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Colorful plastic by any other name

Jim Frost called it Corelon. Michael Prater put in Case knives from Jim Frost and sold it at a premium price. In the old days it was called end of day celluloid. I tend to call it swirly plastic. I'm not a big fan of it, especially when it is marketed as something special or valuable.

When it is all white, it is called Cracked Ice or Imitation Pearl. I've also seen and own Imitation abalone. And then there is tortoise shell. Who doesn't like Imitation tortoise shell!

I know today's celluloid is much more stable that what was used in the past. I'm of the understanding that much of what is called celluloid today is actually acrylic resins. But at the end of the day, it is plastic, a cheap replacement material for higher priced natural materials. (bone, stag, hard woods, precious stones, etc.) So why does it demand a higher price tag than Delrin, another thermoplastic?

Is there anyone out there who is collecting modern celluloid, such as Case Corelon?

Is there anyone who collects older celluloid, specifically swirly or end of day material?

U.S Classic Tiger Eye Swirl.

Rough Rider Blue/Brown Swirl (top) and Tortoise Shell (bottom)

Imperial Cracked Ice (often sold as MOP)

Wenger Snife (Rhythm)

Case Corelon (stock photo) - I don't own any Corelon.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on October 17, 2013 at 10:28

That is one nice knife, even the packaging is pretty nice...well done Raging Bull...here is a pic of one on ebay with maybe "cracked ice" and a guitar shield. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Raging-Bull-Bladeworks-Sweet-Silver-Nashvil...

Tobias Gibson said:

More pretty plastic. This time an Emerald Green Raging Bull Guardian Angel Toothpick.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on October 17, 2013 at 10:31

Here is another offered from the Estate sale of Rhett Stidham well known in the knife collecting community: http://www.ebay.com/itm/RAGING-BULL-BLADE-WORKS-MISSISSIPPI-GAMBLER...

Steve Hanner said:

That is one nice knife, even the packaging is pretty nice...well done Raging Bull...here is a pic of one on ebay with maybe "cracked ice" and a guitar shield. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Raging-Bull-Bladeworks-Sweet-Silver-Nashvil...

Tobias Gibson said:

More pretty plastic. This time an Emerald Green Raging Bull Guardian Angel Toothpick.

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Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on February 24, 2014 at 20:36

After quite a few years of searching I finally came upon the last of a series of swirly plastic toothpicks. Obviously the Raging Bull brand is never going to be as famous as Case, Queen, or even Frost or Rough Rider. Still I liked the Guardian Angel Theme and it was made on the 5 inch toothpick frame, one of my favorite frames. The knives were made in the same factory as Rough Riders and bear a striking resemblance to them. Garry Yokkom owns the Raging Bull TM. A total of 5,000 Guardian Angels were made (1,250 in each handle). Obviously not what you would call a "limited run" but not mass produced either. The last of these swirly plastic toothpicks arrived today, almost 4 years after I bought the cracked ice version.

The entire set of swirly plastic

I probably spent about $50 on all 4 knives with most of that going for the Green and the Purple. I doubt it will ever be worth more than $50 but I'm happy over spent on the last one just so I could have the whole set. Yes i have the boxes and no I've never used them but I have occasionally carried them, most often to Church.

Swirly Plastic is growing on me!

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Permalink Reply by Garett Finney on February 27, 2014 at 20:36

I will tell you exactly what it is.. Its Alumilite clear or alumilite alternative. Its the same stuff pen makers use to make pen blanks.. I know because I use it in my pens and knives! Its a 50.50 mix by weight. You mix it together really good then add some to 2 different cups then in 1 cup you mix 1 color dye with some metalic powder for shimmer effect and do the same in the other cup with another dye. Then you pour them into a mold at the same time and you can use a stick to swirl them around. It hardens in about 20 minutes. Its plastic with a fancy name.. It is acrylic. I take it a few steps further and embed objects into the colored resin. Things like sea urchin spines, crape myrtle blooms, moss, acorn caps, pine cones, and other cool stufff that I stabilize and kiln dry first. Its the next step in exotic materials. I did a knife with this corelon mixed with crape myrtle blooms in a case trapper inlayed with mother of pearl. Came out great and sold in a day. It looks great when set next to fine materials like coral, abalone, mammoth tooth etc..heres the knife, crape myrtle blooms in a dark blue and gold resin.

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Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on February 27, 2014 at 21:45

That's a fight fancy knife Garrett. I can see why it would demand attention and fairly healthy price tag!

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Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on February 27, 2014 at 21:59

Thanks for the explanation Garett. The work you do is absolutely fantastic yet you make it sound so easy! The colors and possibilities are endless. I like the mix of natural materials. I imagine other things can be mixed as well. Well it should demand attention as Tobias said. Thanks for the great pictures.

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Permalink Reply by Garett Finney on February 27, 2014 at 22:14

Yes the c

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Permalink Reply by Carl Bradshaw on March 18, 2014 at 8:25

I thought I'd throw this one into the ring. An old Remington R6795 with tip bolsters, and what my Grandfather calls Tobacco Pyramite scales.

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Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on March 18, 2014 at 12:09

Very nice, Brad. A little history -- Pyramite was a trade name Remington used for Celluloid. Even back in the day, Celluloid was considered "cheap" so many knife companies called it something else. Sort of like calling acrylic, Corelon.

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Permalink Reply by Carl Bradshaw on March 18, 2014 at 14:11

Didn't know that, thanks Tobias.

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Permalink Reply by Rob Gregg on April 15, 2014 at 19:53

Actually celluloid and other early plastics were never considered cheap alternatives. They were simply the latest, greatest invention of their time. Millions of everyday items were being produced in these early plastics and knife company's being the smart ones that they were, jumped on the bandwagon. It wasn't cheap or easy to work with these materials either, the fire hazards alone were enough to make any factory owner cringe.

The earliest celluloids were highly unstable, by the time Py-rem-ite came into play, they had somewhat developed it into a much more stable, yet still highly volatile material. You might have noticed that Py-rem-ite has much less tendency to off gas then it's earlier counterparts. Some company's stacked celluloid sheets with spaces between the sheets and allowed it to cure for a spell before using it. These too have much less of a tendency to off gas and/or shrink.

Modern acrylics are much the same in my opinion. They're something new and lots of people like it. So why not use it for knife handles? As far as cost, it is what it is. As soon as some of the new wears off, it'll go down in price, i've already seen it in the acrylics that are available through knife maker supply outlets.

Sorry if I sound a little preachy, i'm certainly not an expert on the chemistry make-up of early plastics. Just someone who has a fondness for them and has been collecting them for a number of years. Here's a handful from the collection. (if I can remember how to do this lol!)

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