Appreciate that… How do I turn things on a mill? Veeeery carefully, LOL! Seriously, the same way items are turned in a lathe. I can only do small items. And it doesn’t have very high precision of a good lathe, so I have to finish by hand. And also, I don’t make things which require precision to the Ten-Thousandths decimal. Oh, and nothing intricate. I can’t turn on a bevel or do threading. Just small pieces parts.. like this, or the Firing Pin I made.

No, I’m not worried. You said in the machine shop you’ve seen Ti have wear issues. Compared to what? The factory Pins are a low alloy steel & firearms parts aren’t as “hard” as people think. Certainly not to a custom Knifemaker like myself. I deal with many very high alloy Tool & Stainless steels which I heat treat & temper in the low 60’s HRC Rockwell. That’s HARD! And no gun part is hardened anywhere near that level. Firearms parts are heat treated in the low 30’s to 40’s Rockwell, typically. A 1911 Sear is probably one of the harder gun parts, and they are only maybe 43HRC. Now Titanium is actually harder than many people think. At least Grade 5 Titanium. That’s 6AL4V, denoting the chemical composition of 6% Aluminum & 4% Vanadium in the mix! It’s typically 30-34 Rockwell in the full Annealed state. Properly solution & aged treated Titanium will reach 41+ Rockwell. Work hardening can add another point or so. So the numbers are actually very close. I’ve actually played around with making titanium knives, and while it’s certainly not blade steel, it’s still pretty hard.

Oh, just for reference: Remember on the Rockwell “C” scale, a Diamond is the hardest substance at 100HRC. The Hardest steel used for cutting tools, like the lathe bits many people use, are maybe 65-67HRC. The hardest steel we can produce currently is REX 76 & 121 which will reach about 71HRC. That is CRAZY hard!