EDC old pen knife. Dont know the handlematerial?

N

NirreBosse

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Jan 7, 2003
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I resently got hold of this old penknife. A very typical pattern from Eskilstuna and the mid 1900ds. It was made by many manufactors in eskilstuna in the old days when the city still was a place for small knife industries. They used many patterns quite the same way but with small individual approaches. This specimen is a knife made by stålvaru AB from the time period 1946-1954. The handle has some kind of plastic material and it must be a little fragile because the knife has a few cracks on the corkscrew side even though its as ne and probably not carried at all. I like the kind of through wisable surfase of the plastic. same thing as with pearl. Mabye its celoid? The knife is 8.9 cm and thin. I show it with a known piese for you to measure the size. Thanks for looking.


Bosse
 
Hi Bosse
It could be starting to decay and offgas if it's celluloid, i've seen it start with crazing like that. You may want to store it by itself or in a sealed container.

Best regards

Robin
 
Pipeman, what does this decaying and offgasing mean? Is it a slow or fast process and why does it start.
Is the decaying make it prone to cracking or what happend?.
I recon celluloid is a petroliumbaced plastic, is it the plastic itself that gets unstable.
This handle doesnt at all feel hard and dry.

Bosse
 
The question is rosen because I have bought this knife with a coworker in mind.
I have given good knifes to 2 of my coworkers before and made them use knifes as EDC.

I have now started to work with a man that doesnt carry a knife but show an interest in me and the other 2 carrying knifes and he has an interest in watches of good qualitet and a few other traditional things that make me belive he would apritiate a knife.
I just wonder if this beautiful knife will hold up for a few years of EDC for him or if the handle is to fragile.

Bosse
 
So, now its delivered anyway. Time will show if that handle cracks or not. He didnt have one single pocketknife and he put it into the jeans fifth pocket now so we see in the future if he got a EDCer or if it gets in the bottom of a drawer.

Bosse
 
Hello Bosse
I'm not quite sure of the chemical reaction that causes celluloid to start decaying and gassing. It is VERY flamable, almost explosive if it gets near a flame. The worst offenders are the old cheap paper celluloid wrapped over the steel clip on scales. I had a knife with similar clearish cell that started cracking at first, then turned dull and then started decaying and crumbling. It took about two years from cracking to crumbling. Other than taking a small scraping off the edge and burning it I don't know of any test to tell if it is celluloid. If you decide to do that, make a little pile of the scrapings and hold a match Near the pile, If it ignites very quickly and Stinks like chemicals it's likely celluloid. You almost have to know what it smells like when burning to be sure. :)

Best regards

Robin
 
Did the little corkcrew screwdriver come from a SAK?

With respect to celluloid: A typical formulation of celluloid might contain 70 to 80 parts nitrocellulose, nitrated to 11% nitrogen, 30 parts camphor, 0 to 14 parts dye, 1 to 5 parts ethyl alcohol, plus stabilizers and other agents to increase stability and reduce flammability. When it decays, it emits a corrosive gas that is hard on the knife steel and any surrounding knives. The gas contains acetic acid, e.g. vinegar.
 
If you dip it in almost boiling water and it smells like camphor or menthol, it's celluloid. If it smells like formaldehyde it's bakelite. If it smells like nothing it's something else.
They still make handles that are called celluloid for old times' sake, but are acrylic. I don't know when they realized that celluloid is bad. Maybe Levine's ID forum could tell you that.
As for what celluloid does and when, it varies. As MarkPinTx said above, sometimes it out-gasses and gives a fuzzy rust to exposed steel. Sometimes it contracts and pulls out pins and so forth. Sometimes it's still fine the last time you looked. Maybe sometimes it's still fine after we're all dead.

Also, some people see celluloid damage everywhere, and some people don't see it anywhere. I posted one knife and everyone agreed it was celluloid damage, and I posted another that looked pretty similar to me, but everyone thought it was sweat.
 
Last edited:
Pipeman said:
Hello Bosse
I'm not quite sure of the chemical reaction that causes celluloid to start decaying and gassing. It is VERY flamable, almost explosive if it gets near a flame. The worst offenders are the old cheap paper celluloid wrapped over the steel clip on scales. I had a knife with similar clearish cell that started cracking at first, then turned dull and then started decaying and crumbling. It took about two years from cracking to crumbling. Other than taking a small scraping off the edge and burning it I don't know of any test to tell if it is celluloid. If you decide to do that, make a little pile of the scrapings and hold a match Near the pile, If it ignites very quickly and Stinks like chemicals it's likely celluloid. You almost have to know what it smells like when burning to be sure. :)

Best regards

Robin
Click to expand...

They still make celluloid guitar picks, and they are about a quarter a piece, so if you want to know what to compare to, buy a fender "tortoise shell" guitar pick and light it. be prepared to drop it quick. it will burn almost entirely away before it hits the ground. be carefull.
 
W.M.B. said:
They still make celluloid guitar picks, and they are about a quarter a piece, so if you want to know what to compare to, buy a fender "tortoise shell" guitar pick and light it. be prepared to drop it quick. it will burn almost entirely away before it hits the ground. be carefull.
Click to expand...

Great tip, thanks.

Regards

Robin
 
Thank you for your time and the nice answers. The knife is now diliwered to the new owner so time will tell if it holds up. Its his only pocketknife so I hope it will se some kind of use. He carried it today at least.

Bosse
 
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