Knife storage and damage

Muck7898

Muck7898

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Jan 19, 2021
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Recently my grandpa got some of his knives out that he has had put away for years. Nothing of high value but ones he enjoys. When he opened them up he found the scales had deteriorated/crumbled. He also noted the bolsters had stained and blades had rusted. He said that he used WD-40 on them before he stored them thinking that would preserve them. Has anyone had that issue before? What should be used on knives for long term storage to preserve them?
 

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Celluloid needs to be stored with a lot of ventilation, use boxes with air holes, and don't keep the knives wrapped or super close to each other. Clear, translucent, and lighter colors tend to out gas the worst. I don't collect them anymore unless they are going to be users, there's too much volatility with the material :/.
 
WD-40 is not a very good long term rust preventive. A search for "knife rust preventive" will turn up lots of alternatives, at least for steel. I have little experience with celluloid grips.
 
I am new to celluloid and didn’t realize they require different care. Glad I learned all this before my Richards knives arrived that I just purchased.
 
what happened is impossible to predict or prevent. The gasses released by the celluloid is corrosive. That is why you don’t want to seal it in an air tight container.

Once it starts to out gas there is no stopping it, The really sad part is when the gas ruins a knife close by that may not even have celluloid scales.

This had nothing to do with the WD40.
 
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I repaired a similar knife for a coworker once. His had one scale busted off. I busted off the remaining scale, ground the pins and pushed them out the back side then made a scale from a scrap piece of brown micarta I had laying around and used new brass pins. It wasn't too bad really. Kind of a fun project. If the metal isn't too far gone, I'd "remodel" them.
 
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My understanding is that celluloid has not been used in knives for many decades. Victorinox was using them in the early forties and stopped, according to the internet

For storage it will depend on the material. some oils may be great for the steel but may damage or stain the scales.
 
That unfortunate is not true. Some manufacturers still use it. Or did recently. Buyer beware.

Case Classic, and Bear and son, were using it until at least the 90’s. I know I’ve seen sales adds saying knives had celluloid scales within the last few years.
 
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IDK, fortunately for me I never found it appealing. So I never got stuck with any. If you have a question about a specific knife. Rub it vigorously and you will smell a chemical smell most people describe as camphor.

I found Winchester and Blue ridge knives a couple years old advertised as celluloid.
 
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calm said:
interesting to know.

Any major makers still using it?
Click to expand...

Case and Boker have used it somewhat recently. Schlieper/Eye Brand too. But the supply is drying up, acrylic, Kirinite, corian, and a few other modern plastics have pushed it out of the way. Also it's dangerous to make, and most of the bigger European suppliers have shut down. The last real boom in celluloid handles was the 90's.

For things like fake tortoise and pearls, the modern stuff does well, but they haven't been able to get stripes (candy and glitter), and the depth of some celluloids right, but that's about it.
 
if you care about the scientific process - the wiki page has a good write up imho

"Many sources of deterioration in celluloid exist, such as thermal, chemical, photochemical, and physical. The most inherent flaw is as celluloid ages, the camphor molecules are ‘squeezed’ out of the mass due to the unsustainable pressure used in the production. That pressure causes the nitrocellulose molecules to bind back to each other or crystallize, and this results in the camphor molecules being shoved out of the material. Once exposed to the environment, camphor can undergo sublimation at room temperature, leaving the plastic as brittle nitrocellulose. Also, with exposure to excess heat, the nitrate groups can break off and expose nitrogen gases, such as nitrous oxide and nitric oxide,[18] to the air.

Another factor that can cause this is excess moisture, which can accelerate deterioration of nitrocellulose with the presence of nitrate groups, either newly fragmented from heat or still trapped as a free acid from production. Both of these sources allow the accumulation of nitric acid. Another form of deterioration, photochemical deterioration, is severe in celluloid because it absorbs ultraviolet light well. The absorbed light leads to chain-breakage and stiffening.[17]

Among collectors of antiques, the deterioration of celluloid is generally known as "celluloid rot." The chemical processes involved are not perfectly understood, but it is widely believed that the gases released by a piece undergoing celluloid rot can trigger celluloid rot in nearby articles of celluloid which were previously intact.[19] "

taken from the end of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celluloid


I will not, and have not ever collected anything with celluloid as a result... imho its a non-starter
 
Some modern day SAK’s are made with Cellidor scales. Will this material “gas-out” like Celluloid?
 
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