How to bring back an old Case knife handle???

M

Mort Canard

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Dec 5, 2009
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A number of years ago I bought a box of misc stuff at an estate sale that had some old pocket knives including the one below. The knife had been used and abused over the course of it's life but I spent some time reshaping the blades and making it a user. The one thing that continues to escape me is how to improve the appearance of the old scales. I am guessing that this old 63087 Stockman has a synthetic handle, probably delrin. I have tried various things to clean up the scales and get rid of the blueish white color on the parts of the scales that were part of the jigging. Alcohol and other mild solvents have no effect. I tried a spot treatment of mineral oil that didn't seem to have an effect.

Is there some way to treat the scales that will restore it to more of it's original appearance and get rid of the whitish colors in the jigging???


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You might try a firm toothbrush and Simple Green and scrub them and see if that cleans them up some it looks like just years of dust and dirt settled in the grooves.

As for darkening them you might try Fiebings Leather Dye. I've not used it on Derlin, but it will dye most anything to varying degrees depending on material. There are some good threads with instructions on using Fiebings dye on here.
 
JJ_Colt45 said:
You might try a firm toothbrush and Simple Green and scrub them and see if that cleans them up some it looks like just years of dust and dirt settled in the grooves.

As for darkening them you might try Fiebings Leather Dye. I've not used it on Derlin, but it will dye most anything to varying degrees depending on material. There are some good threads with instructions on using Fiebings dye on here.
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The idea of using a leather dye had occurred to me. I am a little leery about putting something on the handle that might rub off on my pants pockets and I wanted to see if there was another method in common use for this kind of situation. Still leather dye may be the true solution here.

Thanks for the input JJ!
 
I have had good luck cleaning that up with Remington Oil. Spray on soak use a toothbrush to scrub it. Might have to do that a couple times!!🤞🤞🤞
JMO!!🤩
John 😎
 
Its Delrin. Delrin gets that white coloring over time.
Don't bother with the dye. Delrin is impervious to most things and any dye that actually sticks will just rub off in short order.
I was told a long time ago that corn oil does wonders with cleaning this. I tried it once on a black delrin handled trapper and it cleaned it up pretty good.
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I’m not sure if Camillus used the same exact material as Case did, but I have an old Buck 301 from that era. My dad found it in his shed, abandoned for years in a coffee can full of old nails. The black (Delrin?) handles had faded to a grayish-white color. I soaked it in mineral oil for a couple of days, and the color came back. That was several years ago, and it still looks fine.
 
Well it looks like I have a variety of solutions here. Since the blades were somewhat abused over the years and had to be reworked I am not above a bit of experimentation on the handles. It's no longer a collector's item in any sense but it is still a decent user and of course the old case blades still hold a fine edge.

Will post up the results of some experimentation next week when I get some time.

Many thanks!
 
If I have Delrin that gets that white oxidation I put it in a zip lock with enough mineral oil to cover it completely and leave it for a while. Usually only takes a few days. Comes out looking great.
Bob
 
All of the above but DO NOT...repeat do not get that Delrin anywhere near a buffing wheel.......unless you want that special melted jigging look.
Like what I😣
 
I think if you just carry it and use it, it’ll fix itself. Some guitar picks are made of Delrin and if you hoard them, they do that, but if you just keep one in your pocket and use it every day, it doesn’t.
 
Flitz used to be the thing on BF. Also, paste your question into AI for many suggestions.
 
I have never had to deal with the white powder on delrin, but I have used Case paste alot and it works great to polish blades and scales. If you have a carbon blade it will polish the patina off
 
I'd also be inclined to use some Flitz, rubbing by hand with a clean microfiber towel and/or a toothbrush to get better access within the jigging. Don't use any powered apparatus as previously mentioned, as any heat generated will quickly melt these materials. Flitz paste is very good for cleaning and polishing plastics. I've even used it to clean up hazy scratches on polycarbonate eyeglass lenses. I'd bet it would clean up that film / oxide pretty quickly. Might test it on a small area first, just to see how it may work.

There is something about the older 'delrin' (or equivalent materials under another trade name) that does seem prone to clouding up like that. I have an older Camillus-made Buck 307 that exhibited the same cloudiness issues.
 
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