old Cold Steel tanto rubber handled "melting"

I've got an old (10-15+ yrs) CS Master Hunter in Carbon V that has patina and stories to tell. It has field dressed and skinned a bunch as well as served general cutting and slicing duties. It has not seen much UV but has seen a good bit of Dawn and hot water over the years. The blade is coated with mineral oil when not in use. The handle, despite some dings and stubborn deer fat, is still perfect.

I sure hope the handle on my just ordered and yet to be received SRK in SK-5 serves me as well.
 
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Mineral Oil which I use to protect the blade, would it cause this to happen down the road? An example, you wipe down the blade with a cloth with oil on it, then handle the knife with some oil on your hands. Or, unknowingly get a thin layer of oil where the blade enters the handle grip. Maybe your wiping down the the edge with rubbing alcohol and cloth to remove sticky residue, after you slice through tape or glued on product labels.
 
nephron said:
Rubber is a petrochemical so it will break down with time, even car tires stored properly will go out of date for use. Does anyone really expect the Kraton to outlast the pyramids? Same with chemicals and rubber, they don't mix. I like the grippiness of the Kraton so I pick that over more durable materials, still have my Gerber Mark I, II for the really rough stuff.
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Kraton is a synthetic rubber (man made) and is better at resisting chemicals then regular old rubber is, but if you know your going to be working with strong chemicals, and it may end up on the handle, it's best not to use the knife in that particular scenario. Use a fixed blade with no scales at all, with a pair of gloves on instead.
 
This isn't knife related, but I had an small KOSS MP3 player with an SD port years ago, and it was encased in rubber. I'm not sure what kind it was, but after many years owning it, it started getting sticky and would peel off, so I ending up tossing the damn thing out. It would leave my finger marks on the surface.
 
The newer "nipply" grips seem to be made out of a harder more plastic-like material. Seems like it would fair better than the older checkered grips.
 
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