How does Faux Tortoise Shell (acrylic) hold up over time?

H

hotrodz

Joined
Jan 20, 2014
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Ok, so I've always been a jigged bone fan, and I'm thinking about getting a Rough Rider whittler just to try out the pattern. My wife and kids saw a picture of the faux tortoise shell version (RR496) and said they thought it looked neater than the bone. I'm willing to give it a try just for the fun of it, but I was curious what it will look like after a good deal of EDC banging around. Does it simply polish back up with a bit of plastic polish and elbow grease, or does it look cheesy after a while. Does it chip, crack, or gouge easily? I would think the jigged bone would 'weather' better, but I don't know. I plan to probably pick up a Case 6383 in the end (if anyone has a user they want to part with, please PM me...), but the RR looks like a good representation of the pattern. A GEC #62 is my current grail knife, but outta my budget. My choices from RR are amber or red jigged bone, smooth white bone, or faux tortoise, and some others that I'm not that fond of. Any input would be greatly appreciated.



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Looking to buy a 3.5" whittler pattern user grade knife for some actual whittlin'
 
Considering the cheaper value, let's say, I would think it would be fine over time. As fine as any other acrylic would be. I would not however hold my breath or put a lot of stock in anything made by the Chinese.
 
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RR yellow delrin knives are susceptible to cracking at the centre pin, but I've not seen any problems at all with their faux tortoise on the Whittler and Large linerlock Sodbuster I have. Seems tough stuff and it is inexpensive, but if you carry your knife with keys&coins ( I never do) it will obviously scratch. It can't naturally, hold a candle to GEC's faux tortoise which actually has blood lines/membrane marks in it and is incredible! You should save up a bit for one of those as it is truly remarkable.

As for anything made by the Chinese being of dubious quality, I can't honestly say I agree. RR quality varies, they are low cost knives but when you get a good one (not rare) they are outstanding value AND quality. A Whittler and a couple of Stockmans of theirs are the match of CASE or Böker Germany in fit&finish. With modern knives they often represent very decent value and quality too.
 
I have a Boker Treebrand Stockman in faux tortoise-shell. I've had it a year or so and it's been carried and used quite a bit, it seems to be holding up fine. I'd say the acrylic is more resilient than genuine tortoise-shell certainly.

By chance, I came across the RR knife you refer to, and bought it as a stocking-filler for someone at Christmas. It was a nice-looking knife, not as good as my Boker of course, but excellent for the price, and I don't see why the acrylic wouldn't stand up just as well.
 
I believe the Rough Rider handles are Celluloid, not Acrylic. These would come with all the well known problems of Celluloid. Other than Delrin, most knife Companys still use Celluloid, with the exception of the aforementioned Delrin, and Case and Hen & Rooster using Corelon, a type of Delrin. And of course Great Eastern Cutlery uses Acrylic.
 
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