Ultralight Backpacking

“My "trowel" weighs one ounce and doubles as a tent stake.

”

“If ya can't find a rock your buddy's boot will work too.”

“see, pathman, you could save .7 oz...”

“Cool project, Jimmy san.
You are kinda anal, aren't you? ;-)”

“You dont bury the Poo you Bury the paper.

Nice job JS.

I Like your Idea Pathman. I got some of them.”

“I don't use paper so their's no reason for me to bury anthing. I just grab the storm flap off someone elses tent, who lets see, is preoccupied with being on the love rock and not paying attention and then let me have free range in their bag of trail mix.”

“Paper decomposes readily.”

“very nice JS!

how sharp are those edges? and how difficult was it to work with the titanium?”

“The titanium was a lot harder to work with than I thought. I went through a few dremel tool wheels to cut out and refine the shape... lots of sparks and dust! Safety glasses were pretty important. Stuff kept hitting my face.

The hard part was bending the trowel. I had no idea that stuff was so hard to bend. I wound up using 4 hose clamps and rather painfully wrapping the titanium around a piece of 1/2" galvanized pipe. Even then the hose clamps stopped being effective at some point and I had to use a vice to pinch the ends together. It was a LOT of work.

The titanium sheet is a little under .5mm thick (0.016 inches). It's pretty sharp. I could have put an edge on it with the dremel tool and made it sharper but I chose to actually square off the edge. I thought .5mm would be sharp enough for digging and would not present a threat to any gear it might brush against. I can always put an edge on it later if I want one.

Note that the MontBell trowel has a rounded tip. The pattern I cut has a pointed tip.
last edited: 1/14/07 10:15:32 AM”

“It could double as a honkin big spoon as well.”

“Fire Hazard
7.1 High Surface Area/Finely Divided Material
Forms such as foil, fine wire, turnings, millings, grindings, powder and dust et
cetera are flammable. Once ignited titanium burns fiercely giving off intense heat and
is difficult to extinguish. Metal power or dust forms an explosive mixture with air or an
oxidiser. Water reacts with burning titanium to release hydrogen. Titanium will burn in
an atmosphere of carbon dioxide or nitrogen.

8 Storage
8.1 Foil, Fine Wire, Turnings, Millings
Avoid sources of ignition. Store away from other combustible materials.
8.2 Powder Residues, Grindings, Dust Extractor Sludges
Do not store. Dispose of as soon after arising as possible.
12 Emergency Action
12.1 Spillage (of swarf, powder, fines et cetera)
Sweep material into clean drums. Avoid sparks and all other forms of ignition.
Hose down with water any small amounts of material remaining.
12.2 Fire
Do not use water, foam, chemical liquid, gas or dry powder extinguishers. Smother
with large quantities of dry sand or salt. Remove any nearby combustible material.
12.3 First Aid
Remove any clothing impregnated with titanium dust. Eye or skin contact. Normal procedure
for foreign object, wash with water.
13 Additional Information
Titanium will burn in the presence of dry chlorine at room temperature. (Ref 3).
Titanium should not be melted or welded other than under a protective argon
atmosphere or under vacuum.”

“I have a titanium cook pot.”

“sweet pooper scooper Jimmy. I bet rollers for sheetmetal would work (not that you have em).”

“A titanium roach clip is not a good idea then? I was on the wrong path man. Man ,again.”

“solid titanium, no problem. Titanium dust or filings in the roach, not a good idea.”

“I did not know the stuff was hazardous. Thanks for the warning.”

“a blue hershey's kiss???”

“ribbed for her pleasure?”

“i never did like ribbed. it was like being sanded.”