All About Pocket Knives

Greetings first post here! I am a knife lover and came across this unusual looking knife at an estate sale. Old military gentlemen passed away. Anyway I picked up this lovely knife and I cannot find much information about it. Any information would be appreciated.

The knife measure approx 100mm closed. All blades seem tightly fitted without play and liners appear to be stainless? Edit forgot to add the spring for the scissors is broken off and I would like to replace it if possible. Thank you!

According to Levine's GUIDE, Louis Eloi Pernet knives are high value, Paris, France. c.1932-present. Nice one! J.O'.

Thank you!
I figured it was a good find when I saw the skins and double back side tools on one pivot. Then I started inspecting it closer and went this is something special. Skins appears to be from bone or horn maybe? Wish I knew the year.
Main question is where to find a replacement spring for the scissors.

From your pics I'm not sure about the scales? Could be ivory, celluloid, or white bone. Bone has tiny capillary ends that show as minute dark spots under magnification. Ivory has faint parallel stripes that may require magnification and no capillaries. From the small breaks I see near the pins, it may be celluloid.
Maybe you could get a cheap Chinese or other import knife with a spring to substitute. Those old scissors are often missing that spring. They just slide into a groove. They're not extremely important to the value. It's a really nice piece in fine condition. Not to be instructive but if it were mine I'd just put a drop of light oil on the joints, wipe the blades clean and not do anything else. It speaks for itself. Good luck with it. J.O'.

The more I look at it I'm thinking it's ivory. Hard to tell. Is there any stamping with "Inox" or a longer word that starts with inox? That means stainless, "rostfrei" in German. The blades are very clean or they could be Vanadium. This is all guesswork as it's hard to tell from the pics. Maybe some closeups would help. J.O'.

Thanks for the continued insights. The blade shows Eloi Pernet made in France, the initials PE and Eloi below that and then a star with inoxydable.

The skins I compared to other celluloid and I don't think it is that, couldn't see any capillaries but I do see light grains and a smooth deep look to it, leaning toward ivory now. The discoloration is very mild on one side and almost non existent on the other. I think this knife was not oiled or used much at all. And there is no rust which leads me to think this is not celluloid.

I like the simple cleaning idea. I was thinking clean it with white vinegar and then use some mineral oil. Not really familiar with bone/ivory cleaning so I'll need to google that.

I would skip the vinegar and use the mineral oil. Some guys have great success with a sonic jewelry cleaner and water, but you want to dry it very well afterward, using compressed air to get the water out of the joints, then oil it with a light oil.

Thanks Reverand, I actually did use the vinegar before reading your post but I've since gone and blown it out really good. Ugh hope it didn't damage anything but it seems good. Theres almost nothing to show this knife was used! Heres to cleaned and oiled result and forgive the lanyards I'm toying around with some ideas:

It is definitely a beautiful knife!

Beautiful knife and a nice find. I'm leaning toward ivory for the covers. Agree with Reverand regarding care - just a drop of oil in the joints. You might think about stabilizing those cracks. Here is a link to a good thread about that viewtopic.php?f=37&t=67249
Welcome to AAPK.

Ken

Thank you for the link! I am really impressed with the insight and help I have received on this forum.
I'll see if that repair is within my skills.