Tips

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 mypyrex 18 Aug 2017
Anyone know what the tips of trekking poles are made of? I imagine it must be a fairly hard wearing metallic substance. Do they ever wear right down?
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cb294 18 Aug 2017
In reply to mypyrex:

The tips of my poles are made of tungsten carbide, same as concrete drill bits (some fancy Komperdell model).

CB.
OP mypyrex 18 Aug 2017
In reply to cb294:

> same as concrete drill bits

Hmmm, that would figure. Thanks.

In reply to cb294:

I very much doubt if any of the standard good trekking poles, like Leki, Trekmate or Aldi, have tungsten carbide tips. Or even the more expensive ones. Sounds a bit far-fetched to me. In answer to your last question: of course they wear down a bit (it's not as if they have to be desperately sharp anyway). The problem with most poles is that they get bent/snap/fall apart sooner or later. Sometimes sooner.
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 DerwentDiluted 18 Aug 2017
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

I think the tips on the better ones are made from Tungsten Carbide, it is pretty common in industry as a hard wearing material for tooling inserts etc.
In reply to DerwentDiluted:

OK, but it seems rather pointless. ... Oops.
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cb294 18 Aug 2017
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Just looked it up on the Komperdell website, definitely tungsten carbide.

CB
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

> OK, but it seems rather pointless

Not pointless. Steel tips wear down in no time.

My tungsten carbide Komperdell tips are now pretty rounded; probably time to but some new ones.
In reply to captain paranoia:

Not quite sure why they have to be very sharp at all. Anyhow, it was meant to be a joke ...
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

> Not quite sure why they have to be very sharp at all.

They aren't sharp. But they are shaped.

The most important property of TC in this application is its hardness; the resistance to being worn down.

It was a pretty poor pun... And my reply was really addressing your first, bold, statement that TC is not used in pole tips.

You leave the engineering to the engineers, and we'll leave the dodgy puns to the wordsmiths.
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