All About Pocket Knives

Hi. New member here.
I had not heard of German Eye knives before I was given this one yesterday. It is a 3 eye (discernible with a glass and strong light). I ID'd the brand with Google and looked at hundreds of images trying to find one like it. I never found a Ranchman 3 blade without rivets in the handle material. The handle material seems to be a relatively soft wood. The handle material is well fitted and looks to be as old and beat up as the knife itself so I'm thinking the handles have not been replaced with this material. Can anyone tell me if there are more of these or has this one been messed with?

No real clue. You'll need to post some clear photos including a shot or two of the tang stamp or stamps.
Welcome to the finest forum and we'll sure try to help if you can get some photos posted.

Ray

Oops. Forgot to attach photo.

Handles have clearly been replaced. I can't see the tang stamp very good but the etch, at least as much as I can see, would lead me to say that it is an older knife. There are more of them around and eBay is probably the best place to look. If you do a search, use stockman for the name rather than ranchman.

Ray

Thx Ray.
Stockman it is. Still don't have the jargon down.

I just did a search for Eye Brand and found this one, first item on my search result.

Ray
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-C-Schli ... SwdGFYtwhJ

I have a Schlieper 4 1/4" Stockman, # 425Y with yellow handles. In the last few months the back handle has out gassed and shriveled up.
I did not know the Schlieper yellow handles are celluloid. I had thought they are Delrin.
The same might have happened to OP knife and so handles were replaced.
kj

Here is the off gassed Eye Brand i mentioned above. I have collected Eye Brand for years and have never seen any breakdown of their yellow handles before. I had assumed they were Delrin which came into use in 1960 in USA. There are at least 2 different yellows in the Schlieper handles, one is darker and i think it is the older. All are more recent than 1960 and the yellow looks much like the Schrade yellow Delrin of the 1970's.
However this one off gassed so it is celluloid.
Has anyone else had an Eye Brand off gas ?
kj

That's a textbook example of outgassing.

Yes it is, but did anyone here actually know that the Schielper yellow handles are celluloid ? I did not know. I have and have had many yellow handled Schlieper knives and the others show no signs of shrinking, curling up of edges or off-gassing.
Are only some of the Schlieper yellow handles celluloid ? or all of them ?
This is an important question for the Eye Brand collector. Surely somebody, somewhere, knows the answer.
kj

Pop those handles off right away!

It can still be saved.

Thats sad kj, I have a bulldog and a weidmannsheil out gas on me totally turned me against celluloid. Were there any other knives with that one?

Monte

It was loose in a drawer with other Eye Brand knives waiting to be put into a storage case. None of the other knives were affected and there was no adverse situation (sunlight, heat, etc.) to precipitate the off gassing.
I think it is a fairly recently made knife, 1990's ?
kj

KJ, I too have had problems with celluloid. All my problems have been with newer knives made in Germany. The old ones I have I have had no problem with. The ones that have given problems were bulldog,fighting rooster, and weidmannsheil. I see knives with celluloid that are very appealing. But I dont buy or bid on them too risky.

Monte