Max Knives KUBATON1 — Anodised titanium kubaton, OTF pick, glass breaker

Overview

A kubaton is a short solid bar that closes inside the hand and carries a set of keys. It is a pocket object first of all: it leaves with the keys in the morning, lands on the hall table at night and goes out again the next day. This one is machined from titanium and anodised by hand in the MAXKNIVES workshops in France. The piece photographed runs from violet into blue, then turns turquoise towards the tip, a sequence of shades that belongs to it alone since no two bodies leave the bath alike.

Why titanium takes on colour

Anodising lays no paint on the metal. An electric current grows an extremely thin oxide film on the surface of the titanium, and the thickness of that film decides which colour comes back: light reflects twice, off the top and off the bottom of the film, and the two waves recombine so that a single hue survives. A few tens of nanometres of difference are enough to move from violet to blue and on to turquoise. Because the work is done by hand, the thickness shifts along the body and the gradient is never played twice the same way.

Technical specifications

Kubaton body in anodised titanium, made by hand in the MAXKNIVES workshops in France. Single-action automatic OTF pick: the mechanism drives the point out through the nose of the body, and the point is then pushed back in by hand. That point is tungsten carbide and serves as a glass breaker. A key ring is fitted. On the example shown, the anodising runs violet and blue into turquoise at the tip; the shop lists the reference in several colours, each body coloured on its own.

Care

Titanium does not rust, and the coloured layer is grown into the metal rather than laid on top of it: a dry cloth is all it takes after a day in the pocket. Keep abrasive pastes and scouring pads away, since they would thin that oxide film and shift the shade. Wipe the carbide point dry after any contact with water, and keep the nose of the body clear so the pick travels out freely.