Red Handle Vintage Utility Knives

[kootenay joe]

There is a type of handle that i particularly like. It is sort of 'brick-red' color, smooth to the touch and always nice radiused at the edges making them round shoulders. I mostly see these handles on vintage (pre WWII) German Utility knives. These Utility knives are always stoutly built, a strong tool is what they are.
I have a few different ones but this 4" C.F.Kayser came in a few days ago and it is such a fine example of these 'vintage stout Utility knives with smooth red handles' that i want to post it here. I have others that i will post but i need weather cooperation so pictures will be better than these CFK ones are.
And if you one or some of these knives please post to this thread. They don't have to be German. It's the handle type with a Utility or other 'working man's' knife that i would like to see.
The picture quality here is very poor. Subsequent knives will be better shown.
kj

[knife7knut]

Here's a couple that I have along with some other colors.The top one with the eagle shield is made in Poland ;the rest are German.

[kootenay joe]

Third from top is Belgium Army Knife, or Dutch ? those i think are a different handle material.
Rubbing vigorously with thumb does not give a smell of rubber. "Hard rubber", whatever that is, was a handle material used about the same time as these red handles.
I have read the word "fibrox' for handles but i don't know which handles it referred to.
k7k, what do think is the material making up these brick red handles ?
kj

[kootenay joe]

Here are 3 Red Handled Utility knives. The lower one is the C.F. Kayser shown above. The upper 2 are both a Swiss Army Soldiers knife. The middle one is "Elsener Schwyz" and has "42" on back tang. The upper one is marked "Wengerinox" and has "56" on the back tang. You can see the SAK cross stamped into the handle at the non bolstered end.
The first Swiss Army Soldiers knife was a Carl Elsener (founded what became Victorinox) knife in 1891. The pattern is the same as the upper 2 in the picture: spearpoint master & screwdriver wire stripper at bolstered end and awl & tin opener at the shadow end. (shadow = no bolsters).
I think the "42" & "56" are the years that tweaking of the basic pattern was first issued.
kj

[Mumbleypeg]

Here's a rare old Case Tested utility knife with "red fibroid" handles.

Ken

[kootenay joe]

I did not know Case had ever used this type of handle material. Is it a rare knife ? And, Case made or contract ?
I think all the examples i have are German made knives.
Here are 3 more, from the bottom: R. Klass; K & Co.(Kastor import branding); and Omegawerk.
kj

[kootenay joe]

Here is an interesting 3 5/8" Double End Jack marked "H A W O". It came in a collection of C.F.Kayser knives and CFK did a lot of contract work for other knife companies, etc., but this does not prove that this is a CFK made knife.
If you have ever seen or know of "H A W O" please post about it. I have not been able to find any info about this marking.
kj

[Quick Steel]

KJ: What a wonderful collection of utility knives.

[Mumbleypeg]

I did not know Case had ever used this type of handle material. Is it a rare knife ? And, Case made or contract ?
kj

I don't know much about the history on Case use of this handle material, nor who made them. Sargent's 7th Edition has a knife listed (no pictures) as "6445R, Tested XX, Navy knife, red fibroid, WWII". Not sure it's the same knife though, as the R would indicate it has a bail. Official Price Guide to Collector Knives also lists an R445R (again no picture) having "red fiberloid" handles.

As to its rarity, I''m no expert but I have only ever seen one other like it. It was listed for sale on eBay a while back. Usually see this pattern from Case with bolsters, and handles of jigged bone.

Wish I knew more - maybe someone will see this thread and enlighten us!

Ken

[tongueriver]

I did not know Case had ever used this type of handle material. Is it a rare knife ? And, Case made or contract ? kj

I don't know much about the history on Case use of this handle material, nor who made them. Sargent's 7th Edition has a knife listed (no pictures) as "6445R, Tested XX, Navy knife, red fibroid, WWII". Not sure it's the same knife though, as the R would indicate it has a bail. Official Price Guide to Collector Knives also lists an R445R (again no picture) having "red fiberloid" handles. As to its rarity, I''m no expert but I have only ever seen one other like it. It was listed for sale on eBay a while back. Usually see this pattern from Case with bolsters, and handles of jigged bone. Wish I knew more - maybe someone will see this thread and enlighten us! Ken

See pages 160 and 161 of COLLECTING CASE KNIVES, by our own Steve Pfeiffer.

[Mumbleypeg]

Thanks Cal. That is excellent info regarding Case XX era and more recent versions and variants of the 45 utility pattern including who made them. But not much about Tested era on this pattern and unless I missed it, nothing about red composition handle material being used. Would be interesting to know that story.

Ken

[espn77]

Of all the knives I have. This is the last one I thought I would show off. It came in a group of other knives I bought. Got it home and threw it in the drawer. A Syracuse knife company. It's big at 5 1/8 inches long. It's back in the drawer now

[kootenay joe]

espn77, i think your big red knife has a different handle material. The ones i am posting and hoping to find out about have brick red handles but they are not any type of plastic. Your knife looks to have plastic handles, maybe Delrin ?
Thanks for posting because every post helps with some information.
kj

[knife7knut]

espn77, i think your big red knife has a different handle material. The ones i am posting and hoping to find out about have brick red handles but they are not any type of plastic. Your knife looks to have plastic handles, maybe Delrin ?
Thanks for posting because every post helps with some information.
kj

That Syracuse knife is I believe from Poland.The group shot I posted with the one that has the eagle shield is a Syracuse and is plastic. The handle material in question may possibly be Bakelite. It came in a variety of colors but the two most popular were a brown and black. Bakelite also came either as a cloth impregnated material like Micarta or solid. One way to tell is to rub the surface briskly and the odor that it gives off is almost metallic.
EDIT:Read the Wikipedia writeup on Bakelite;very informative.

[knife7knut]

Here is one I picked up the other day that is a bit of an anachronism. The scales are a rough textured plastic(?) similar to the German or Swiss florists' knives but the name Clauss is stamped into the scale and the tang stamp simply says Stainless steel USA.Concave grind on the blade.Nice little EDC for $2.

[kootenay joe]

I have one of those Clauss knives. Don't know who made them but they show up on ebay every few months.
kj