Case Bolsters?

glocktenman · Jul 21, 2008

Hi,
I got my son a nice case #CA5896. Its a "john deere" canoe. He has been using it for about a week now and the bolsters on one side of the knife have a slight but noticable gold colored tint to them. The other bolsters on the other side match the metal color of the blades. The knife should have nickel silver bolsters.

Any ideas?

thawk · Jul 21, 2008

Does he store it near any old knives? Just a wild guess, but an old celluloid knife might outgas and can tint bolsters. I have one that had bolsters like that, and an old collector said that might be why.

It came right off of the bolsters with some flitz on a piece of cotton. Almost like nicotine on the windshield.

The Case knife could be something entirely different.

Zip7 · Jul 21, 2008

If he's used it on fruit or anything with vinegar in it - stuff that would discolor or patina a carbon steel blade will often tint the bolsters yellow - but as Thawk said, it comes off easy if it's that.

jstewart16701 · Jul 22, 2008

If he's keeping the knife in the little black leather pouch that it came in the tin with it, it's probably just tarnished a little bit.

mnblade · Jul 22, 2008

glocktenman said:
He has been using it for about a week now and the bolsters on one side of the knife have a slight but noticable gold colored tint to them.

Interesting. I've recently noticed the same thing on my peanut (but a pale gold tint was on all four bolsters, plus on the Case shield). I think Zip7 is right, as I use it to cut a fair number of apples for the kids - 5 and 3 - when we're out and about. I used my Miracle Cloth and it came right off.

glocktenman · Jul 22, 2008

I'll give these ideas a try. Thanks!

G20

glocktenman · Jul 22, 2008

Got some metal polish called MAAS today. Cleanded the bolsters up well. Looks much better. Still not sure what caused the problem but its solved. Thanks for the tips.

Will Power · Jul 23, 2008

I've not encountered this on my CASE knives but I have on some Germans,Hen&Rooster,Weidmannsheil.They actually looked like GOLD plate aaarrrghh!I suspect that it depends on the plate used on the bolsters:If the underlay is brass it may react.If the plating is silver this tarnishes rapidly in the air.Silver polish soon removes the problem thankfully,what is more kitsch than gold plating on a knife!!

JOAT · Jul 23, 2008

The bolsters on some of my knives have more of a gold tint to them than others. I imagine this is down to the proportions of copper and nickel and other elements in the nickel silver.
Also some seem to tarnish more than others.