Is this celluloid out gassing?

Rookie82 said:
Defintely showing signs. In Fight'n Roosters, the 1st place I see it show is discoloring of the shield, and starting to tarnish along the edge where the bolsters touch the handles. After that, the blades. Take the other's advice and get rid of those handles.
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I'm a little surprised I'm not seeing more discoloration on the bolsters and shield. The pile side pins are showing quite a bit of discoloration, but the mark side seem to be mostly okay. I imagine that is is possible that this knife was stored with other out gassing knives and some of the damage may have come from them. Not to say this knife isn't also out gassing.

PointyThings said:
Fighting Rooster made some interesting patterns. It's a shame the celluloid they used was either poorly formulated or cured improperly. The celluloid outgassing even affects many of their bone and stag patterns because FR collectors often stored their celluloid FR knives with the bone and stag versions.
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They really did! I've come close to purchasing a few of their knives, but never pulled the trigger. This being a pattern I've been looking at for quite some time helped me make the purchase.
I'm definitely NOT storing this knife with my other knives or anywhere near any other metal. Keeping it secluded and out of the sun light until I can get those covers off for good.

Ernie1980 said:
Definitely remove the covers first, then start to look for someone to recover them. The knife can hang out until you find someone so the knife won’t get damaged any more.
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I'm definitely appreciative of all the feedback so far. It seems these covers are definitely out gassing. And, I've gotten a lot of sound advice on how to remove these covers safely while the individual gets through their backlog.

Sibyrnes said:
I have a nice old Case that had the same problem.
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Had the scales replaced by forum member Bill Deshives. Unfortunately I don't have an "after" photo, but he did a great job.
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That is unfortunate you ran into the issue, but the knife was certainly one of one after you had it recovered. I'm sure it looked great!!
I hadn't heard of Bill Deshives before. At least I don't think. I believe I'm on someone's books now, but it's always good to have additional references in case things fall through! Thanks!!

meako said:
Thats exactly what I thought as soon as I saw the words fightin rooster.
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Oh no 🤣 I had no idea they were that notorious with their celluloid. Just because of everything I've read, I never trusted any celluloid to begin with. And so, luckily, I kind of factored all of this into my thought process when making the purchase. It may end up costing me a bit by the time is all said and done. But, I don't think it will be as much as the GEC Speaker Jacks on the secondary market. And, certainly not as much as a true custom knife. Plus, I'll have a knife that is entirely my own! I've never had any custom work done on a knife before. But, I am quite excited to see how things turn out. All good things come to those who wait!
 
hornetguy said:
This ^^^^
You could even use a dremel and a bur to grind down the tip of the pins... then, as Charly says, the scales should just lift off, easy-peasy. Get that nasty stuff away from the knife asap.... 😁
What are you thinking about going back with? Ebony? Osage? Even bone? Enquiring minds....
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That is a great idea!! I do have a dremel... I don't see why this wouldn't work! I don't care about preserving the original covers. Just don't want to damage the liners or anything.
And, I agree! Need to get those covers off asap.

In regards to what I was thinking about material wise for the recover:
In the email I sent, I stated I was open to whatever was easy and readily available. I'm quite easy to please and am not dead set on any one particular material.
I don't own any really nice stag. So, even though that would be radically different from the original, I wouldn't mind having some gnarly stag on the thing.
I also said some red bone, either jigged or smooth could look good. It would pay at least a little homage to the original covers and bone is one of my favorite handle materials.
I would even be happy with some basic red linen micarta or something if that was all that was on hand.
I did like Will Power Will Power 's suggestion of something like GEC's dead skunk acrylic. That would probably pay best homage to the original covers. I'm not the biggest fan of acrylic, however.
But, it's funny you mention ebony. I was thinking this morning about how classy this knife would look with some nice dark ebony wood on it! So, that's definitely something I'm thinking about!

