Stacked leather handles

cgmblade said:
Thought I'd share a picture of my Camillus Pilot Survival knife. It has a 5" blade of some unknown steel and a stacked leather handle, which prompted this thread. For what I paid for it 20 or so years ago I think it is a pretty good knife. I was sad to learn that Camillus has shut its doors.

Camillus_pilot1.jpg
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I have this same knife and i was wondering how much do you know its worth. it was given to me by my dad bc i am in the Army so i was wondering do you know anything on it. ive had a few people offer 35 to 40 for it but i wont sell it.
 
black mamba said:
The following knife is over 50 years old, and sat in a wooden drawer in a damp moldy basement for most of its life. It belonged to my dad. When I finally got it last year, I cleaned up the blade on a belt sander (it was covered with rust), but the leather grip needed no attention whatsoever. It seems to have held up very well. It's an old Imperial.

Dadsknife.jpg
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this looks a LOT like my Schrade Walden H15 -- great knife.
 
EDEROSSITT said:
I have this same knife and i was wondering how much do you know its worth. it was given to me by my dad bc i am in the Army so i was wondering do you know anything on it. ive had a few people offer 35 to 40 for it but i wont sell it.
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35-40 is low on a camillus in good shape.
I've seen new Ontario versions at the gun show with $45 on them.
In the early 80's I had a Queen cutlery AFSK - still kick myself for letting that disappear.
 
i'm buying a ka-bar mark 1 in the near future, and i was thinking of a stacked leather handle.
i have never held a stacked leather knife before.
how squishy is it compared to kraton?

it will be submerged in saltwater, but seldom more than 5 seconds at a time(for cleaning it).
and it will also get wet from freshwater, like lakes, rivers and rain.

is it unadvisable to get the stacked leather one?
 
I wouldn't buy leather stacked in your case. Wooden, if you really want natural material. But why do you need to submerge it in the water for cleaning?
 
cgmblade said:
Thought I'd share a picture of my Camillus Pilot Survival knife. It has a 5" blade of some unknown steel and a stacked leather handle, which prompted this thread. For what I paid for it 20 or so years ago I think it is a pretty good knife. I was sad to learn that Camillus has shut its doors.

Camillus_pilot1.jpg
Click to expand...
Your steel is probably 1095, which is pretty good steel.
I have one of these, made by Ontario, stamped 1980. It's a great tool!
 
Steffen said:
is it unadvisable to get the stacked leather one?
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Only if you don't take care of the leather the way you should. There is nothing wrong with properly cared for stacked leather handles.
 
Looks like mine as well. Sharpens like a razor. I thought the walden schrade was one of the first pilot knives. The handle on mine is still in great shape after all these years. Leather is warm in the hand and a positive grip.
 
Wow - this was an old thread brought back but timely.
I was recently looking at the Fallkniven Northern Light (NL series) knives with stacked leather handles and wondering how they held up.
The Fallkniven offerings are pricey but very clean designs and the leather handles are bee-yu-tee-full.
 
A.L. said:
I wouldn't buy leather stacked in your case. Wooden, if you really want natural material. But why do you need to submerge it in the water for cleaning?
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to wash away blood and and gore, when fishing.
 
I realize that I'm probably the only one who does this...
My pop always taught me "clean hand, dirty hand"
The hand holding the tool stays clean, whether it is a paintbrush or knife or fork at dinner.
When I fillet fish my knife hand doesn't touch the fish.
This way the handle stays clean and slip free.
When gutting them there are times when you need the other hand, but I'll either wipe my hand (jeans are handy, a rag is better) before I pick the knife back up or keep the knife in my hand, gripping it with the back three fingers and use my index finger and thumb to help the left hand.

Keeping the handle clean and slip free is important to me.

Having said all that :roll eyes:

A saltwater rinse shouldn't hurt your leather handle at all.
Especially if you give it a freshwater rinse as soon as you get home.
That goes for the whole knife too.
Dry it well before it goes in the sheath and you will be fine.
 
Ebbtide said:
I realize that I'm probably the only one who does this...
My pop always taught me "clean hand, dirty hand"
The hand holding the tool stays clean, whether it is a paintbrush or knife or fork at dinner.
When I fillet fish my knife hand doesn't touch the fish.
This way the handle stays clean and slip free.
When gutting them there are times when you need the other hand, but I'll either wipe my hand (jeans are handy, a rag is better) before I pick the knife back up or keep the knife in my hand, gripping it with the back three fingers and use my index finger and thumb to help the left hand.

Keeping the handle clean and slip free is important to me.

Having said all that :roll eyes:

A saltwater rinse shouldn't hurt your leather handle at all.
Especially if you give it a freshwater rinse as soon as you get home.
That goes for the whole knife too.
Dry it well before it goes in the sheath and you will be fine.
Click to expand...
I do that too. Clean hand/dirty hand applies across the board.
...and Ebbtide is right, a little dunk won't hurt it, as long as you keep the leather oiled (just a little bit, every so often). If it is too dry, then it will absorb the water; if it's adequately oiled, it will be impervious to water (unless you, say, leave it dunked in a bucket overnight, or something).
 
Gotta admit that those knives you guys showed look great. That said, well all know that there are other handle materials that are zero maintenance. I think I prefer zero maintenance even to "little" maintenance. It's enough for me already to have to worry about rust on the blade...
 
No one mentioned neatsfoot oil, which is perfect for restoring, reconditioning and waterproofing stacked leather handles. Particularly if you see the leather starting to dry out. It will even rescue where the leather has started to crack (but not if the crack goes all the way through to the tang. It matches up well to carbon blades because the maintenance regime is pretty similar and can be done at the same time.
 
This old unmarked BSA knife belonged to my wife's father when he was a kid. He got a lot of use out of it and so have I. The (oiled and waxed) stacked leather handle and good ol' 1095 are still going strong after more than a half century.

Scout01.jpg
 
I have a couple Marble's Woodcrafts from the 20's that have leather handles and they still look great.
 
Here's a well used Camillus pilot survival knife I picked up off the exchange for $40. Guard rattles a little but it's fine.

 
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