All About Pocket Knives

Hello all, and Happy New Year, 3 weeks late. Well this knife collecting thing is super addictive! It started with my Great Grandfathers PAL Army knife back in November of 17 has now grown to about 15 pocket knives since then. Right now I'm collecting Camillus. I love the build quality and the long history they have. One particular model has recently caught my eye, that being the Camillus Streamline. I've read some of the forums about them that mention "outgasses". Can anyone explain to me what this is, and what I should look out for when buying one? Thanks!

Outgassing refers to when the chemical composition of celluloid breaks down and starts giving off caustic gases that can ruin the metal on a knife. There are lots of examples peppered throughout the forums here, including photos which show some of the telltale signs of outgassing cell. Usually a cloudy or discolored appearance can be a symptom of outgassing, as well as a line of oxidation or staining above the liners on the exposed parts of the blade(s). Over time, you get used to seeing knives that had gassed and were rehandled, or knives that were stored next to gassing cell, by the telltale "line" of corrosion on one or multiple blades.

The general rule is that any celluloid knife can gas out at any time, but the 70s-90s German cell knives are particularly prone to it from collective experience, while in most cases the older USA celluloid knives seem to be stable when kept under decent conditions. It's best to keep your cell knives stored away from the rest of your knives (or, in fact, anything you don't want near corrosive gases) just in case.

The only Streamline I have is a 4-line large serpentine jack under Camillus's Sword Brand, and it has smooth black handles but I do not believe them to be celluloid. I love the deep stamp on the master blade. Here it is, since we love pictures here:

There's a thread here someplace that's dedicated to "outgassing" but I couldn't find it. In the meantime, here's a small thread on Streamlines ---► viewtopic.php?f=37&t=49699&p=523608&hil ... es#p523608

The handles on Streamlines (and a lot of other old knives) are made of Celluloid. Celluloid often (not always) starts to break down and releases acidic vapors which will eat a knife right up. It starts by turning the nickel silver bolsters and shields dark and causes the blades of the knife to rust above the blade well. You'll see a straight line along the blade with rust above the line and none below the line. No one knows what causes the process to start nor why some Celluloid "outgasses" and some doesn't. For some unknown reason the Celluloid used on Camillus Streamline knives is awfully bad to outgass. As much as I would love to have one, I won't touch 'em. The only known cure is to catch it early, pull the handles off, clean up the knife and install new handles.

I see Tony beat me to it but I'm going to go ahead and post this anyway.

Makes sense. So basically the handles crap out and can ruin the knife. That's a shame, because they are pretty sweet looking knives. Does it discolor the blades or does it chemically ear away at it?

A picture is worth a thousand words.

So this one on eBay is it any good? This is on EBay
m.ebay.com/itm/Camillus-Streamline-Two-Blade-Pocket-Knife-Sword-Blade-USA-VINTAGE/122425949095?hash=item1c8127bba7:g:j-QAAOSwhlZYseVB

Man Jerry, your pictures of off gassed knives are worth at least ten thousand words.
kj

LesPaulGuitars wrote:So this one on eBay is it any good? This is on EBay
m.ebay.com/itm/Camillus-Streamline-Two-Blade-Pocket-Knife-Sword-Blade-USA-VINTAGE/122425949095?hash=item1c8127bba7:g:j-QAAOSwhlZYseVB

Judging from the discoloration of the cell, the corrosion on the shield and bolsters, and the start of that "line of rust" you can best see on the pile side of the master, I'd say that particular knife is either gassing or was stored near a gassing knife. It's not as severe as some of the scenarios pictured above, for sure, but there are definitely signs of gassing -- and they aren't always visible. If the liners get the worst of it, the knife could come apart during use. If that knife is gassing, I'd say make a very cheap offer and see if you can rescue the master blade. IMO for a parts knife it's not worth anywhere near $45 but I'll bet glennbad or Dale could make a seriously cool single-blade out of it.

I"m starting to wonder if my Streamline was a rehandle. Did they make 'em in standard smooth black comp?

It's a shame, because those particular knives are very nice looking. I think I will pass on the one on EBay. Thanks for the info!

Tsar Bomba wrote:
I"m starting to wonder if my Streamline was a rehandle. Did they make 'em in standard smooth black comp?

None that I've seen but I haven't seen 'em all.

I have a saved search on eBay for Streamline and get several hits per week. All I've seen so far have those greenish/creamish Celluloid handles and at least 30%-50% of them have started gassing.

I bought mine completely unaware of that style cell or its reputation. Think I managed to get the best of all possible worlds even if it's a rehandle -- gassing on my wonderful ~75 year old knife won't be a concern and the knife is tight and feels right in hand. It's an excellent user and this information about the cell means it's only going to grow scarcer going forward.

But now of course I must hunt a cell Streamline down...

I grabbed some of the photos from that ebay listing for the forum -- I think everyone will agree it's time for those handles to come off (and perhaps some new liners).

I have a Plano tackle box tray full of Streamline parts.
I find on average it takes me 3 knives to get enough good parts to restore one knife.

I had one black celluloid with white swirls that was near mint, nicest one I have seen. One day I choose it to carry and noticed it was starting to off gas!
I stripped the handles immediately and it is currently waiting for bone handles.

I am seeing a red flag on the Streamlines. Another one to watch out for (besides the Germans) is the cracked ice handle on old Western Boulder offerings. They are so pretty, but LOOK OUT.