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Titanium Golf Shaft Trekking Poles?
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Jun 6, 2013 at 8:09 am #1303856
I'm looking to make my own trekking poles out of golf shafts, and I was wondering if titanium was a viable material, in terms of strength, cost and availability. I'm not looking to spend more that $50 dollars on all of the parts, would titanium shafts make sense?
Jun 6, 2013 at 8:30 am #1993886Have you found titanium shafts that are long enough and have a tip diameter that is a good fit to available trekking pole tips? Please share the source. I couldn't find anything close to a reasonable cost. $50 sounds ambitious.
Using single section poles is a step up in any material as you leave all the telescoping hardware and overlapping sections behind. Most MYOG poles use lighter handles as well.
Jun 13, 2013 at 12:00 am #1996134Ti is not a suitable material for trekking poles because it's prone to cracking under bending stress. You won't find any tent poles in Ti for the same reason.
Carbon fibre is best. I have some long uncut shaft weighing just under 2oz which have plenty of strength.
Jun 14, 2013 at 5:34 am #1996535I disagree. Titanium would be a great tent pole/trekking pole material. It has much better tensile strength and far less bending fatigue then the aerospace grade aluminiums commonly used for these applications (7001 and 7075). The only reason is cost. Titanium is several times more expensive per Lb and it weighs more per unit of size. This makes it un-affordable for these applications. Titanium is more expensive per Lb then even carbon fiber.
Jun 14, 2013 at 7:06 am #1996553"Ti is not a suitable material for trekking poles because it's prone to cracking under bending stress."
I know nothing about the metallurgy of Ti, but could this be a function of the Ti alloy used?
That some Ti, for instance that used for golf clubs, IS prone to cracking while other Ti may do well? What ever is used in bike frames seems to do OK, and the seat tube is in a similar compression mode. Offhand, I can't think of any other applications that are close to "trekking pole mode".
Just wondering.
As to price, this does seem to be a pretty "price insensitive" crowd. Even though Cuben is hard to justify on a $$/lb basis, it sees a lot of use.
Jun 14, 2013 at 7:40 am #1996567If you can buy a Ti golf shaft that is no longer usable as a golf shaft then it would be cheaper.
I went into a golf shop recently but no one would wait on me so I left. There's this attitude that they're better than other people or something. I should "get over it" and try a different shop with better service : )
I think golfers are even worse than BPL people at throwing money away for marginally better performance so there should be some cast off Ti shafts out there somewhere.
Jun 14, 2013 at 8:46 am #1996588I'm thinking that you could buy seat stay material for bicycle frame building,and it would be the appropriate diameter and stiffness for trekking poles. It would have to be strait tube though because most of the tapered ones average around 55cm which seems short to me. Kind of like this, but it's out of stock: http://www.cycle-frames.com/bicycle-frame-tubing/19mm-TITANIUM-SEATSTAY-WITH-NO-TAPER.html
I build/repair frames and if I can find a way in my travels to source something, I'll definitely post!
Jun 21, 2013 at 11:22 am #1998704I've made trekking poles from carbon fiber golf shafts and they were light, but too flexible for my tastes. They would bow significantly when any weight was put on them. They were a good experiment, but I don't use them because of it. I have to think that titanium golf shafts would be just as flexible as that's one of the desirable traits of a golf club.
You can get used titanium golf clubs at thrift stores for under $10. I paid 2$ each for my carbon fiber ones.
The carbon fiber tubes that would make good trekking poles are the ones used as movie props, such as the ones used for the Star Wars movies. They use them to "fight" with, then rotoscope the lightsaber blades over them. They are very light and rigid.
So far, my favorite DIY trekking poles were made from bamboo. About 5 oz each and have carbide tips. I do use these frequently.
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