Melting Scales

L

Legendary_Jarl

Joined
Feb 8, 2010
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1,113
I bought a Marttiini Pelican many years ago. I haven't really carried it much. I have mostly kept it stored.

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Yesterday I was browsing through my folder collection and I noticed this knife was sticking to the surface of where it had been sitting. Upon closer inspection, it almost looked as if a child had grabbed
a glue stick and smeared the scales with it. I tried to clean it but even after using soap the scales feel all like goo. Pretty sure the plastic is melting. I have seen this type of degraded plastic before, it happened to my car's dashboard. But, that happened because of extreme heat conditions and the crappy material that they used. What could have caused the material for this handle to degrade like that? It was never exposed to heat or any solvents. Mostly kept stored.

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Two thoughts-

1. Cheaper plastics can breakdown over time, even a few years, and the chemicals/petroleum in the plastic can leech out.

2. Some synthetic materials, when in close proximity to, or in contact with other certain synthetic materials, can have a chemical reaction that can cause breakdown.

That last one, about breaking down after being in contact with other items, I had that happen as a kid with some of my plastic toys. It wasn't until I got older and learned about chemical reactions that I finally figured out the reason.
 
killgar said:
Two thoughts-

1. Cheaper plastics can breakdown over time, even a few years, and the chemicals/petroleum in the plastic can leech out.

2. Some synthetic materials, when in close proximity to, or in contact with other certain synthetic materials, can have a chemical reaction that can cause breakdown.

That last one, about breaking down after being in contact with other items, I had that happen as a kid with some of my plastic toys. It wasn't until I got older and learned about chemical reactions that I finally figured out the reason.
Click to expand...
Well that is concerning because I have another knife(fixed blade) by that brand that seemingly uses the same material.
TC said:
Contact with oil or a solvent?
Click to expand...
Nothing. It was inside one of those fake books along with many other knifes. All it touched for years was fabric. Only one side was touching the fabric and both showed decay. I think it was plastic breakdown as the above poster said.
 
One way to improve the toughness of a plastic is to add "plasticizer" to it during the resin formulation process. A "plasticizer" is a chemical which does not chemically crosslink into the plastic. It more or less acts as like a solvent which does not evaporate our of the plastic. It will act as an internal lubricant to the polymer strands. This helps the strands move when impacted instead of breaking, so toughens the plastic against impact. A plasticizer mostly stays within the polymer, but over time can migrate to the surface. At the surface it can interact with other things, such as cloth or dirt. Possible that it occurred with that knife.
 
Everything carries within itself the seeds of it’s own destruction.

Be happy it wasn’t made of celluloid it would have destroyed the other knives it was near.
 
Soap might not be enough. Goo gone might be needed. I'm not familiar with that plastic and goo gone or any other type of cleaner *might* make it worse.

Either way, look at it as a DIY project.
 
I had the same thing happen with a folder I've owned for over 10 years. It has a synthetic rubber coating over the frame.
It was stored in a knife roll, I picked it up last month and it looked like your knife, oily and sticky.

I wiped it down with rubbing alcohol and it removed the oil without doing any harm, but I don't know if it will stay that way.

Picture was taken a month after cleaning, the green surface was oily.

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I have seen this before and had good luck using lighter fluid to clean it. Test at your own risk though. Do not use acetone.
 
I found the same problem two days ago and used the rubbing alcohol, which removed the coloring finish at some spots and revealed a somewhat clear scale material underneath. Today I checked my safe queen version and found that scale gummy also. Hence I came here to hear/find it is a manufacturing defect.
Has the company been informed and made any kind of statement? I do like the steel. Come to think of it, I also had to tighten the hinge screw and now I'm left wondering if the alchol softened/ or removed finsh under the screw washer and hence became loose??? Hmmmmmmm.....
 
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