Holy Shrinking Stag Batman!

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Dr van Nostrom

Joined
May 8, 2001
Messages
536
My wife has gone out for the evening so I have had the chance to get out of storage a lot of my knives and give them a clean and generally play (it's been heavenly ;) ) Anyhoo I go to one of my favorite knives: a Schatt & Morgan Trapper, it is a limited edition with Texas longhorn scales and a Texas shield, a sweet little knife and an Xmas gift from my wife. These were made in 2002 I believe.
To my horror the scales on one side of the knife have begun to come away from the frame at either end, almost curling up. If you press down the handle gives so their is quite a gap there - you can see light through it.
Now I try and store my knives well - nothing fancy - the blades are coated in Tuf Glide and they are stored in Sack Ups in a pistol case which is kept in a closet. Once a year or so I give all the natural handle knives a good rub with mineral oil. In other words I take care of them. S&M is one of my favorite brands and their quality is always the best I have seen on production slipjoints - so I was a little disappointed.
My questions are: A. Is this 'normal' and something that happens to natural materials, like wood drying out? If so do I have to just live with it? and B. Should I return it to Queen to sse if they can fix it? As only one side is coming away and my other knives are OK I don't think it is anything I have done?
Anyone have an email for Queen Customer service and any experience with Queen cutlery? Thanks for any help.
 
I seem to remember somebody saying that natural materials like stag and bone can benefit from an application of mineral oil to keep the scales from drying out and cracking or warping. I dont know if it will repair (straighten out) or just prevent but its worth a try
 
Doctor VN:

I have owned many older stag handle knives,some 60 years old or more also many newer Case and Schatt stags. I have NEVER seen stag (or bone) do that......it must be a fluke.....it actually could be a manufacturing defect if the handle pin was not installed properly. Sorry that happened to you.
 
In this case I would get in touch with Queen. Unless the knife has been exposed to drastic changes in environment, my bet sounds as if there is a problem with the pin (as knifeaholic stated) or the stag was not properly cured. My experience mirrors that of knifeaholic's.
Other than an occasional coat of Renn Wax every couple of years, I have not put much effort into protecting the handles of my stag and bone tradional knives and have never experienced handle coming away from the liners. (Keep in mind the blades are treated every 6 months or so.)
 
I have seen a stag handle shrink, it was in a user that had plenty of abuse and not much care. My stag handled knives I just rub with mineral oil once a year and they have kept fine (except for a small center pin crack on a folder) for about 25 years.
 
I don't have the contact information here with me, but I had a problem about a year ago with a Schatt Improved Muskrat. One of the backsprings broke. Anyway, I got in touch with the folks at Queen (think I looked up Queen on Anywho.com). I called, and they told me to send it back. Took about 2 weeks to get it back, did a great job. The pin fit was actually better than it was originally.
One word of caution, though. If you've got a good edge on the blades, you might want to include a note for them not to sharpen the blades. My nice convex edges got turned into factory edges, which I had to work over again.
The turnaround and work was really good, though.
 
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