Celluloid Confusion

afishhunter

afishhunter

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Oct 21, 2014
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Since celluloid is a known ... shall we say "problematic" ... handle material? With outgassing, shrinkage, brittleness, and so on, as the major problems, with out gassing being the most damaging potential, not only for that knife, but any that are near it, why are name brand high dollar knives expected to last generations (Case, for one) using celluloid handles on some of their new knives?

Is there a difference between the 1800's celluloid formula and today's celluloid formula that eliminates the out gassing and other known problems?

It makes no sense to me. It seems to me, a clear acrylic, urethane, or other modern "plastic" could be dyed to give the same effect as obtained with celluloid, without the problems of celluloid.
 
I'm not sure which Case knives you are talking about either. I don't know of any current examples but I can think of one from about 15 or so years ago. There was an old Select Series sowbelly with Waterfall celluloid handles. On ebay, I have seen examples of that knife that appear to have problems. I've also seen a lot of the Queen-made Winchester knives from the mid-80s to early 90s that have problems with outgassing celluloid.
 
I got fooled by these Bulldog knives. Since they were made in 2004, I just assumed they were acrylic. But they're celluloid and after having them for 10 years both have issues. The copper head one is gassing very badly and after 6 months in a knife roll the shield and bolsters got badly pitted. Nothing stops it , but now it's in my dresser draw and separated from my other knives.



This one uses modern acrylic, it's tough and looks great.

 
Now I'm more confused. JPD, your Imperial does NOT have celluloid handles?? I was recently looking at Schrade Imperials on a vendor's website, and they're all advertised as having celluloid covers. (I'm not sure whether your example is "cracked ice" or "pearlized", but the site I checked said both were celluloid.)

- GT
 
5K Qs said:
Now I'm more confused. JPD, your Imperial does NOT have celluloid handles?? I was recently looking at Schrade Imperials on a vendor's website, and they're all advertised as having celluloid covers. (I'm not sure whether your example is "cracked ice" or "pearlized", but the site I checked said both were celluloid.)

- GT
Click to expand...

The Imperial I bought is "cracked ice" and even though they call it celluloid it's a modern acrylic.
When I bought the Bulldogs , I incorrectly assumed that they were acrylic too, but they're old school celluloid.
 
I wonder which Genius decided to use celluloid on those Bulldogs? They're Live Knives now :mad: I'll bet it was free material that was sitting around for years. That's why it's outgassing so soon.
 
Case is using Krynite (sp) on three or four models. It is the same stuff GEC uses and is very stable.
 
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