All About Pocket Knives

upnorth wrote:Ralph, you sent me running to my Candy stripe knives, to see what is up. I have 3, and 2 of the three have some slight "browning" of the bolsters!! AARRRGGGHHHHHHH!!
I keep a heavy coat of oil on knives I am not using or displaying, so maybe the blades are spared so far, but I have a sinking feeling that these knives also have cellulose-itis!!
More practice for MM!!
Are you reading this, Kaleb??

Sorry about that Charlie, didn't mean to make you run But honestly if your seeing the slight browning on the bolsters or the shield that is exactly what I have seen. You might wanna watch those cells..I believe you might have cellulose-itis as well..

RC

Hi folks,

i just recently read somewhere, I believe it was from a forum member but I can't remember which, a little piece about his research with cellulose. He surmised that the reason some cell breaks down quickly and some seems to last for half a century without any degradation has to do with the curing process. Properly cured and stabilized cell needs to be heated and cooled to precise temperatures at a precise rate. If anything is rushed or brought to insufficient temps, the cell becomes unstable. With this in mind I would imagine that the entire batch used for that candy stripe probably came out of the same lot and is therefore all degrading at the same rate.

Eric

PS- Sunburst, that's a beauty! I was looking to pick up a dropped antler handled piece from MM and completely forgot about ordering it till it was too late, now I'm really pissed at my forgetfulness

Sorry to hear about that Charlie. But once it starts, it can degrade extremely fast. For protecting the blades, I have heard of folks using a light grease rather than oil to insure that the blades will be safe. I'd start thinking about what to replace that celluloid with fairly soon. I had a Red Sparkle celluloid (1985 first generation) by Bulldog brand go from a light yellow on the bolster to black on the blade in just 2 months. No pitting though. Thankful for that. I suspect the seller had cleaned the knife just before I bought it.

upnorth wrote:Ralph, you sent me running to my Candy stripe knives, to see what is up. I have 3, and 2 of the three have some slight "browning" of the bolsters!! AARRRGGGHHHHHHH!!
I keep a heavy coat of oil on knives I am not using or displaying, so maybe the blades are spared so far, but I have a sinking feeling that these knives also have cellulose-itis!!
More practice for MM!!
Are you reading this, Kaleb??

Well that sucks Charlie, looks like I may be seeing a couple more knives from Canada roll in pretty soon.

No browning on bolsters of the Candystripe yet but do have that problem beginning on the Waterfall, and yeah Charlie I've been watchin it like a hawk. And keepin the mineral oil on those blades. No damage to them as of yet thankfully. The Tortiose shell is showing no signs either thankfully but fear its only a matter of time.

Gassin46

singin46 wrote:No browning on bolsters of the Candystripe yet but do have that problem beginning on the Waterfall, and yeah Charlie I've been watchin it like a hawk. And keepin the mineral oil on those blades. No damage to them as of yet thankfully. The Tortiose shell is showing no signs either thankfully but fear its only a matter of time.

Gassin46

I can't see anything on the other waterfall singin. . . .yet! This is a revolting development !
This changes my whole approach to appreciating knife handles.
I'm going to display what I have in the open air, and have any with "signs" rehandled. Purty ain't always purty!

Well Charlie, I have kept them away from my other knives so thats good but like you say, display and rehandle the bad and make it good again.
Kaleb will be hearin from me. If I ever get off the road. Leavin today.

Singin46