All About Pocket Knives

I picked up this Remington stockman today at the local fleamarket for $2. Looks to me like it is outgassing, and that lump of black stuff is stuck to the handle material. Looks like some kind of "tumor" or something. Maybe the black stuff is something that melted and dripped onto the knife and triggered the outgassing.The rust on the blades follows a line on the part of the blade that would extend above the liners with the blades closed. I will get those handles off tomorrow and rehandle it with something more stable. It should clean up and be presentable with new handle material.

Looks like a nice $2 find

Glad you are the one who found it OC. Can't wait to see the pic when you are finished.

Man, I wish I had the skill & confidence to do work like rehandling on old knives. I know that if I tried it, I would end up with a pile of broken knives I *intended* to fix, plus $300 worth of tools and supplies, and *one* knife where I attempted to do the fix, learned it is a helluva lot harder than it looks, and then gave up and walked away. I have a list of similar outcomes in other hobbies...

OLDE CUTLER wrote: ↑Mon Oct 07, 2019 12:06 am Looks like some kind of "tumor" or something.

I wouldn't put that pocket knife in my pocket.

Make a happy little Remington out of it, OC.

TwoFlowersLuggage wrote: ↑Mon Oct 07, 2019 1:52 am I have a list of similar outcomes in other hobbies...

I would probably sing that tune, too .....
If I had the $$ to flitter away on stuff

I cleaned this one up good, and took an Exaco blade and carefully removed the "tumor" from the handle material. There is no shrinkage, or cracks in the handle material, so I am wondering if it really was outgassing, or if the black material that melted and dripped was what caused the rust. Are Remington knives like this from this era known to outgas? I think I will wait and not rehandle it until I can tell for sure what the problem is.

Nice thoughtful approach OLDE CUTLER.
Maybe the problem is solved.
That is a good looking knife.

Very common for the lighter colors that are somewhat clear like yours to "blow up" or off gas. I have seen many. The rear scale looks like it is off gassing but the front scale looks mostly ok. Another clue is the discoloration on your nickel silver bolsters. The liners can get eaten away from the off gas also to the point of having cracks and holes. Bad stuff and don't put that knife away with others that you like or have value because they will also suffer rust from the one in the photo off gassing. Red candy stripe Remingtons are very hard to come by because of this problem. Even have a couple in the junk pile of parts knives that I never seem to get around to working on.

Update:
I have had this knife in "isolation" for the past 6 or 7 weeks by putting it into a small zip locked bag and folding the top over after pushing most of the air out of the bag before sealing it. I took it out today and before unsealing the bag, I put my nose right up the the opening as I unzipped the bag. The only thing I detected was the smell of Rem oil that I had put on the joints before sealing it up. Does anyone know if the chemical act of outgassing produces a detectable smell? After I did this I thought "what if there had been outgassing and I inhaled the gas? Maybe not good. I dont think it is outgassing, and the damage to it was caused by the melted glob of whatever that dripped onto the knife. (see photos above).

I think it's quite possible this knife had been stored with another knife which was outgassing and the damage you saw was from contamination with the other knife. If so, now that it's cleaned up and away from any other knives it should be fine. On the other hand, if, after a few more weeks you begin to notice discoloration on the bolsters, liners, or blades, you'll know the problem source is your knife.

Eternal vigilance is the price one pays for owning celluloid knives.

Further update.
Per the info above, this knife has been observing "social distancing", by being in "quarantine" in a tightly closed bag since my last post in December. I took this one out this morning to check it, and as soon as I looked at it in the sealed bag with a flashlight, I could see rust on the blades. I carefully opened the bag with my nose right up close to check if outgassing produces any detectable smell, and once again all I could smell was Rem oil. But it definitely is outgassing, so those old celluloid scales will have to go. I had all the rust off the blades, polished a little with Flitz polish, and coated in Rem oil, but now it looks just the same as when I first got it. Too bad, I really liked the colored swirls in those Remington celluloid scales. I am thinking ebony, rosewood, or coca bola would look good on this one.

Photos taken this morning, outgassing.

That's interesting

espn77 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 26, 2020 12:23 am That's interesting

As a Remington collector, have you seen this before? The handle material is tight to the bolsters, no shrinkage or cracks, the material is crystal clear and has not yellowed. But it has started to put rust on the blades again after I had it all cleaned up and oiled. It has been inside a sealed bag for the months since October last. I have only had a couple of other knives with celluloid that was outgassing (none were Remingtons until this one) and the celluloid was very yellow, cracked and shrinking.

Cracked ice and candy stripped Remington knives seem to be the most prone as far as what I've seen. I've always wanted to do exactly what you did. I'm courios did the bad swell as gas was being released?

Sealed bag is the wrong way to go IMHO. I can’t think of any examples of off-gassing celluloid items that have been used regularly or stored sitting in open air where it can “breathe” freely. Celluloid knives or other items. Shrinkage yes sometimes - off-gassing, no.

The gassers I’ve had were all stored in enclosed containers of some type, or in knife rolls in a cabinet or drawer. Before I learned better. I have other celluloid items that are sitting on shelves or table tops, and have been for years without any signs of gassing. Maybe just luck, but that’s my experience.

Ken

I'm sure it is the wrong thing to do, I just always wanted to take one that I knew had a problem and seal it up to see the contained affects of the gas.
I know the modern Remington toothpick with candy stripped handles will gas in any environment

espn77 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 26, 2020 9:46 pm Cracked ice and candy stripped Remington knives seem to be the most prone as far as what I've seen. I've always wanted to do exactly what you did. I'm courios did the bad swell as gas was being released?

No evidence of the bag swelling, and as I mentioned no evidence of any odor from inside the bag (except the Rem oil smell).What would you call the color and pattern of celluloid on this knife? I was somewhat surprised that this happened. I thought being in a tightly sealed bag that was folded over to minimize air content and having a coating of Rem oil on all the steel surfaces would help. Note that the rust on the blades now is a light coating that should remove easily. Obviously a longer time frame (than Oct-March) would have been worse.

Green pyremite?
I think putting it in a sealed bag actually sped up the gassing. I have no scientific evidence of that but I think like ken said, if you dont want them to gas fresh air is the most helpful.

I was doing this as kind of an experiment. I wondered if the outgassing produced a smell, and went with a bag to contain and try to detect if there was a smell. And also putting Rem oil on the blades to see if that deterred rust from outgassing. It didnt.