Max Knives KUBATON4 — Anodised titanium kubaton, tungsten carbide tip

Overview

Two materials make the KUBATON4: a titanium body shaped by hand, and a tungsten carbide point that leaves the nose on command. The first is light and untroubled by damp, the second ranks among the hardest that cutlery works with. The anodising, carried out by hand in the MAXKNIVES workshops in France, has left this example gold turning to bronze along the body, then a clear pink near the point. A key ring completes the whole.

Tungsten carbide against toughened glass

Tungsten carbide is a sintered composite: very hard carbide grains held in a metallic binder. Its hardness places it well above cutlery steels, and that is exactly what matters here. Toughened glass, for its part, is glass held under stress from the moment it is made: it takes spread-out impacts very well and concentrated loads on a tiny point far less well. A carbide point pressed home is enough to start the fracture, and the pane comes apart at once into small pieces. Hence such a point on an object that travels with the keys.

Technical specifications

Anodised titanium for the body, tungsten carbide for the point: those are the two materials of this kubaton, assembled by hand in France. The pick works as a single-action automatic OTF, mechanical on the way out through the nose and pushed back with a finger. The point provides the glass-breaker function. Integrated key ring. Shade of the present example: gold and bronze on the body, pink towards the tip. The model is catalogued in several anodising colours.

Care

The body cleans up with plain water and should be dried straight away; titanium takes it without complaint, and the carbide point stays clean that way. No abrasive product should touch the anodised surface: the colour rests on a few nanometres of oxide that even light sanding would erase. Check now and then that nothing is blocking the exit port, and that the key ring is properly closed.