Bakelite

Bakelite was the original plastic. Baakeland, its inventor. named it after himself.

Wikipedia I'm sure has a whole bunch of info about it.
 
This is what I was wondering about. It has, I think bakelite handles.
ea74ef99.jpg
 
Bakelite was indeed an early plastic, but was very seldom used for cutlery handles. People have a tendancy to use the name generically for any old plastic. Styrene was more commonly used when celluloid was not. But...I suggest that you trot these over to BRL and see what he says?

Codger
 
Acetone test

Apply a small amount of Acetone (your wife’s fingernail polish remover) to a cotton ball. Rub the cotton ball on an inconspicuous area of the celluloid. If you can see a yellow shade on the cotton ball the material is celluloid.

This is a nondestructive test. There are other tests but they may cause a mark on the material.

Tom
Chestnut Ridge Knife Shop
 
Back
Top