's warmed quickly by my fingers, and rings the most beautiful tone when I strike it with some bar stock of AI.

Wolfram has been a very nice metal in my life, I wish it was more common, and would love to try to add some knurling to it.

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I wear a titanium ring too and keep my real one safely locked away. It’s an incredible metal that I proudly wear around. Mine cost about the same.

I also have a titanium pocketknife (James Brand), carabiner, keyrings, pens, camera (fujifilm makes a few), and some beloved snow peak dishes. And the silly titanium iPhone. It’s such a great metal to make things to carry with.

It’s not that great for blades as it doesn’t retain its edge as well as steel and is harder to sharpen.

It’s usually the frame and sides / scales that are made of titanium, never the blade afaik.

Except maybe in some multitool keyring single piece doohickeys, but it’s not expected to cut anything beside the tape on your packaging.

Titanium so widely desirable for knife scales because of not only its strength to weight benefits but also interesting finishes that can be applied for instance anodization can give incredibly beautiful iridescent colors in a wide spectrum of potential colors and tones. I dont know how interested you are in modding your pocket knife but there are several very talented people that can do just stunning colorful and textural finishes on titanium.

Where can I learn more about this?

Do you mind sharing where you got the titanium keyrings and carabiners?

I've been searching forever for decent keyrings. There's a few carabiners (though the titanium ones are hard to find there too, and usually covered in obnoxious branding). But keyrings especially seem to be an under-served market. There's either (1) the usual mass-produced, flimsy, cheap garbage, or (2) something tougher and more expensive, but covered in branding.

I've settled with (2) for now (though it's not even titanium), but it'd be nice to not have to look at a giant billboard every time I pull out my keys.

Yes! I ordered these: https://www.amazon.com/Outus-Titanium-Rings-Split-Pack/dp/B0...

My super-scientific "is titanium" test involved trying to get a fridge magnet to stick to them. it won't, and a normal keyring will. Yes, that risks it being aluminum. Other reviews state they put one against their sanding machine and got white sparks which was an additional positive sign.

If you want to confidently get titanium, these: https://thejamesbrand.com/products/titanium-keyring

They also make the carabiner I mentioned: https://thejamesbrand.com/products/the-mehlville?variant=312...

And here's a beer bottle opener to complete your collection: https://thejamesbrand.com/products/the-tjb-bottle-opener-tit...

Titanium anodizes very easily with a 9V battery and a wet paper towel. It’s a quick, and easy to way to test for titanium.

I have one too. It’s not my favorite to wear because it has zero heft. It’s unsubstantial and has a strange plasticky somewhat sticky feel. I plan on replacing it with gold. I can’t complain about the price though - they came in a box of 3.

I have a nickel allergy so titanium is my first port of call for jewellery, though my wedding ring is zirconium and some of my old, pre-allergy stuff is now plated with rhodium.

niobium is a happy metal for nickel allergies. feels like tanium and doesn't trigger allergies.

Source - my wife breaks out from nickel in jean rivets but niobium is good enough for piercings

Useful info, thanks!

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