Nylon handle appreciation...

I

Iyonk

Joined
Jan 29, 2010
Messages
538
I have plenty of nylon handle victorinox, from various models in 84mm (bantam, waiter,lumberjack, sportsman), 91mm (spartan, huntsman), 108mm (safari, safari hunter) and 111mm (centurions, GAK)...
i know the nylon handle was first started in 108mm for military purpose that victorinox contracted to produce for german army, dutch and so on... so its toughness comes from there...


Yes, i prefer the look of shiny new cellidor handle... with its steel shield inlays... but a beaten up cellidor doest look better than a beaten up nylon handle... and for the same rough treatment the nylon seem to be more resistant to scratches, some corrosive liquids and some impacts...



lately i begin to respect the nylon handle... not for its beauty, but for its toughness in hard work... yup, the hotstamp shield would gone in no time and its look cheap... but its got better grippy surface and i just respect how its survive some punishment that the cellidor would be all scrathes and lost its shiny beauty or destroyed in some sovent... i could just pocket the nylon handle, place it at rough wood desk or rocks and not worrying about scratches like i treat my beauty cellidor handles....


for edc enjoyment i still pocket some shiny and gorgeous cellidor sportman and tinker small... but anytime i'm going to traveling, fixing something, or going to places that i'm sure i'm gonna use my SAK, i'll grab my nylon handle HUNTSMAN II, or my black CENTURION...

my nylon HUNTSMAN II got some very2 usefull tools... and the building quality is the same with its cellidor model (got some backup huntsmans in silvertech, black and red)...but got tougher handle...

even now without its silver hotstamp shield... i still love my nylon huntsman... its a combination of military toughness handle and the beauty of victorinox tools....

if someday victorinox made a metal inlay shiled in nylon handle like the cellidors, i'll get them in heart beat...

hope someday i could find a nylon classic hehehe...


anybody else like the toughness of nylon handle and its abit grippier surface?


i have 1 sportsman in white nylon handle and its actually look very nice! to bad the 84mm and 91mm, is more common in red.


iyonk
 
I like the Nylon Eco. handles much more than Cellidor , I'm with ya Bro. !

Chris
 
I really like the nylon Waiter I've got. I really love the StayGlow handles since they are a little rougher, not sure what they're made of though.
 
I came to hate the cellidor scales. Too fragile when it comes to some gun solvents, bug sprays, alcohol, and general wear and tear. The nylon ought to be the standard scales just for being more durable.
 
jackknife said:
I came to hate the cellidor scales. Too fragile when it comes to some gun solvents, bug sprays, alcohol, and general wear and tear. The nylon ought to be the standard scales just for being more durable.
Click to expand...

Aha... that might be the exact reason why the military variant or germany insist on nylon or alox in the firstplace... also the kitchen cutlery victorinox use nylon on the knife handles...

why wont they made the nylon looks good and got better bright color options... bright orange would be great IMHO...
 
I've not yet experienced problems with the cellidor scales, but for outdoors I usually carry a SAK with alox scales.

I think most people who buy a SAK, amongst them a lot of non-knife people, don't mind the cellidor scales being less durable. They just carry and use the knife for several years and if the scales break, they just buy a new one. A friend of mine is carrying the same red Climber for two years now. He is a light user and Climber doesn't look much different than two years ago.
 
Harayasu said:
I've not yet experienced problems with the cellidor scales, but for outdoors I usually carry a SAK with alox scales.

I think most people who buy a SAK, amongst them a lot of non-knife people, don't mind the cellidor scales being less durable. They just carry and use the knife for several years and if the scales break, they just buy a new one. A friend of mine is carrying the same red Climber for two years now. He is a light user and Climber doesn't look much different than two years ago.
Click to expand...

You're very correct harayasu... the cellidor is perfectly fine for EDC and normal use... i dont have any problem with it and i love how its shiny look... i've got a 20 years white spartan that still intack... its only changing in color to be somekind of ivoryish or a tiny tan...

i've never break any cellidor scales.... its just abit easy to scratch and dent... in that issue, the nylon is more resistant....

the cellidor is fine... the nylon offers something thats not in look departement... but for my harduse... i prefer the nylon...

the best thing is we can have them all! so nothing lose!
 
That's true, the nylon is very scratch resistant. I have a Safari Pathfinder and Solo, both 108mm models. Their handles are very scratch resistant and give a good grip. The Solo is very nice for fishing. In fresh water at least, I don't know how it will be with salt water.
 
same with mine... i dont have solo, but my 108mm red safari havent got any visible scratch on it... the blade size is generous even though not lockable...should be perfectly fine for some outdoors food prep...

about more than 12 years ago... i was walking in a beach and some friends decides to do some pranks to me.... to make it short, they dip me on the beach with all my clothes on... good thing i dont have any electronics or cellphones with me...

anyway, i carry an 84mm sportsman on my jeans coin pocket.... i think to my self, those corrosive salt water would do some rust on it.... to tell you the truth, i still got the sportman in my knife drawer since i retired it 3 years ago and not harm done... it still open nicely and the blade doesnt have any spot of rust... (it got some very minor rust on the fingernail file, but since its very minor, i could remove it if i want to)

overall, the quality of a sak at its price range is unbeatable....
 
