Boneite?

afishhunter

afishhunter

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Supposedly Boneite is "Vulcanized Celluloid".

Is Vulcanized Celluloid as prone to outgassing as regular not Vulcanized
celluloid?

My 1950's~1960's Ulster No. 10 Barlow allegedly has Boneite covers.
No signs of outgassing - yet - but with celluloid that don't necessarily mean it won't sometime in the near future.
 
What effect does out gassing have on the scale? Or does the gas affect the metal?
Thanks in advance.

Russ
 
I'm wondering where you're reading or seeing Bonite (or 'Boneite') described as 'vulcanized celluloid'?

Admitting fully, I know NOTHING about Bonite and hadn't previously heard of it until this thread. All of the references I see to 'BONITE', as spelled exactly in reference to Ulster knives (on AAPK's site in particular), maybe Schrade too, seem to mention nothing at all about celluloid-outgassing issues. I'd take that cautiously as something of a good sign, especially since you're not seeing any issues with your knife.

With all other celluloid-covered knives of similar or older vintage, it seems like any such outgassing issues causing corrosion of the metal and the breakdown of the celluloid itself are well-known and publicly documented by now. So, little or no mention of outgassing on the Bonite knives seems like a good sign to me. I sort of get the impression BONITE might've been some sort of transition plastic material after celluloid and before Delrin or similar materials came into popular use.
 
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One thing I noticed in looking online about this, there seems to have been multiple references over a long span of time (late 19th century into the 1980s) to various iterations of products called 'Boneite', 'Bonite' or 'Bone-Ite', as spelled exactly. It may be one of those product names that gets reused & modified under many copyrights or patents over time, but the material itself may have varied all over the place in composition, with one named material having absolutely no similarity to another of a similar name or from another time frame.

At least as it pertains specifically to the Ulster/Schrade knives of the '50s & '60s time frame (as 'Bonite' in that context), I didn't see any association at all with celluloid or any of it's problems. This is why I personally wouldn't worry too much about it, if the knife were mine.
 
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