Scale shrinkage

VCM3 said:
IMO,best bet is to lemon oil occasionally & just let them be. Let them do what they are gonna do.
Handles scales that swell one time,may shrink another time,or visa versa.

But this whole deal right here,plus the fact that,with all BS aside,the natural handles cannot compete with micarta & the like,for actual serious useage.
So,I personally came to grips with the fact,I love the stag,the bone,the ivory & the burl & exoctic wood,but for me I am now collecting ,and using,strictly micarta knives (and of course I have exceptions in my possession)


-Vince :)
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My Bark River Classic Lite Hunter and the Lil Canadian in CPM 3V are both shod in micarta. These are both showing shrink at the end of the handles,rough edges of tang that you could not feel before. Very odd.
 
willgoy said:
My Bark River Classic Lite Hunter and the Lil Canadian in CPM 3V are both shod in micarta. These are both showing shrink at the end of the handles,rough edges of tang that you could not feel before. Very odd.
Click to expand...

I have seen synthetic liner material on modern fixed blades swell,never micarta shrinking though. That is very odd.
-Vince
 
Campbell nailed it - shrinkage is related to the difference in humidity from where the knife was made to where it now resides. Perhaps 'back in the day' it was less of a problem as knives were made in the same region where they were eventually used?

I've owned a couple wood-handled knives that were made up in Washington state - very humid. I live in the desert - when it's over 10% humidity here people start whining. The wood scales shrunk fairly significantly when I got the knife. Fortunately, no cracks. I put them in a humidor at the suggestion of the maker and voilà no more shrinkage. Same with ivory. For whatever reason, I haven't seen a significant problem with bone or stag. It still swells and shrinks, but to a lesser degree.

Finally I decided that it was silly to keep a knife cooped up in a humidor and sold the ivory and wood hafted knives I owned. A shame as there were some beauties, but now I don't worry. I still have bone, stag, tortoise, and pearl handled beauties. Another reason to love pearl - it's among the most stable of the natural materials.

And as to man-made materials, yes even micarta can exhibit the same behavior. Among the man-made handle materials, G10 is the least hygroscopic (i.e. it absorbs the least amount of atmospheric moisture). I have noticed minimal shrinkage of micarta here, but never G10. The knives I carry and use are either micarta, G10, or carbon fiber. I'm just really glad makers like Tony Bose, Ken Erickson, and Tom Overeynder use those materials!
 
A big cure for shrinkage and movement in natural scale materials is just carrying the knives regularly -- you supply the oils and humidity and you get to actually enjoy using your knives. I'm just saying. :rolleyes: On a couple of customs I had with stag that were showing a little shrinkage, I gave them short mineral oil soaks, and then started carrying them -- a week or two later, no more shrinkage.
 
^ Yep, since I rotate carying most everything I have, that might be why my (apparently "bad," according to some) method of an annual mineral oil soaking has not left my knives worse for wear. Who knows, maybe the oil has done nothing over all these years and it has simply been that fact I carry them that has staved off scale shrinkage... YMMV.
 
Everyone is correct about the humidity levels and the fact that ivory, bone, stag, ect will shrink and expand regardless of mineral or any other oil. What the oils do is keep the scales pliable and not dried out so when the scales do shrink there are fewer tendencies to crack. I have collected ivory and stag for over 15 years and have quite a bit of knowledge/luck in preserving my collection. I have conferred with museum experts and asked how they protect their collections and the key is environmental control and pliability. Another ivory no-no is letting the ivory get exposed to a draft or breeze. The moving air changes humidity and temperature levels quickly and encourages cracking. I love ivory knives and at this point that is all I buy. Setting up the right environment will allow anyone the joys and beauty of owning all the different kinds of ivory. But if you don’t want the hassle of environmentally controlling your knives home, let me know I will be happy to get that pesky ivory off your hands.
 
The pliability argument seems to makes sense to me -- as does the idea that scales are likely to shrink less if (1) they are of good quality, (2) properly cured before-hand, and (3) are kept in roughly the same humidity environment (or greater?) in which they were cured.
 
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