Ok, why yellow?

B

billinvegas

Joined
Jan 27, 2005
Messages
278
I've never really been fond of the color yellow...
Clothes, cars, flowers, etc...
So, I've never really thought much about yellow handled pocket knives.

Couple of weeks ago, I had a rewards point balance, and a birthday discount at a sporting goods store, so I decided, "why not another pocket knife"?

I had about $40 total in freebie stuff, so I thought I'd try and find a knife that is under or 'just' over $40.

Came out with a Case stockman, CV, in yellow...

Took it home, played with it, cleaned it (very gritty) and then sharpened it, and tried a forced patina on it.

I'm sort of getting a little used to it, but every time I use it, i'm thinking "why yellow?"

A friend of mine told me when he was young, the "yellow" knives were sort of a "top shelf" type knife...

So, can anyone tell me why this color has been popular over the years?
Versus, say a black, or brown, or red, or blue, or ???

One thing comes to mind is that it might be easier to find if dropped in the field...

any other thoughts?
 
I think it's easier to see if dropped. Case's synthetic yellow is not bright, but a softer yellow which I like. Their CV steel with a patina and that yellow is a great look IMO. Not sure which stockman you got, but I like that long, thin clip on the medium.
 
I have pondered that very same question in the past. I still don't know the answer, but a yellow handle when combined with a well-patinaed carbon steel blade can make for a good looking knife.

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I also have always wondered why. Yellow is my least favorite color. I like black best for knives but I think red looks good, too. Yellow makes me think of jaundice, piss, nicotine stains, cowardice, and my least favorite food; bananas. Down with yellow knives!
 
I wonder if yellow plastics were cheaper to come up with when the practice started? I know that red paint is one of the more expensive colors for automobile paint.
 
I always thought of it as a poor man's aged ivory. At least the Case yellow delrin, which is a nice, light creamy yellow. And it really does look good with a well-used CV blade.
 
Case's yellow looks much better than the yellow Queen uses on their "Country Cousin".
The Queen yellow is just awful to my eye.
 
I think it grows on you. I didn't like it, and now it is the color I have the most. For hunting, it is easy to see on the ground.
 
Easy.

Grab a yellow handle knife, and one in a nice brown bone or stag. Take it out in the leaves and drop it. Which can you see?
 
Some people just love yellow slipjoints. I have two good friends that will only buy knives with carbon steel blades and yellow handles. I on the other hand, do not care for yellow handles at all.
 
tongueriver said:
I wonder if yellow plastics were cheaper to come up with when the practice started? I know that red paint is one of the more expensive colors for automobile paint.
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I think this is a big part of the answer. Yellow is the natural color of celluloid I think and it doesn't dye evenly, hence the later tortoise shell and cracked ice type variants. From there it's just tradition.
 
billinvegas said:
One thing comes to mind is that it might be easier to find if dropped in the field...
Click to expand...

Thats why they were first made that way. I dought they were able to make neon green, or bright orange back then:p

The tradition stuck. Of course you can get most any color these days, but the yellow is the traditional Bright.
 
My take on this is that these were working knives. What was easy to see if dropped on the ground, in hay, in dark areas. This was a sure way to keep track of them. i was raised in arural seeting and I know the hardware store sold more of them in the yellow than in any other choice.
 
Cleaning things the other day, I suddenly found I owned all these yellow ones :) Got at least one, maybe two more on the way. No idea how it happened - sold quite a few too!!

yellow.gif
 
I'm not really a fan of yellow in general and I don't really like it on most knives either but there's something about the creamy sort of faded yellow that Case uses that I like, I'm not quite sure what it is though...

I'd imagine one of the reasons why yellow pocket knives have remained popular over the years is because people associate them with good memories from when they were younger. They were probably cheaper than stag or bone and more durable, that would make them good working knives and so that's what a lot of people would carry (I assume). Then when they were fishing or hunting with their dad or grampa or someone, that might be the knife that they used and so that's the one that reminds them of that person or all the good times they had with them.
 
While I like yellow, I would expect safety orange to more visible if that's the reason behind the color choice. After all, workmen wear safety orange vests as do hunters, etc. I actually would prefer an orange (G-10) handled knife to a yellow one.
 
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For some reason, yellow works well with the color of metal. Some of the older yellow celluloid was translucent and the color of a lemon drop,
 
Stelth said:
I also have always wondered why. Yellow is my least favorite color. I like black best for knives but I think red looks good, too. Yellow makes me think of jaundice, piss, nicotine stains, cowardice, and my least favorite food; bananas. Down with yellow knives!
Click to expand...

Do you like sunny side up eggs and Mt. Dew for breakfast? :D
 
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