Corolon handle material

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FieryPhoenix

Joined
Sep 17, 2006
Messages
9
Corolon appears to be a popular material these days for knife handles. There are Case XX, Hen & Rooster, and others that appear to be using it.

Does anyone know what corolon is made of?

Also, I see that Boker and others are continuing to use Celluloid for handle materials. From what I gather, Celluloid is very flammable (it's related to nitrocellulose), and was largely discontinued in use by most manufacturers back in the 1940's. I'm not sure that I want to own a celluloid-handled knife...

Anyway, what's this Corolon?
 
looks mostly like these entries are coatings

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
Corolon 3200 HBS Abrasion Resistant Polyurea Urethane Protective Lining
Corolon 3201 Polyurea Spray Elastomer
Corolon 3201B Polyurea Spray Casting
Corolon 3210 Polyurea Urethane Protective Lining
Corolon 3290 High Temperature Polyurea Urethane Protective Lining
Corolon 3520 Urethane Mastic
Corolon 3580 Chemical Resistant Urethane Hydrid
Corolon 3560 F.D.A. Qualified Urethane Coating
Corolon 3541D Decking Spray Elastomer
Corolon 3541R Roofing Spray Elastomer
Corolon 3541T Truck Bed Decking Spray Elastomer
Corolon #11 Two Component Epoxy Primer
Corolon #12 Two Component Solvent Based Epoxy Primer
Corolon #1007 Single Component Polyurethane Primer
 
I emailed customer service at one of the larger knife dealers regarding corolon, and their reply was that it was a type of hard plastic. I'm still very curious about it, though. The corolon handles are very nice, and probably a cheaper and more flexible alternative to bone or stag. Hen and Rooster have taken a particular liking to it.

The flamability of celluloid (nitrocellulose-like) as detailed here
http://www.oregonknifeclub.org/celluloid.html
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celluloid
was a bit troubling to me when I saw that current knives made by Boker and others were described as having celluloid handles. For example:
http://www.agrussell.com/knives/pro...ker_large_stockman_with_slanted_bolsters.html

After emailing Boker-USA regarding the use of celluloid, I received a response indicating that todays celluloid in use is very different from that used in the pre-1940's and does not have the flammable characteristics. Sounds good to me. I, for one, do not want to test this out, though. Maybe someone in the forum can attest to this.
 
When I asked Marg Hartman at Masecraft (the largest supplier of this kind of material to knifemakers) She said that it is still flammable.
 
Knife makers I've talked to use extreme caution when useing celluloid-often with one guy spraying water on the hot spots being ground off. Some won't use the stuff.
So even if it didn't 'gas off' [ AND I wouldn't believe it] it still is very flammable.
 
Apparently, Corolon might actually be "Corelon"

About 20% of Corolon/Corelon knife handle references (google) are to Corolon with the remaining 80% to Corelon. The colors and patterns are quite diverse, and I wonder if this is a new product intended to be a replacement or alternative to celluloid.

Case has previously used corelon for handle materials. An ebay search for "case corelon" turns up some interesting and colorful knives. I'm very curious about this material. It seems that it's primarily Case and Hen&Rooster that use this material.

I recently picked up a gorgeous Hen & Rooster knife with Corelon handles. Most of my collection until recently has been tacticals (benchmade, spyderco, crkt, etc.). Lately, I've been on a Case xx, and now Hen&Rooster kick. I want to find out more about this Corelon material before I pick up some more.
 
A. G. Russell said:
When I asked Marg Hartman at Masecraft (the largest supplier of this kind of material to knifemakers) She said that it is still flammable.
Click to expand...

Corelon is just synthetic celluloid. Plastic. Nothing more. Virtually every plastic is flammable but most are certainly less flammable than celluloid. Under the right conditions celluloid can literally burst into flame. Most plastics, like Corelon just melt but will ignite if a hot enough flame is applied.
 
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