ltwguns.com

I just gnawed through my first titanium framed Commander and lived to tell about it. I'm so happy that it came out without bankrupting me from broken cutters, worn out files and miles of dulled emory strips (all the crap that I worried about when I started this project) that I thought I'd show some pics of the outcome.

It consists of a Caspian titanium Commander frame and Caspian carbon steel Commander slide. It has Heinie SlantPro Straight-8 sights, Kart 9X19 barrel with Clark-Para ramp, EGW angle-bore bushing. The slide has ball cuts, bottom corner bevels, flat top, rear serrations at 40 lpi, and is finished off with a carry bevel. The frame has 20 lpi front strap serrations, mag well bevel, Ed Brown bobtail conversion, Wilson beavertail, Brown thumb safety, Videki trigger and a Yost-Bonitz hammer, sear, disconnector set. The lower is bare stainless and titanium and the upper is finished in KG Extreme Teflon.

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shop.HarrisonCustom.com
www.HarrisonCustom.com

The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for.

That's tasty!

Very nice John!

That is a beautiful gun. I love the small details. And the photos are excellent. Thanks for the post John.

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Heirloom Precision, LLC.
480-804-1911

"If everyone is thinking alike, someone isn't thinking."
- General George Patton Jr

Hey John, I haven't had a Ti gun to do yet, but that's tooooo nice. Great detailing, and terrific execution.

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Don Williams
http://www.theactionworks.com
http://www.ltwguns.com

Beautifully executed pistol John! I love the whole look of this pistol! I have not yet cut my teeth on a Ti frame, but this pistol is very inspiring!

Connor

Looks great, John! Is it un-finished Ti (in it's natural color)? I like how the front strap serrations came out - very classy.

John,

Very nice work. I'm impressed with all the details, especially after I saw how hard titanium is to work worth while I was in Ted's shop.

Ray

Nice work, John.

For those of you who haven't messed with it yet, let me guarantee you that Ti is NOT a nice metal to work with.

A metalurgist friend of mine told me that it never should have been named Titanium. Unfortunately, as women and children may be reading this, I'm unable to print what he said it really should have been called.

Cheers, Tim

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CT Brian Custom
'Blending Art With Firepower'

Looks great, John. 90% of my experiences with Ti have been negative too, not that I have a lot. On the frames there seems to usually be an area or two that need redoing, and it's never easy.

Read an article about the making of Ti and it's almost like 7 slaves must die for every pound of metal produced. Like the ore was never meant to become metal, and we are reminded of this every time we try to work it.

Thanks for the kind words. The thing I kept running into, while searching the internet and magazines for inspirational works by other 'smith's, is that I never saw a reference to anybody having done a second Ti gun. I knew that this was wrong, but it was scary that I was wandering into a machining minefield that nobody wanted to go to a second time.

One thing I did do was get some good advice from Chuck Rogers and others on how to cut the stuff. As long as I didn't wander from it, the work turned out allright. I don't know that I want to checker the stuff, but serrations went okay. The only "gummy" work that I got into was trying to bevel the mag well with a cutter that wasn't as sharp as it needed to be. It was rolling up pretty bad, until I got a new countersink.

I found that if I used a fresh new file and more down pressure that I could cut it, but it wasn't like working anything else. It truly didn't like any kind of rotary tool. Emory strips worked okay, but what really went well was sawing it with a hacksaw. When I did the bobtail, I decided to break out the hacksaw and see what it did, because nothing else was going easy and the hacksaw went through the corners like it was aluminum.

I'll do more Ti, but will limit what options I'm willing to do and probably charge a little extra to cover cutter costs.

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shop.HarrisonCustom.com
www.HarrisonCustom.com

The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for.

John, Beautiful job! I had no idea that Titanium was THAT hard to work..
Very informative post, and great pictures. Makes working with Horse Hide, and shark look like child's play.
Lou

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Alessi Holsters, Inc.
You'll never know it's there, until you need it...

John:

That pistol is exceptional!! I am glad you're getting a website online, my wife and wallet aren't too happy though. I will have to locate a suitable base gun for a Precision Gunworks custom.

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John Del Pinto

I have marked May 1st on my calender, anxiously awaiting your website launch! It will help motivate me to get my website up and running as well! My problem is the Classic Custom logo... I'm the kind of guy who loves to do these things myself, and the logo is very classy, but complicated! I chose a font that is suitable for the name, but does not lend itself well to the visions I have for some of the logo shots... Oh all right I'll come clean... I'm still having a blast doing it!

Connor

Cool Blaster, John! Looks to be a superfine carry gun Bet it's a pleasure to shoot too.

You're one brave man. Glad you survived the ordeal....

Any idea on the finished weight of that pistola?

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Stan Chen Customs
http://www.chencustoms.com

Lou,
I once thought making holsters might be an easy way to score big coin. After the Doctors seperated the three fingers that I sewed together, I gave it up. You guys that do leather have the real skill and vision.

John, Anytime, brother. May your wallet and wife develop the sense of harmony that allows another pistolsmith to add to your collection.

Connor,
I've screwed with a logo design for months and fell short of anything that I was happy with. I finally gave up and left it to the professionals. My site designer came up with mine.