I'd be interested in hearing what others hear might have to say as well! What do you guys think would look best? Can't promise anything, but it's always worth the thought/discussion!
 
lithicus said:
That is unfortunate you ran into the issue, but the knife was certainly one of one after you had it recovered. I'm sure it looked great!!
I hadn't heard of Bill Deshives before. At least I don't think. I believe I'm on someone's books now, but it's always good to have additional references in case things fall through! Thanks!!
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If you check out the tang stamp on that knive you’ll see it was made in 1920 - 1940. That Case knife could be 100 years old! I‘m kind of amazed at the condition of it despite the celluloid. I’ll try to get some “after” photos tomorrow.
 
afishhunter said:
try @glennbad He is one of the best.

Glennbad is a baaaad man

I sent the Glennbad an old Imperial Barlow recently to have the covers replaced on it, while he had it in his possession I caught a wild hair and decided to get him to rework a TL-29 for good measure, since I haven't bought a new knife in while (a month and a half according to She Who Must be...
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com
I don't know if his books are open.
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This!
If you can get on Glennbad's book, he is the man for this kind of clean up.
I got a F.R. jack with celluloid that was so bad the brass liners were eaten up.
Seems like F.R. and Bulldog are some of the worst for this.
He rescaled it and now my son carries it.
 
Sibyrnes said:
If you check out the tang stamp on that knive you’ll see it was made in 1920 - 1940. That Case knife could be 100 years old! I‘m kind of amazed at the condition of it despite the celluloid. I’ll try to get some “after” photos tomorrow.
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I did notice that Case was a tested era. Very nice! I'd love to see pictures of it recovered.

kvaughn said:
This!
If you can get on Glennbad's book, he is the man for this kind of clean up.
I got a F.R. jack with celluloid that was so bad the brass liners were eaten up.
Seems like F.R. and Bulldog are some of the worst for this.
He rescaled it and now my son carries it.
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He does seem to do amazing work. And, it's not his first rodeo. Tons of fantastic examples to look at. To know he took care of yours and you were happy with it is a testament to that! It's a shame FR got it so wrong with their celluloid.

RoyalHolic said:
I have a NOS Case that was made in Germany it's one of the few Celluloids runs they made, mine seems to be holding up well thankfully.
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That's good to hear! I didn't know Case were ever made in Germany or that they did celluloid handles. Interesting!
 

 
I’m pretty sure celluloid has not been used in the U.S.A since the 1950’s. I don’t know about Germany - anybody got any info?
 
RoyalHolic said:

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That's a beaut!! And, never seen that tang stamping before. Very cool!

RoyalHolic said:
Most companies stopped in the 60's but there's plenty that were made all the way up till the 90's.

Queen made some Celluloid knives in the 90's.
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I didn't know specifics, but thought I had heard of companies like Queen using celluloid well after the 50s. Nice for you to confirm that with dates. Thanks!
 
lithicus said:
That's a beaut!! And, never seen that tang stamping before. Very cool!


I didn't know specifics, but thought I had heard of companies like Queen using celluloid well after the 50s. Nice for you to confirm that with dates. Thanks!
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Most manufactures overseas were still using Celluloid.

Hell Frost Cutlery still makes knives in Celluloid you can go buy them right now lol.
 
Sibyrnes said:
I have a nice old Case that had the same problem.
View attachment 2475504

Had the scales replaced by forum member Bill Deshives. Unfortunately I don't have an "after" photo, but he did a great job.
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I re-did a long-tail C coke bottle that was passing gas, I did it in cocobolo wood, I’ll have to post a pick of it - it has a full blade and the best walk-n-talk of pretty much any of the knives I own.
 
Lot of interesting comments here :thumbsup: As for re-handling, I'd opt for smooth polished bone, Camel maybe?

Since the original slabs are quite thin, material like Ram's Horn or Stag might look a bit unhappy on this, bulging out etc. Wood is a bit monotonous for this one...high polish Red Micarta would look well. Only my views of course, tastes must vary :cool:
 
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