All About Pocket Knives

Anyone know what the black handle material is on a BUCK folder? Found this one while rumaging through my crap and find that the handles have a white discoloration on them. With some effort the discoloration can be wiped off.

It's Delrin. A DuPont material. The older black sawcuts, left in a confined space and untouched for a long time will do that. It can be scrubed off. I use soap and water and maybe a little polish. Mothers Mag Wheel or toothpaste would work Then put a little mineral oil on it. The new black sawcuts are scaled with a different material. it is Valox. It does not 'out-gas'. Buck black handled fixed blades are handled with a hard material, not either of these.

The black sawcuts have to have the ability to be melted to form sort of a rivet head in order to hold on the scale. Open all the blades and look down in the blade well and you will see several flat black circles of the handle material. These are the 'melted' rivet heads that hold the scale to the liner.....

As a side note the shields with the knife, bolt and hammer engraving in the scale actually aren't. They actually are a pillar of metal attached to the liner and the scale, while hot and flexible, is forced over the pillar which helps hold the scale on.

300Bucks

Here is look inside a black sawcut scale and the newer Dymondwood and yellow Delrin scaled models. You and see the melted heads of scale material and the 'pits' the material is melted in. The other two knives show the depressions on the inside of the liner but those models have their scales held on by rivets. I believe the black sawcut is the strongest method.

Interesting, I saw what you are talking about the black rivot heads in the blade well. Thanks a lot. Guess I need to get about cleaning the handles and making them presentable.