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How To Tell If It's Really Titanium

With the growing popularity of titanium, some disreputable merchandisers are passing off other materials as the more expensive metal. Popular Science looks at a surefire way to prove what that credit card/crowbar/ring is really made of. "Hold any genuine titanium metal object to a grinding wheel (even a little grindstone on a Dremel tool will do), and it gives off a shower of brilliant white sparks unlike any softer common metal. The sparks are tiny pieces of cut titanium--the friction of the grinder heats them till they burn white-hot. Hold a grindstone to the shackle of a "titanium" padlock from Master Lock, however, and you'll instead see the telltale fine, long, yellow sparks of high-carbon steel."

25 of 280 comments (clear)

  1. Oh great... by grassy_knoll · · Score: 5, Funny

    Think the store will mind if I bring a dremel with grinding wheel to the store with me? For testing purposes of course...

  2. Good news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Apparently my wife's jewelry was all genuine titanium!

    1. Re:Good news by niceone · · Score: 4, Funny

      Lock up the dremel before you go to sleep tonight.

  3. Or use a cutting torch by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 2, Funny

    It heats white hot almost instantly, and when you thumb the oxygen cutting lever, you get the most amazing shower of white sparks - like fireworks - very pretty!

    --
    No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
  4. Re:Density test by g0dsp33d · · Score: 4, Funny

    It still works for electronics though! (you'll prove something is dense)

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    lol: You see no door there!
  5. Ow! Shit! by schon · · Score: 5, Funny

    Man, I just tried this with a new package of Energizer Tianium, and the spray burned a hole through my skin!

    You can be sure I'll be returning these "titanium" batteries just as soon as I'm back from Emergency!

  6. Interesting! by Poromenos1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Next up: Test if your explosives have gone bad by detonating them.

    --
    Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
  7. GRIND THIS! by denzacar · · Score: 4, Funny

    Apparently, Google has "interesting" sense of humor regarding titanium products.

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  8. Re:is there a better way? by Dan+East · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yes, there is a better way, and your concern about damaging expensive objects - particularly jewelry - is quite justified. Simply send the object to one of my two testing centers (conveniently covering both hemispheres - one is located in Russia, the other in Africa) and we will send you a full report of the object's composition.

    Dan East

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    Better known as 318230.
  9. Re:Density test by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I DUN GET IT LOL

  10. Re:a magnet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    Hey dumbfuck, go stick a magnet on your kitchen sink... Before spouting obvious wrongabilities, check your facts a bit OK shit-for-brains?

  11. Re:Titanium: not recommended for rings by Nexzus · · Score: 5, Funny

    About 18 years ago, I was on an underwater oil-drilling rig, when the mission we were "tasked" to perform by the navy went horribly wrong, and the rig started taking on water. I was running frantically running through cold freezing water towards a closing hydraulic door. I didn't make it in time, but I stuck my hand in the opening, and the door was stopped by my titanium wedding band. A colleague had found me, cut the hydraulic power to the door, and saved me. Earlier I had almost flushed it down the toilet. Good thing I didn't.

    Couple hours later I met some aliens.

    (Yeah, I know, but it sounds better in 1st person.)

    --
    Karma: Can only be portioned out by the Cosmos.
  12. Re:Density test by g0dsp33d · · Score: 5, Funny

    Its not too hard, you can try it from the comfort of your tub with a toaster.

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    lol: You see no door there!
  13. Re:Not Just Titanium by ScrewMaster · · Score: 3, Funny

    If you were testing Adamantium, those sparks were probably from your grinding wheel being worn down to a nub.

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    The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  14. Works like a charm by aflag · · Score: 2, Funny

    I tried the method with my tennis racket. Indeed, it *was* titanium.

  15. Re:a magnet? by funfail · · Score: 5, Funny

    You've never tried to stick a magnet to a stainless steel fridge, have you?
    That's because they mislead the customer by using titanium instead of steel in fridges.
  16. What kind of pansy want's Titanium? by Colin+Smith · · Score: 3, Funny

    Titanium is a woman's metal. Real men use Tungsten.

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    Deleted
  17. So what's next? platinum? by sectionboy · · Score: 4, Funny

    someone please tell me how to tell if there's real platinum in my Capital One® platinum Card, I always want to know.

  18. Re:Mods smoke crack by jcuervo · · Score: 4, Funny
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    Assume I was drunk when I posted this.
  19. Re:a magnet? by cerberusss · · Score: 4, Funny

    And yes, I am a loudspeaker engineer... ;)

    MERRY CHRISTMAS!
    Could you turn that down please? :P
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    8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
  20. Famous last words... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hmmmm...I wonder if this works with magnesium?

  21. Re:a magnet? by TheMidnight · · Score: 2, Funny

    Unless a hot chick injects you in the ass with a syringe full of iron so a rather magnetic villain can escape from a plastic cell.

  22. Re:a magnet? by Lord+Ender · · Score: 3, Funny

    If it weren't for slashdot, I would never know amazingly pointless facts like this one. Thanks, slashdot.

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    A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
  23. Re:a magnet? by Lt.Hawkins · · Score: 2, Funny

    Sure, it might prevent a automatic pressure door on an undersea rig from locking you in, but it doesn't hold a sharp edge at all. Nor will it stain when you drop it into a chemical toilet... Your hand may, however, be blue.
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    -- My Sig is a P228.
  24. Re:is there a better way? by berashith · · Score: 2, Funny

    Exactly my thought. I don't think it would go over too well if my wife found me with my wedding ring in a vice while holding a grinder. The only thing to make it worse would be if I had forgotten the safety goggles again.