OceanQuest Titanium Knife Question

[loady]

I bought a Ocean Quest titanium knife at a low price from scuba.com. The blade is stamped "titanium HRC 52" (Rockwell C hardness scale). The salesperson said it's ti and so does the box. I'm a little skeptical its mostly titanium because of the price - $30 - and that I've read that titanium is softer then 52. The finish is dark grey but the edge is silver. I read that one test is if the metal is magnetic. However, I also read that stainless steel is non magnetic, like titanium. I can't find out much info on Ocean Quest and think it might be a house brand of Scuba.com
Does anyone have any advice on verifying if it's actually titanium? Has anyone used Ocean Quest gear and can vouch for it?
Thanks.

 

[saxman242]

HRC 52 is definitely very, very high for normal titanium alloys. There are some ti nitride coatings and such that are higher, but that seems to be a bit removed from the topic at hand. What you're describing sounds more like a ti carbo-nitride coated steel with that sort of appearance.

Easiest way to test using household equipment would be to grab a few 9 volt batteries, some vinegar and some aluminum foil and try to annodize it. If it's Ti, you'll pick up some very pretty colors on it.

 

[loady]

No I’m not going to make it un returnable. I put a magnet on it and many stainless steel blades. The magnet didn’t stick to the possibly ti blade. It did to the others.

 

[Rred]

Loady, most stainless steel alloys have some residual magnetism. A few have none, the rest generally are much weaker than iron knives. If you look at Spyderco's range of steel alloys, and other makers, you'll see hardnesses of up to 60, sometimes slightly higher. Of course hard often means brittle as well. Titanium for dive knives is great because there will never be a rust problem, but in terms of putting and keeping a sharp edge on it, not so special.
IIRC the prices on titanium worldwide really plunged when the USSR came apart, putting most of the world supply back on the open market.