Celluloid really is the Anti-knife

[screened porch]

I've heard of celluloid billiard balls exploding, or celluloid knife-handles discoloring a blade, but I thought the former a myth and the latter no big deal. I can now believe celluloid to be capable of anything.
The KaBar forum tells me this is pre-wwII. The covers were held on by 5 tiny pins plus the rocker- very nice.
The guy at the estate sale said they found it like this, with one side melted.

The pins are melted down to stumps in their holes, there's a break in the handle by the rocker pin, and a split more than half way across. The nickel-silver bolsters look rusted, and there's severe pitting into the blade and spring.

The other side of the blades is quite good, in comparison:

Someone more worthy of this steel would chop the pins and cut a new handle. Because I am impatient and not very skilful, I decided to see how long an epoxy fix will hold. I can still do it the right way if the wrong way fails.

If it hadn't been a mess, it would have cost more than $12. But oh, that celluloid. I'd better isolate my advertising and tourist knives.

 

[Doug Add]

That is the main reason I had my grandad's Schrade (pictured in my avatar) rehandled. It is from the 1960s, and the yellow celluloid was beginning to tarnish the blades. If you take a look at what Glenn found when he took it apart, pictured here, you will see the corrosion that was on the inside.

 

[waynorth]

The before pic looks like the results of a carbide-toothed monster! I've never seen such munching on the backspring!!
I've seen a brass liner eaten right in half though!! Wish I had pics!
Thanks for showing us!!

 

[Will Power]

What a gasser! Not:thumbdn:

It's really shocking how that stuff can corrode&consume metals.. some really beautiful handles were made in Cell as can be seen on many an old knife. Obviously it's temperamental, some knives seem to last well with it but I have the uneasy feeling it's a ticking time-bomb...at any time it might go off on one! Which is why it's wise to keep it sectioned, away from other more 'innocent' materials before a literal melt-down occurs:barf:

 

[smokinbasser]

Case made one series of knives with celluloid scales a few years ago, I put that peanut into solitary confinement in a jar with a metal lid.They haven't come up with a suitable sub for celluloid with its issues yet.

 

[glennbad]

Wow. That's a shame what happened to that knife....

 

[brets-ftw]

Wow. That's a shame what happened to that knife....

My thoughts exactly, those blades look like they almost haven't been used!

 

[orca8589]

scrteened porch: good job on that scale replacement; I have a few I've done that too, and with the right epoxy, it will probably last a lifetime.

If I may ask, how thick is the main blade? It looks a lot thicker than the main blade on any other two-blade Hunter I've seen.

~Chris

 

[Mossyhorn]

I'm glad to see that you brought that topic up. Many people don't know or don't believe the truth about celluloid.

All real celluloid is bomb-grade; that is to say, it's all highly flammable. It has other social failings, as well. It can remain stable for decades, then in a period of 30 days deteriorate dramatically. At the same time it releases a noxious, highly corrosive gas that can destroy not only its own blades, but those of all the knives in the container with it! This phenomenon is known as "outgassing." There is no way to tell when this problem will occur. Scary, huh?

Though the material itself is flammable, I have never heard the words "fire" and "pocket knife" uttered in the same sentence. Celluloid movie film may be more susceptible to immolation - it's very thin and is operated very close to a major heat source. But to my mind, when we are referring to celluloid-handled pocketknives, fire isn't the hazard; outgassing is.

Due to the outgassing problem, some folks go to the trouble of storing all their celluloids separately from their other-handled knives (there is also the shrinkage issue to be conerned about). And then there's the timing of the onset of celluloids' outgassing - more strangeness. There does not seem to be any rhyme or reason to its occurrence. Relatively new celluloids occasionally undergo outgassing (new being under 10 years old), but it usually occurs in celluloids that are considerably older - though not all of them. Yes, age is a factor, but not the only one. I have compared, side by side, identical knives from the same company, with the same handles: one had outgassed, crystallized, cracked, and shrunk - the other was perfect. I've personally seen this phenomenon take place more than once, and wondered how this could be.

Another odd fact: outgassing of one knife's handles doesn't cause other celluloid handles around it to start outgassing -it doesn't affect them at all! But the acidic gas released sure does attack ferrous metals - not brass liners or nickel silver bolsters, bone, stag or pearl handles, just iron and steel blades.

 

[screened porch]

Thanks all for the additional info and support. Very weird stuff.
Chris, the main blade is 3mm or 5/32" thick, the lighter one is maybe 2.5mm or a little under 1/8", with a distal taper starting pretty much at the tang. The light blade has some flex to it.
The pitting is ugly, but really not that deep; the walk and talk is still excellent on both blades, so I've got a lot of good knife left here.