58OT with unusual handle material

B

Bob W

Joined
Dec 31, 2000
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An Old Timer 58OT came in the mail today and I'm trying to identify the handle material. It's a reddish-brown color, one side fairly solid-colored but the other side has some touches of yellow and translucence.

I'll have to take some better pictures, but you can get an idea from the one in-focus auction photo here:
$(KGrHqZ,!pgE-v3LzGuGBP+zE7hOw!~~60_57.JPG


It almost seems like celluloid, but could also be an inconsistency/flaw in the Delrin or other plastic.

Any ideas?
 
Yes, it's an Ulster but the handle material is completely different from the 'normal' Ulster Old Timers, or any other Old Timer I've seen.

I'll try to get a better picture soon.
 
I have seen several variations of Delrin color on the 580T, and some have been red. I look forward to seeing more pics of it, because I think it is not like one I've seen with the translucency.

580T-1.jpg


Maybe yours is Meerschaum... :D
 
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After studying the knife and pondering for the last couple of days, I believe that the source plastic may have not been thoroughly mixed. The yellowish coloring seems sheet-ish, as if from the very bottom or top (or edge) of the molding container.

The other side is solid red-brown almost like the two reddish examples in your picture above.
 
The source plastic isn't mixed. It just "is". Usually it comes to the molder in a gaylord of pellets, all one color. Schrade molded it into strips of handle scales. Then they were submerged in dye for a top color. In the case of UH knives, they were put into two dye baths. The base color shows where the handles are glazed. Perhaps they were dyed unevenly. Or one side sat for years in sunlight or flourescent lights changing the dye color.

scbzvo.jpg
 
I once found an old knife full of rust etc. After soaking it in WD40 for some days, it cleaned up quite well.
However, the handles had changed colour to a red-orange colour.
 
Changes in the brown top dye, yes. They did experiment with different dyes and different base colors over the years also. And the dyeing was a hand/eye operation and the color penetration depth could vary with the strength/temp of the dye and even slightly from one operator to another. And then there are the end of days knife covers that were molded and dyed off site. They were trimmed and punched before the dye bath, leaving a dark line next to the bolsters. Traditionally, they were trimmed to length after the dye bath and there was no dark line left when they were glazed flush with the bolsters.
 
I don't think it's an effect of the dying, but rather a flaw or inconsistency in the original plastic manufacturing.

The back scale is uniform and opaque in color, like a solid reddish-brown that was never dyed.
The front scale has areas of translucence, almost transparent, with areas of yellow.

In the picture above notice the yellow in the bottom left of the scale. That yellow is actually a layer or blob on the bottom of the scale resting on the liner, but since the reddish plastic is almost transparent, the yellow is visible from the top.
 
Yellow and red are components of brown dye, but a clear plastic base material? That is odd. As far as I am aware, Delrin does not come in clear.
 
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