I noticed the same. My alox Soldier has been with me on a lot of hiking and camping trips and seen a lot of water, salt water too, but it still doesn't show any signs of rust.
 
PS: nylon handle seem to be more tolerant to heat or hot water... i've seen a cellidor melting just becouse its got some very bright showrool lamp on it! and also some cellidor bending becouse of hot water... the nylon proved to be more tolerant... just what i've experienced and read though...
 
There might actually be a reason why some people believe that their cellidor scales are really tough and many others have experienced cellidor scales easily cracking with just a single drop from the pocket to a solid floor. The former, are mostly those who attest to the strength of their cellidor scales throughout the years, and the latter are mostly those who are new to the SAK collecting/using world.

I found an article which could explain why some cellidor scales, specifically the older ones, are tougher than others, mostly the newer ones. Check it out: http://www.sosakonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=631&Itemid=35

The older ones are more solid models while the newer ones are far more hollow with thinner plastic all around.

Scalebacks.jpg


(picture borrowed from the article linked)

I love the 91mm knives and it's hard for me to give up the tool capability of these knives (small blade, scissors, back tools... and yes even the tweezers) simply because the scales used on them are quite weak. I could easily just get the Alox models because of their damn tough scales, but I would really miss the familiarity of those 91mm knives and their tool selections.

Thank God for nylon scales.

Now... if we could only have these nylon scales with the metal shield inlays. And maybe the pin hole while we're at it...
 
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I have an older Vic Spartan bought in 1981, one that didn't have the tweezers/toothpick, and the red plastic scales on it seem tougher than the Cellidor now. I had gifted it to my dad, then he gave it to me to carry when I moved overseas for several years, and then several more years after I returned Stateside. It has been accidentally dropped on hard floor and once on concrete, and only has a small crack at the wider end, but the crack is only cosmetic.

I would prefer that they shift the Cellidor to nylon, FRN, or whatever, WITH the metal inlaid Victorinox cross and shield. I don't mind that the Cellidor scratches easily, and I've never broken a scale, but I'd prefer the greater toughness of nylon. I also personally would like if it had handle rivet/rivets, if that would be possible, instead of snap-on or epoxy assembly. May not be possible or practical, though, with the greater thickness, etc., of the plastic models.

Jim
 
In theory and probably practice, nylon scales should hold up to rough use better than cellidor, but to be honest, in decades of Swiss Army Knife use, only one set of scales ever needed replacing, and that was from internal wear, not breakage. These were on a Wenger model. At present, I have three cellidor-clad Vics that get used regularly, but not hard; a Swisschamp, Tinker and Rambler. They have been with me from 10 to 25 years, show wear on both scales and implements, but look fine otherwise. I also have an OH Trekker, another great knife. Love them all, see no need to investigate other handle materials. But that's a personal call based on my typical SAK usage. Leatherman is what I use for heavy duty.
 
Here's a thought; if Victorinox wants to sav some money, why not just make all the models with checkered nylon hadles with the Swiss cross molded into it like on the safari and old German army knife??

You end up with a great none slip handle, and the moulded in cross will be there till doomsday.
 
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jackknife said:
Here's a thought; if Victorinox wants to sav some money, why not just make all the models with checkered nylon hadles with the Swiss cross molded into it like on the safari and old German army knife??

You end up woth a gret none slip handle, and the moulded in cross will be there till doomsday.
Click to expand...

+1

I agree. So much.
I would buy a 91mm knife with those scales. In an instant. And I wouldn't care if I lost the tweezers/toothpick.

show_image.php


... on a 91mm. *drool*
 
It would solve so many problems at once.

1. Having a checkered non slip grip that you don't have to use sandpaper on.
2. Getting a more durable handle that is impervious to certain gun cleaning solvents and alcohol based cleaners.
3. Cost. The nylon would be cheaper to injection mold, and eliminating the metal inlay would cut production cost.
4. Just like the cellidor, the nylon could have different colors mixed in to make any color SAK you wanted. They could do production runs of red, black, or yellow, or anything you wanted.
 
I wish the different scales were more available. I've got a stayglow camper that I like because those scales seem more scratch resistant and durable. But like the nylon, you can't get the pen slot or pin hole. I've had some annoying scratches on my new cellidor vics, but they're users. The nylon on my OHT seems nice, I wish they did make the 91mm nylons more available and redo it a bit. Also I've got two Gadsden cellidor vics that I haven't carried yet -don't want to scratch them. Not sure if I want to keep them pristine or make them users yet. :eek:
 
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