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Hi, I'm no metalurgist, or gunsmith. But here's something that might help you guys with titanium that seems to be getting more popular.

Boeing (yes, the aircraft factory) has a product called Boelube that acts as a cutting fluid on Ti. This stuff is magic.
I'm a lead mech with an airline (17 years), and while we really don't have to work with Ti much, when we do, it's driling holes. As any of you who have worked with it has found, Ti isn't all that bad to file, sand, or grind; but when you start drilling it, life gets hard. Handheld, air-powered, mini-belt sanders are wonderful things.
In my work, we are spoiled by working with aluminum most of the time, so maybe Ti isn't a big deal to you guys after all.

Now, Boelube comes in one pound plastic jars. It's light blue, kinda stiff in consistency, and waxy feeling. It turns to liquid when heated by the work. We usually keep an open jar near our work, and just poke the drill bit into it now and then.
Getting it is the problem. It's always been valuable stuff to us. Hard to get, and walks away when you aren't looking. Last I heard, it was around $55 a jar.
I'm home with a back injury, and the Maint Ctr I worked at is shut down now, or I would "aquire some", and send some care packages. If anyone is near Seattle, Boeing used to sell this, and other items like surplus tooling out the door. So you might want to appoint an agent to investigate.

Maybe Ti isn't really a big deal for you guys. I don't know. I was just at the 1911 forum, and the subject came up, and I thought I'd pass it along.

Thanks for the info Barry, I have not yet worked on Ti yet, but Ted has close to a dozen in the starting stages. It appears to be a good metal for guns, but watching Ted put it together sometimes it seems to be a pain, but Ted has made some very nice Ti guns. We'll see what happens.

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