We're proud to carry the selection of titanium products that we do -- and we love titanium -- it doesn't corrode and is lightweight. What we don't love is the fact that it's expensive and hard to get.

We've used two US-based distributors. The first one dropped out of the titanium business because the manufacturer, while they make beautiful, high-quality products, were slow to deliver and it was hard to keep quantities in stock.

The second distributor has been super tenacious about buying the stock and keeping quantities on hand... until now.

What's changed? Worldwide demand for titanium has skyrocketed, and while it's not a precious metal, it is slightly rare. The mills had traditionally been set up to work with grades that were a perfect fit for our parts. Now they are gearing up for large orders from US and British-based Aircraft manufacturers and the Chinese to satisfy their building boom.

Consequently the mills have all converted to types that produce a much higher grade and by extension a much more expensive grade of titanium (there are over 20 grades of ti). The Titanium in the correct grade is not presently available in large quantities worldwide and because if this the parts would be totally cost prohibitive, so they're just not making the parts for us. Well, they are -- but the lead times are upwards of six months and the quantities required for an order with reasonable rates are huge.

So what does this all mean? Hang in there. We may have stock and we may not. We're trying to keep the site reasonably up to date. If you are trying to buy large quanities, let us know before placing the order and let us confirm that we can provide you what you need.

On a happy note, we've recently discovered some close-out stock. We'll be adding these items to the site and passing on the savings to you -- check the Ti page for an indication of what we have on hand.