Faulk titanium or carbon fiber?

[Ron Nossaman]

> A note on materials:
> 
> The reason titanium has been a popular choice for tuning hammers is 
> because it's lighter than steel. What most people do not realize is that 
> titanium has more flex than steel. That extra flex is great for golf 
> clubs, but is a disadvantage for tuning hammers.

Good luck on that one Mark. I don't think anyone accepted that 
when I pointed it out a couple of years ago. It is, however 
the case.


> Carbon fiber is lighter than both steel and titanium, and considerably 
> more rigid than either metal. 

Not exactly. Carbon fiber is considerably more flexible than 
either titanium or steel. It's very high resistance to both 
compression and stretch at the extreme fiber of the section 
assembly can make the assembly more rigid for a given section 
than either steel or titanium. Flexibility can be controlled 
to some degree with fiber orientation in the matrix, as well 
as section dimensions. Steve's carbon tube has an enormous 
section diameter, so it's going to be the stiffest hammer 
shaft on the planet. Remember that the first iteration used 
aluminum tubing, and was still way stiffer than conventional 
steel shafted hammers just because of the section size.


>I've also heard 
> people insist that titanium is more rigid than steel or carbon fiber. 
> That is simply false.
> 
> Mark Purney, RPT

It is indeed, verifiable by looking it up.

The problem I see is more in a belief of some sort of 
universal superiority of a material than attempting to 
understand how it's individual properties perform in a 
specific configuration and use.
Ron N