Naturally Pocket Worn Bone Questions

[Pima Pants]

When a dyed bone pocket knife becomes pocket worn over the years, does the shade of the color get lighter? In other words, does the dye tend to be absorbed completely by the bone and therefore go all the way through or is it mostly surface coloring? I have seen a number of old pocket knives on the forum and they really don't seem to have gotten any lighter in color. But then, I don't really know how many were dyed. Thanks in advance for your responses.

 

[chouse]

Most lighten up some with wear and use. Most are darker on the surface and lighter inside.

 

[Pima Pants]

Thank you.

 

[parbajtor]

Also depends on the dye and the porosity of the bone. Strictly speaking a dye penetrates all the way through a substrate, an ink penetrates partway through a substrate and a paint sits on the surface of a substrate.

 

[midnight flyer]

All of my bone handled knives get darker. That's probably from use. They pick up a lot of hand oils, sweat, grime, and a lot of pocket sweat and such from work. I have two Case knives that started out at a gorgeous deep mahogany red that was popular about thirty or so years ago that now look like they are dyed a dark brown.

My Dad was a white collar guy, but still carried his knives religiously. I have his knives now, and some I remember from 40 years ago look almost the same in coloration and appearance with the exception of some of the lighter bone colors taking on some amber tones with age. I would think the only time a scale would get lighter would be if some kind of toner to accent color or some of the burned areas (if this method was employed to color the scales) wore off after pocket carry. My Dan Burke stockman is definitely lighter where the burnt areas wore down, making the scales look lighter overall.

The only time I have seen scales get lighter in color was when I purchased a CASE knife with red scales on it many years ago. So much dye came off the scales while riding in my all day sweaty pocket that it colored my pants pocket and my leg as well. Enough dye came off the scales that it started to take a pinkish tone at the bolsters.

Robert

 

[Stich2442]

My experience is like Roberts, mine seem to get darker with use

Here is new

And not so new

This was white 32 years ago, now a orangish color

The dark yellow spots on the pile side started out white

And I feel my peanut has gotten darker

Pete

 

[Pima Pants]

Excellent. Thanks for your hard work in explaining and photographing.

 

[sunandsteel]

Thanks for the photos. I have an amber bone peanut I was thinking about dying but I think I'll hold off and just carry and use it more.

 

[OddFuture]

My 2012 Forum knife has gotten decently darker. After a year of use, i'll try to get pics tomorrow compared to my brand new one.