Stan,
I'll hang it from a scale and report back, but just to heft it, I think it's too close to the weight of steel for all the grief of working with it and it also having the limitations as to what finishes are possible for it. You can't chrome it, blue it, park it, and I'm not sure, but think you can't anodize it. It leaves spray & bake, which is good stuff, but it's sure nice to have options!

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shop.HarrisonCustom.com
www.HarrisonCustom.com

The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for.

Lou's being quite modest here. Very few people are aware that he catches his own sharks bare handed.

John, Ti can be anodized.

Cheers, Tim

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CT Brian Custom
'Blending Art With Firepower'

[quote="CT Brian]

John, Ti can be anodized.

Cheers, Tim[/quote]

That's excellent news, I guess I was mis-informed. Finding a good source for anodizing has been on my list of things to do. Can you recommend anyone?

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shop.HarrisonCustom.com
www.HarrisonCustom.com

The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for.

John,

I was talking with someone at SVI a while back about Titanium, and was told that it can be anodized. I haven't personally tried it yet, but have a project that I'm knee deep in presently that will be the testing ground.

I use Techplate for my anodizing. I was talking with Marshall there about anodizing Ti, and he'd had no experience yet, but he's about to get some.

Hope this helps. Heck, you might also want to give SVI a call and see who does their anodizing, too. I'd be interested in knowing.

Cheers, Tim

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CT Brian Custom
'Blending Art With Firepower'

OooOooOoo...sounds like pictures are in order

I know the owner of this fine piece and got the opportunity to check it out in person soon after he took possession of it. Well the pics are good but let me tell you, John really did great work on this gun. I love his attention to detail.

Regarding the metal: The texture of the naked Ti has an interesting feel to it. Even the smooth parts kinda have a traction that's hard to explain. I really like the way this gun handles.

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Rick

"...appeasement is never a dirty word to those whose genuine weakness offers few appealing alternatives. For them, it is a policy of sophistication. " --Robert Kagan

Believe it or not, I also liike custom knives. You should see what some of these guys do with Ti. They do a flame job that applies heat, which in turn chages to color. Look at the transition:

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John Del Pinto

All in good time, James.

Cheers, Tim

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CT Brian Custom
'Blending Art With Firepower'

When Lew asked our anodizer about doing Titanium, she showed him the racks they use for anodizing aluminum- all made of titanium wire, and all a deep black color. I've got a titanium gripsafety there now, and I'll know in a couple of days how it works out. I'll keep you posted!

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Heirloom Precision, LLC.
480-804-1911

Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.

TR

Please do, Ted.

Cheers, Tim

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CT Brian Custom
'Blending Art With Firepower'

Hello everyone:
I just found out that LTW is up and running, so I invited myself in when y'all left the door open.
I am the lucky owner of this one of a kind titanium roscoe. I bet John cussed me out plenty while he worked on this piece and it ate up all of his drill bits. I presented John with a challenge of building a gun on new material and being a 9mm Commander it is not an easy piece to make run. But John was up to the task and the gun runs like a top. The weak link in the 9mm is the magazine. You find the right magazine and it will work for you.
I had the opportunity to shoot it side by side with an all steel Colt Commander 9mm and an all steel full size Nowlin 9mm. The full size felt sluggish during cycling, the all steel Commander felt recoil was sharper and snappier. To me the Ti was in between, less snappy but not sluggish. So far I've had 500 rounds through it with very little problem. I'm still sorting out magazines. I'll use it in the AL IDPA State Match Friday, we'll see how it does. A poor finish won't be blamed on the gun, but the shooter.
Great site gentlemen. Thanks.

For the curious, according to Caspian the weights run something like this:

Aluminum 4.6 oz
Titanium 7.3 oz
Steel 11.9 oz

So Titanium almost exactly splits the difference between aluminum and steel as far as weight goes.

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Sean Smith
"Hey don't worry, I can handle it. I took something. I can see things no one else can see. Why are you dressed like that?" -Jack Burton, Big Trouble in Little China

As far as Ti annodizing, it doesn't come out like alum. The colors are more basic and translusent. It is being used more and more extensively in high end RC cars and paintball markers. The finish is durable but not as distinct as what you usually find in firearms.

Here is a sight that manufactures R/C model components in ti exculsively and they have pictures of them annodized in several different colors.
http://www.racinghardcore.com

Hope this helps,

Very, very nice. Everything you need, with no "crap" hanging on to it- thank you for that!

I can't imagine working with titanium on a gun. Until recent back trouble forced me out, I was an airline mechanic/lead mechanic for 17 years. Drilling some #30 or #21 holes in Ti a few times a year was enough for me.
I can't wait until someone finds out that Inconel is used in heat critical areas (engine cases, eng mounts, etc) and decides that's needed for guns because they get hot sometimes! Think of it as Ti but more "brittle".

Inconel is also used in some applications as part of a diecast mold and in sound suppressor parts.

Yeah, I saw a couple of years ago where someone (OPS, inc?) was using Inconel for suppressors. Makes sense, since heat is an enemy of "cans" both for sound suppression and durabilty. Good thinking on whoever's part.