So, what's the deal with yellow?

I spent more than the first half of my life in the 'deep south' and the yellow handled Case knives were/are extremely popular.

Yellow handle trapper being first, followed closely by the stockman and 48 pattern (single blade slim trapper) all in carbon steel (CV).

After years of farmers, hunters, fishermen, rednecks and old guys telling me the Yellow handled Case pocket knives are the best, it's kind of hard to ignore. These guys didn't want stainless steel blades and they associated yellow handles with carbon steel.

In our fishing/marine/hunting/seafood store in Tallahassee Florida, we had the largest selection of knives in north Florida and probably the whole state and south Ga. We sold more yellow handled Case knives than all others, by far! Folks will drive a loooooong way for a yellow handled knife! :D
 
there is other handle colors available:eek:
Affordable, CV steel and they are Yeller whats not to like:D
Love my Yeller handle knives, carry a Yeller CV med stockman every single day:thumbup: Before that was a soddie jr
anybody know, Did case make a Yeller CV full size Stockman:confused:
ivan
 
I'll be honest and say that I only got to like the yeller handle slippies, because Jackknife have mention them in some of his writings, now they carry a dream of an older and better place with them for me.
Not the real world of time past by, but the world in Jackknife writings and memory.


There.... I admitted it, I'm a romantic :o
 
I like delrin in yellow because it is not a faux jigged bone.
Honest to goodness delrin

(not that I don't like delrin in faux jigged bone) :)
 
I have a love/hate relationship with them.

On one side of the fence, I prefer bone to anything else and generally look down upon plastics. I carry my knife because it is both a tool and because I really like to fondle and look at them, I don't want to fondle an ugly knife and plastic doesn't feel as good as bone or stag.

On the other, yeller is very durable, I don't worry about dropping the knife and chipping the bone, it is cheaper which is always a good thing, and they just have a gravity to them that pulls me in. I actually like the way the yellow plastic looks on certain knives, especially the Trapper and Sodbuster.

I own more yeller handled Case, excluding my grandfathers box set, than any other handle material. I am trying to buy bone these days, I don't like the way the plastic doesn't age, I want to have a knife that after years of carry will have extra smooth bone that has been darkened by use.
 
Not a big fan of yellow myself. This was my father's day present from my kids last year. Carbon 881Y Schrade senior stockman.

881Y.jpg


Still my only yellow knife,but the color does grow on you.
 
I definitely prefer the look of bone, but the yellow has it's advantages which have been repeatedly over and over here by others. You can find it if it is dropped, it won't chip, it is affordable, etc. For me it just makes a good hard user.

Of course, this will probably be my only yeller knife. The next one is definitely going to be bone :D
 
For me, the draw of yella handles are tradition and memories. I think they may be wrapped up in the same cloth.

When I was a kid, everyone, and I mean darn near EVERYONE in the knife business had a yella handle for sale. Case, Schrade-Walden, Imperial, Colonial, Kabar, not to mention the beginings of the Asian imports. And all "fishing knives" had a yella handle. For some reason it was a law of nature that all "Fishing knives" were to be of the toothpick design and have yella handles. I'm not real sure when this law of nature came into existance, but it mayhave been when we moved from obsidian to metal.

A heck of alot of old timers, ( the old guys on the porch at the Jenkin's store, not the knife) carried a yella handle pocket knife. This may have been for various reasons. One of course, was it was a lower cost knife to have. Alot of hard working blue coller men needed a pocket knife, and if they could save a few bucks by getting a yella handle, so be it. As long as it had carbon steel blades. They were kind of inflexable on that count.

Working men.

This brings up another adbvantage of the yella handle. It does indeed stand out on a crowded workbench, tool littered floor, or river bank. If a man had to quickly strip a little wire off an end, or open a cardboard pack of something in the middle of a repair job, he'd lay his knife down amid the tools. The yella handle makes it easy to pick out the knife and put it back in his pocket when gathering up his tools when the job is done. If he's fishing after work, and he's had a "few" beers while sitting on bank, it's way harder to leave a yella handle knife behind if the man is a little "tired" after his long day. Kinda stands out from things.

But most of all, when I see a yella handle, I have all sorts of memories come back. Of all the knives, I'll always have a love of the yella handle soddie. I don't love yella by itself so much, I've never had a yella car or motorcycle. But when a yella handle is combined with a nice blue-grey patina aged blade, it's a beautiful combination to me. Of all the knives I've carried, a yella handle soddie was one of the most usedfull under wider ranging conditions. I've had Case, Boker, Eye-brand, and they all were great knives. When I was going off on my cross country motorcycle trip and was going to take one folding knife, it was the soddie. Yella of course. It had all the things I wanted. Simple functional rugged construction. And with the yella handles it was low profile.

I think tradition and memories sums it up for me.
 
jackknife said:
And all "fishing knives" had a yella handle. For some reason it was a law of nature that all "Fishing knives" were to be of the toothpick design and have yella handles. I'm not real sure when this law of nature came into existance, but it mayhave been when we moved from obsidian to metal.
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Funny, I always notice(d) the same thing. To me, a fishing knife has always been a yellow-handled toothpick pattern, with or without a fish scaler blade.
 
I prefer bone, but yellow Delrin is durable, affordable, nostalgic, and actually looks more attractive the more it's used. A scuffed up yellow handle with tarnished pins and a patina on the blades always looks so much nicer than one fresh out of the box. They're a real "user" configuration, for sure.
 
Chewy1 said:
So, is it yellow, yella, or yeller? What's the right word to use?
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whatever works for you, i jokingly use Yeller, my wife actually said my Yeller Sod buster looked like lemon Ciffon:D Dont matter what ya call it long as i get to keep it:D
ivan
 
That does it. I've been eyeballing a Case yellow soddie in CV at Gander Mtn.for a couple of months. I'm going to get it tomorrow to go with my yellow peanut. Might even take it on my crappie trip to Kentucky Lake next week.
 
Mine is a love love relationship.
I don't know exactly why, but I just have been drawn to the yellerhandles. Currently a outdoor working man, and it just seems to fit. Many of the old farmers I grew up around carried them. They could find them on top of an old greasy tractor while working on it. Over the years I noticed the same thing. Working on greasy dirty mowers or tractors, its easier to find it.
My dad carried black handle sodbuster Jr.'s in SS. I liked the yellerhandles better in CV. That is one reason I carry my soddie jr every single day. Its my go to knife.

I think that the yellerhandles get prettier as they age and get carried. Mine seems to have gotton a little darker and definately smoother.

They are just traditional workhorses that tell stories.
 
Chewy1 said:
Please explain why yellow has a pull on you.
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Well, to be honest, it never did ........ until I started spending time around this folksy neck of the e-woods. Then, like a sickness slowly taking over, I was hooked. Okay, well "hooked" may not be the right word. But I do know own two yella Case knives in CV: A trapper and this soddie jr:

SummerCamp2007038.jpg


To be honest, one of the reasons I've become a convert to yellow was that both my daughter (now 6) and my wife really like 'em both. I guess I should be embarrassed to admit that :o but when my wife says something like, "Oh, that's a really pretty knife," or "I really like that yellow picnic knife* you have," well then I start to like those knives more. Must be a subconscious need to ease the burden that my knife knuttiness puts on her. :D



* My wife calls trappers a "picnic knife" since - in her mind - that spey blade is just meant for smearing stuff on bread. :)
 
Yellow LOOKS Old School

Delrin feels nice and smooth in the hand, a CASE Y handle Slimline Trapper hits the spot every time. Shows off patina and polished bolsters very nicely in my opinion.
 
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