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Old 05-20-2014, 09:51 PM
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Jacknola Jacknola is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: New Orleans
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Just to connect Delrin with coolie caps, here are a couple of cool RMKs with those features. It looks like they may have the round nut, separate S, type 3 stamp with a brass plate on the handles, quite an impressive two-some, post 1966. I Received PM from Tom DeHart about his great Delrin handled pair. He communicates that they do indeed have round nuts ... which is what we would suspect on a late '60s coolie cap.





It seems that the time period for Delrin handles is described by people who are in the know as being about "1967 to 1971" or more generally "late 1960s". But I wonder if those often repeated dates could be just circular scholarship? Where did those dates come from? Here is a post by Rhett Stidham on 4/30/2006 on another site, line linked below. The pictures are long gone, but his description remains in a line dedicated to Delrin ... and that description is for a "low S" and a "double S' RMKs with Delrin handles.

Here is a photo of a Model 7-5" "Double S" delrin handle.



Rhett also referenced a low S, 7-spacer model 8 with Delrin handle in that discussion on this board back in 2005 or so. He later posted that knife was "no later than 1965."

I know of no "SS" or "Low S" blades from "1967-1971" though I suppose they could have been forged and forgotten and handled later. Somehow, to me that seems unlikely during that busy time period. What seems more likely is that Delrin handles were being used on RMKs in late '64-'65. That time period fits with the generally availability of the material in 1963 following completion of the commercial plant in the US.

By the way, I read that Delrin cleans up nicely with mineral oil, removing "filming" discoloring, etc., without harming the handle material, which actually is a good tough alternative to micarta.

Last edited by Jacknola; 07-24-2017 at 12:24 PM.
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