Synthetic handles

kamagong

kamagong

Gold Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2001
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I've finally found a use for my delrin handled Camillus-made stockman. It is now my backup knife. This knife was my first stockman. It's a fine knife, but the handles leave me feeling a bit cold compared to my stag Eye Brand and my bone Boker. I haven't used it much lately, preferring to use my more beautiful knives with natural handle materials. I felt a bit guilty though, this knife is too good to just forget and cast aside. So from now on it will be kept in the glove compartment of my car for those rare times when I leave the house without a knife.

On another note I finally see what the fuss is about regarding older knives. Yesterday I received an Imperial Premium Jack that I picked up on the 'Bay. It is an inexpensive piece, with really thin blades and crimped bolsters, made for a man that needed a cutting tool but didn't see the point in carrying pocket jewelry. The fit and finish is good, as good as the average specimen I've seen from modern pocketknives I have handled.

I don't think I'll be buying many more of these older knives though. They are just not my thing. I prefer to put on the scratches and patina myself. Unless I inherit it, a vintage pocketknife is just another old knife to me.
 
I like Delrin scales for going fishing, much easier to get the fish smell off it than bone or stag or wood! :D
 
I don't think I'll be buying many more of these older knives though. They are just not my thing. I prefer to put on the scratches and patina myself. Unless I inherit it, a vintage pocketknife is just another old knife to me.
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I agree. I'd rather buy a new knife myself than have to clean up someone else's mess. Yes, I know old knives can be found in good condition, but the prices reflect that, too.
 
As much as I love natural handle materials like stag, and nice wood, some of my best slippys have had delrin scales. From 1967 till the mid 80's I put a Buck 301 stockman to some very heavy use in some far off places. First with the army engineers, then in the shop when I became a machinist. I watched my friend and co-worker Andy Worden elbow deep in a deer with his Buck Cadet, then wash it off in a creek.

My yellow Case soddies are some sort of delrin it looks like, and they have worn very well. Yet the sodbuster is a very traditional knife.

And I can't begin to think of how many working men have carried a Schrade Old Timer, with saw cut brown delrin.

A slippy can have synthetic handles and still be a old style slippy.
 
I'm in line with Ken Erickson on my first custom, and still have to decide on scale material, and I am wondering seriously about going synthetic. g10, micarta (probably not Delrin though). The reason: I want it to be a keeper for 50, 100 years or beyond. I still don't know much, but my feeling is that if you want no shrink, no chipping, etc. over the years, the man-mades probably beat out any natural material for pure durability. I also had my Old Timers and Bucks and I have a yellow Case stockman and a Queen country cousin now for EDC's. In my generation (I'm nearing on 40), man made is surely traditional, and in my experience, those old Delrins never had anything happen to them. Does anybody every recall seeing shrinkage around the bolster of an Old Timer or Buck - or chipping?
 
And if you don't like the scales but like the knife, there are a number of folks on these boards that will replace handle materials for you.

The real key to "old knives" is that in most cases, "they don't make them like that any more". But you'll pay for those. What sold new for a couple of bucks may bring a couple of hundred today. Conversely, I bought an old Imperial, which was a cheap knife to start with, for very short money recently. To put it lightly, it was worth every penny I paid. Filthy, smelly, rusty... almost not worth cleaning up.

-- Sam
 
I messed around a few months back with which knife I was going to edc. I've gone from a Case Sodbuster Jr., to a Case Peanut, to a Swiss Standard Issue, to a Buck Cadet, and I keep coming back to my Peanut. I felt it wasn't big enough in my hand, but since then I have cut steak with it, cardboard boxes with it, ribs with it, a block of Extra Sharp cheddar cheese with it, and it actually performs remarkably. Plus I love how it disappears in my pocket. I have two, a Bone Stag and a Delrin, and it's the Delrin one I keep returning to. I love the durable feel of Delrin, and.... I don't know. Plain brown jigged Delrin just says simple, hardworking user to me. No bells or whistles. Just a good, solid user. Delrin all the way.
 
I just realized: Even with all the "nice" knives I have, I've been carrying around a Vic Soldier for the last two weeks, pretty much by itself, and it has aluminum scales! :)

-- Sam
 
ElCuchillo said:
I messed around a few months back with which knife I was going to edc. I've gone from a Case Sodbuster Jr., to a Case Peanut, to a Swiss Standard Issue, to a Buck Cadet, and I keep coming back to my Peanut. I felt it wasn't big enough in my hand, but since then I have cut steak with it, cardboard boxes with it, ribs with it, a block of Extra Sharp cheddar cheese with it, and it actually performs remarkably. Plus I love how it disappears in my pocket. I have two, a Bone Stag and a Delrin, and it's the Delrin one I keep returning to. I love the durable feel of Delrin, and.... I don't know. Plain brown jigged Delrin just says simple, hardworking user to me. No bells or whistles. Just a good, solid user. Delrin all the way.
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Those little peanuts have a way of getting to ya, don't they?:D
 
Yes they do. Plus, I always have a Multitool on me as well, so it handles any BIG cutting chores I might come across. Although, to be honest with ya, the Peanut has handled those as well. I use the multi for it's other tools for the most part, because my Peanut handles it all.
 
I've always prefered synthetic and wood handles for their durability and affordability. Actually horn and bone kind of creeps me out a bit. :o
 
Here's my favorite slippie with synthetic scales....


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Nothing says old timey like a candy-stripe stockman! :D
 
One things for sure; thats going to be a hard knife to loose anywhere!:thumbup:

But you are right, those old candy cane knives of the 30's are nice.
 
AllenC, I've got one of those myself. A nice looking, well made knife. I hope to pick up the trapper to go with it eventually.
 
I don't really care for the delrin when they jig it like bone, so that it will look like bone. When I pick one up I can tell - feels yucky when you are expecting real bone. But it is tougher, and I have a lot of knives I like with it. And I REALLY don't care for the fake stag - staglon route either. But I like the Case yellows.

9 days out of 10 I'm carrying bone handles. Today it's 70's 64047 P, and I'm pleased it's not jigged delrin. If anyone would like to send me this same knife in real stag, I'll put this one back on the box!
 
I like either. For me it really depends more on what suits the knife. I find in most engineering, if it looks right, then it generally is right.

Now don't freak out, but I'm carrying a Spyderco UKPK at the moment! :D
 
dkronholm said:
I'm in line with Ken Erickson on my first custom, and still have to decide on scale material, and I am wondering seriously about going synthetic. g10, micarta (probably not Delrin though).
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The only synthetic slippies I own are be beloved winterbottom Queen Canoe and my recent Ken Erickson Trapper. The Antique Ivory Micarta looks very nice if you like aged smooth bone/ivory look (I do as I have a matching BRKT Uppand) and because it is Micarta, it should outlast me and my kids. I agree with you that I'll always have a special place in my pocket/heart for bone & stag, but I do "allow" a few synthetics to make up 5-10% of what I carry. ;)
 
I carried three knives today. (does that qualify me as a knife geek/knifaholic? :cool: )

One is jigged bone, one is carved stag bone, and the penknife is mother-of-pearl. I have an Uncle Henry Protrapper, it gets carried sometimes, but I prefer the feel of real bone to the delrin/staglon. I have a Vic, but -- it's plastic. Just prefer real bone or wood. Prefer Ebony or Rosewood, if it's wood.
 
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