Matt,

I wouldn't worry about the health risks of titanium utensils. It is very non-reactive. This is why it is popular for use in salt water. It is also commonly used in human implants. The scratches are more cosmetic than anything.

Check out this titanium "real" flatware. If you check the weights compared to your spork, I think you'll find you can have "real" flatware for similar weight to the spork.. And I bet a lot less people have titanium flatware vs titanium sporks....

http://www.titaniumart.com/hc-flatware-tc07.html

-john

You're an EMT, right? You sometimes eat firehouse food, right? Don't worry about the Titanium.. worry about the chili!

Seriously though, Matt:
I talked with a biomedical engineer who designs Titanium implants. He says you probably are at greater risk from whatever you eat WITH your Spork than from the Titanium itself.

I understand your point about the resistivity of aluminum - the point I was making is if you compare two wires, one aluminum, one copper, of equal weight, the aluminum wire has a smaller resistance. Of course, the aluminum wire has about a 70% greater diameter. And despite the greater diameter it's usually cheaper too

Part of the problem with aluminum wiring is not just that it corrodes, it is the way it corrodes. It is not for nothing that virtually all jurisdictions have banned its use for electical structure wiring. I have handled a number of aluminum wiring fires. I have seen aluminum wiring side by side with copper in the same installation. The aluminum was unsafe; the copper was still safe.

That is because aluminum flakes as it degrades. And aluminum flake burns, just like magnesium flake. Why do you think it is one of the components of thermite, or at least the home made version.

I asked around, and while I don't have the engineering experince that some here do, some of my coworkers do. They all said flat out that the reason why people pushed aluminum wiring was because it was lighter and cheaper. They looked at my like I was nuts when I asked if it had a lower resistance.

That's what I mean about the 'way' it corrodes. And yes, it was much cheaper. There are entire neighborhoods here that are not worth tearing down because they were such crap to begin with and are ot worth the price of re-wiring with copper. Unfortunately, a lot of those houses were sold to returning vietnam vets in neighborhoods surrounding the military bases. We have 7 in/around San Antonio.

Saw this, remembered your post...

Titanium Flashlights

Is titanium more resistant to the chemicals released by batteries when they leak?
I know when every my Al flashlights get a battery leak, they are most often trashed... As in: The insides are so corroded that you cannot even unscrew the end, because the threads do not even seem to BE there anymore...This has happened to mearly all of my Maglights(At one time, they were nearly the only 'good' thing you could get around here...), and also some pilot's flashlights, and others that I have...
It almost makes me want to go back to Carbon/Zinc batteries(I only use good name brand Alk's these days), because I THINK that Al is resestant to that type of battery acid...

I don't know about chemicals in batteries, but Ti is pretty darn resistant to most things.

However, Ti isn't a great flashlight material for a number of reasons.

Instead of carbon-zinc, I'd look at lithium powered lights for long term storage. They have a shelf life of about ten years, are resistaint to cold.

For example, the Surefire G2 is a great deal for a very tough, bright little light.

There are also some great, low (ish) cost LED lights like this light that supports two levels, or this or this one cell light.

And the lithium cells can be had for around $1 ea. online.

-john

What are the reasons? Cost is the first one that comes to mind, but I'm curious what other ones there are...