All About Pocket Knives

My favorite front pocket traditional knife has become the Lipic advertising knife manufactured by Camillus. It's a medium jackknife with a spear blade and caplifter/screwdriver blade.

I have one with plain white scales that may or may not have originally had a printed advertisement... there's nothing showing now. I just picked up another one in "cracked ice" type celluloid scales that has fully intact printing on it that I'd like to remove.

I tried an application of Flitz metal polish, hoping I could rub off the painted lettering. That didn't work, at least with one try. I'm thinking maybe I should try to gradually sand it off with 1000 or 1200 grit SiC wet/dry paper and then polish the scale afterwards.

Any recommendations or suggestions?

Thanks,
Bob

Bob, I don't know what the "best" way to remove the advertising is, but I can tell you what I have done. I have quite a few Camillus 23's that I have restored. I completely removed the synthetic scales on most of them and rehandled them with a variety of materials, but on a few that were in better shape, I removed what remained of the advertising with sandpaper as you suggested. I think I used 800, 1000, 1200, 1500 and then 3000 grit, followed by a good hand polishing with flitz and then the loose cotton buffing wheel at low speed, and then a good wax to finish.

Thanks Herb!
Sanding and polishing would seem to be the safest and most obvious method, and the way I'll likely proceed. I was curious if someone might know of a shortcut. For example, I had thought I might try a solvent like lacquer thinner but I chickened out. I didn't want to risk ruining the scale, even to test the solvent in a small area.

0000 steel wool works well.

I don't think any lacquer thinner near a celluloid would be good- - you would have
trouble controlling the surface as it dissolves away.

Sandpaper or 0000 steel wool should be OK.

There probably are no shortcuts if you want an excellent end result. IMHO

Bob

Buffing celluloid on a machine with a loose muslin wheel is a recipe for disaster even if you have a 1700 RPM buffer. The plastics both Delrin and celluloid when you buff them. The only solution I have found is to use a special wheel that is made from strings not from woven cloth like most wheels are. There's also a special rouge that is used to polish plastics. The key is the loose string wheel that doesn't build up the heat and burn the plastic. Even when using the string buffing wheel I am still very cautious about buffing celluloid.

I agree that lacquer thinner was probably be a disaster on celluloid. Celluloid can actually burn and is actually explosive. The old building where Camillus made their celluloid had the roof on hinges, so that if there was an explosion in the celluloid room the blast wood be directed upwards and dissipated into the air (more or less), and not blowing out to the sides causing more damage and surrounding buildings.
The only chemical I have successfully used to clean celluloid is Birchwood Casey's Gun Scrubber. It does not seem to affect any synthetic material that I've used it on including celluloid. The can also says it's safe for synthetics.

You have to be very careful buffing celluloid. A bit too aggressive and the celluoid will ignite with an invisible flame. You won't see the flame but you will hear the celluloid burning and smell the camphor odor it puts off. Best to keep a container or water nearby that is suitable for immersing the celluloid in order to put out the fire.

Thanks for all the information. Anything I do to the scales will all be done by hand, and with care.

0000 steel wool and some Flitz polish got the printing off and the scale polished with no harm or noticeable evidence. Thanks for the suggestions, folks! (Wayne and Bob)
I really like these knives as a front-pocket EDC along with a larger modern folder clipped in my back pocket. When people who may be knife-sensitive are around, I can use the Lipic for any knife task at hand without causing too much concern or alarm.

What are the approximate dates of manufacture for these knives? 1950s-1960s? (I'm from 1961, myself...)

Great job, you did the little knife proud.

doglegg wrote: ↑Wed Feb 03, 2021 7:05 pm Great job, you did the little knife proud.

Thank you sir!