Ohhh, I've Got Gas !

K

kootenay joe

BANNED
Joined
Jan 30, 2015
Messages
1,566
I am trying to bring some order to the great many knives that lie about my house. I came across a storage case labelled "Bulldog" and since i have not looked at them for at least 2 years, decided to.
To my great surprise i found this:



It was in the now vacant slot lower left corner:



But as i looked at all the other knives, no others here showed any gas effect.
The side that was down is much less affected:



I then looked at the other side of the case and found this knife:



And, both sides are equally affected and the handles are an imitation Stag that i now realize must be celluloid.



Here you can see that it came from the lower right corner slot:



These 2 knives were lying one on top of the other but with 2 sheets of red felt cloth in between them. You can see one other knife with similar handles starting to off gas
I am going to throw out the 2 gaseous knives and clean up the Stag Congress and then take out all other cell handled Bulldogs and put them in a separate storage case.
But the work does not end there. I have 5 or 6 storage cases of Fight'n Rooster knives and celluloid is perhaps the most common handle material in these knives.
So, maybe you too should check your dogs and roosters !
kj
 
What a nightmare!!:eek::eek: That rust looks like it's been left down a well.:barf:

I think Cell really needs to be sectioned for its own and especially other knives' safety. Not being a chemist, I would like to know if there are any known 'triggers' that might provoke a gas-attack? Would humidity, daylight or carbon steel be agent-provocateurs? Is it brass liners? Do stainless knives with Cell do this? It all seems frighteningly fast too.

Good luck with the decontamination process KJ.

Thanks, Will
 
kj, sorry to see that happen to you. Amazing that it only affected those two knives. Thanks for sharing as it is a great lesson on the dangers of celluloid.

If you have the original boxes, I'd recommend storing them separately from each other also. I've got a celluloid that just started to go last year and it has been stored in its original box. I check on it every once in awhile to see if it is progressing. Seems to be very slow for that one. There is no telling when they'll start or how fast though.
 
Will, there are 'triggers'. I think petrochemicals are one. But celluloid can and does break down spontaneously. This knife that gassed off is from 1990's i think so i'm surprised cell was used as artificial Stag. Delrin has been used since 1960 and was developed in part because of celluloid's propensity to break down and off gas. Delrin is stable and can be poured into a mold to make a stag-like handle for example Schrade's Uncle Henry Staglon.
kj
 
Sorry to hear/see your misfortune KJ :(
Hope some others learn about storing from this!


Dave
 
Last edited:
Sorry for the two that were affected but glad there was no damage to the others. I have several celluloid handled knives but knock on wood none have been affected YET.
 
Odd they used Cell for faux stag so recently KJ. As you say, Delrin had been knocking around for ages and is stable. I mean, Cell is inflammable and hazardous stuff so you'd think they would not want to use it. I understand it for colour handles, some is really beautiful, but faux stag.....? Think I've got a meat carving set in carbon and nice silver collars/caps from the 1940s now I come to think of it and that's faux stag too! Hate to think that might gas, whole sideboard could get wrecked!:eek::eek:
 
Ouch, sorry to see that. No chance they can be saved?

Thank you for posting this. I had seen a few references to off gassing cell issues (mainly bolsters) but was completely unaware that it could be so damaging.

O
 
Bulldog, and some other more "recent" cell handled knives are notorious for this deterioration. Sorry for your troubles, Joe!
Take the handles off, but donate the parts to our knife mechanics, or have them rehandled, IMO. Seems better than wasting them completely!
 
Nice title:) Ths happened to one of my straight razors recently, but luckily I caught it early. I guess you need to check your knives more often!
 
That's rough, sorry to hear/see that. I've been advised by older experienced collectors to keep every celluloid 'safe queen" knife kept individually in a ziplock back, then sealed inside a vacuum freezer bag. Then they are safe to keep with in the same vicinity with other knives without issue. Although you can't get to them easily without opening the bag, and then having to reseal them again.
 
I know of the damage that can be done and your thread reminded to track down a beautiful candystripe HJ I purchased from Dave aka knowtracks. There it was hiding in my safe among other knives:eek:

It has been banished to solitary confinement:o:thumbup:
 
I just remembered i have a bunch of the original Buck Creek knives. Many Buck Creek knives have cell handles and as these likely came from the same factory in Solingen as Bulldog and F'nR and at about the same time (late 1970's early '80's), they will have the same unstable celluloid.
I'm posting this instead of looking at them, because, i don't want to look at them, afraid of what i might see.
Waynorth, o.k. i will save them. Maybe 'Bob' wants to de-handle them get them back to being good German knives.
kj
 
Bad news Joe, I must be more vigilant myself :o
 
I would stay away from all German celluloid. We Americans abandoned it much earlier and were better at it. Still, the cracked ice and especially the yellow were notorious. The slick black held up very well and many others. Here is a 1904-1918 Schrade Cutco with perfect Cell.

20u5uhd.jpg
 
Man, that does suck. I am sure you realize how fortunate that only two knives were affected. I am amazed that nothing else was.
 
Really sad new, Joe! We all need a reminder to stay vigilant, so at least some good came out of this:(

I have already separated mine when this topic came up last time and just checked them again.
 
Very interesting thread, I hope you can restore them and you won't find any other damage. This is a good lesson not to leave knives in a closed area, especially a wallet or maybe a sheath.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top