Rivetless Covers?

J

JustInCase1

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Dec 6, 2023
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Recently, I've seen knives with "Corelon" covers that are somehow being stuck to scales without rivets.

What glue or other adhesive are they using to stick the Corelon down? Is it stronger than rivets?



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Welcome to Bladeforums JustinCase1.

According to a Case rep who posted on Bladeforums, Case did not put the Corelon handles on their knives. The Corelon handles were put on aftermarket by Micheal Prater (Michael Prater & Company). At first, Frost Cutlery were buying Case trappers and having Prater re-handle them without Case's permission, but when Case found out they made a deal with Prater and licensed him to re-handle their knives.

I would imagine that whatever exact method Mr. Prater uses to attach the handles is proprietary. I doubt anyone will be able to tell you exactly what glue he uses. I've read from one source that he casts the handles onto the knives, and from another source that he casts the handles onto epoxy. But neither of these were official sources.
 
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I don’t know the answer but today’s adhesives are pretty good. My concern is that although the adhesive might be very good, how well will it hold up over 30 years or so?

I assume they have to use glue because the Corelon material is too easy to crack or split when peening the pins.
 
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The factory authorized ones start with a "9" pattern code, so as a hypothetical example a 65 2 blade folding hunter would be 9265 as the pattern, always look for the 9 starting digit. Be careful on any odd limited edition on a 3 starting knife, especially if it isn't a yellow handle. The yellow line was the cheapest wholesale, so it got used on a lot of "special" limited editions that Case didn't know about.
 
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Case did make Corelon knives BUT they were riveted.

I'm curious as to why whenever you go looking for a rivetless knife, Corelon is always the material of choice. Is there some special glue that reacts between it and the metal of the scale?

If the glue isn't Corelon-specific, why don't we ever see rivetless wood or bone covers?
 
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JustInCase1 said:
Case did make Corelon knives BUT they were riveted.

I'm curious as to why whenever you go looking for a rivetless knife, Corelon is always the material of choice. Is there some special glue that reacts between it and the metal of the scale?

If the glue isn't Corelon-specific, why don't we ever see rivetless wood or bone covers?
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If you go the Buck Knives website, you can build a knife in the Custom Shop and select the covers that you want. Some of those covers are wood and bone. One of the options is rivets or no rivets regardless of which covers you choose.
 
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Railsplitter said:
If you go the Buck Knives website, you can build a knife in the Custom Shop and select the covers that you want. Some of those covers are wood and bone. One of the options is rivets or no rivets regardless of which covers you choose.
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Very interesting! I didn't know that. That must mean they have at least one kind of adhesive that works for all types of materials they sell.

Do we know if those rivets are real and functional or just for aesthetic?
 
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JustInCase1 said:
Very interesting! I didn't know that. That must mean they have at least one kind of adhesive that works for all types of materials they sell.

Do we know if those rivets are real and functional or just for aesthetic?
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I can't say for sure but I like to believe they are functional. I always select rivets when I order from Buck's Custom Shop for that reason.

These are all knives from Buck's Custom Shop. Elk, Bone, and Wood. The rivets are "domed" on the outside and I can see where they are pressed into the liners inside the blade well. They almost have to be functional.
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