The Sweet Thread! Butter and Molasses!!

I have been rummaging around in some small rolls that have Case knives in them, where I don't look too often, and lo and behold, I found this Butter, unceremoniously dumped in with its poor distant cousins!

Of course it stood out like a Ruby in a Gold tooth!
It's not hard to tell the pattern, as the number is right on it. As I recall, this came "off the wall" when Schrade's collection was sold to whoever . . . ..

As close to mint as any 70-80 year old knife I have ever seen!

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Here's one that came in the mail this week. It's a Camillus stock knife, I guess a "medium" size, at 3 3/8", and is my first "butter'n'molasses" knife. I don't know for sure whether it's celluloid or not, but I assume so based on some of the corrosion present on the blades, and some minor shrinkage in the covers. Still looks nice, though, and functions very well, with good walk & talk and no loose parts.

The main blade is stamped:

CAMILLUS
________
New York
USA

So, does that make this a "3-line" stamp? Can anybody tell, off-hand, how old this little guy is, or must I dive into the internet and actually do some research? :p

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Apologies for the weird color in the photos... I'm not quite used to seeing that glowing orb in the sky just yet, and it's messing with my photography. ;)
 
It's definitely celluloid and from the looks of the blades on the pile side, it may be out-gassing. Hard to tell for sure but the blades look like they have corrosion on them. Not to run your knife down sir, but that doesn't look like Butter and Molasses like the old Schrades shown previously.

Maybe someone else has more info for you. :)
 
I have seen a lot of this over the years, you should keep a close watch on this one. It has already shrunk at the bolsters but that could only be the beginning of it. With what looks like cracking in the celluloid, could be in the process of gassing out.
Perry
 
Yep, that's what I suspect as well, those pits on the secondary blades definitely look like out-gassing damage. It will live separately from the other steel, just to be safe.
Definitely seems to have a little more "depth" or transparency to the handle material, compared to most of the more opaque B'n'M specimens posted here, so I guess I'm not really sure that it qualifies... but hey, it looks alright to me, for now. ;)
 
Definitely a B&M but just in rough shape, Camillus did lots of these in the 1950s, thanks for showing it!
 
Gorgeous jack, Al. What I find so mysterious is the variable nature of the outgassing of celluloid. My only B&M is on an 80-90 year old Robeson and shows no problems whatsoever (post #25). Tight to the bolsters and liners, no shrinkage or rust at all. Then you will see a 20-30 year old cell that is completely wrecked. What makes the difference???
 
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black mamba said:
Gorgeous jack, Al. What I find so mysterious is the variable nature of the outgassing of celluloid. My only B&M is on an 80-90 year old Robeson and shows no problems whatsoever (post #25). Tight to the bolsters and liners, no shrinkage or rust at all. Then you will see a 20-30 year old cell that is completely wrecked. What makes the difference???
Click to expand...

From what I've been able to find out the mixture of chemicals has to be perfect, and also the amount of each chemical.
That is a purrrty Schrade Al :cool:


Dave
 
Thanks, Jeff, Perry & Dave!

I think I recall reading somewhere that when Schrade made the move to Ellenville, Dave Swinden made sure the celluloid stock didn't come with them :D
 
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knowtracks said:
From what I've been able to find out the mixture of chemicals has to be perfect, and also the amount of each chemical.
That is a purrrty Schrade Al :cool:


Dave
Click to expand...
That's what I've read, too. In addition, some sources have said that the various colors behave differently, with lighter/clear-ish celluloid having a higher likelihood of degrading than the darker, more colorful stuff. (Or have I got that backward...?) Something like that. Anybody else heard a similar thing?
 
Here is a 234K Schrade Walden NY jack. 3 1/4".
Probably late 40's early 50's. Light use with a bit of tarnish.

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That's a beautiful Jack pattern B&M, thawk! At first glance I thought maybe it was out gassing from the discoloration on top edge of the pen blade but maybe not. Everything else about the knife looks in fine shape.
Perry
 
Wow - just lovely knives, I am most certainly glad I live in my time, but for one thing - I yearn for yester-years stunning knives!!!
 
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