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Don't Overlook the Acrylics

Although I occasionally bought one of the GEC Acrylic handle knives for my little assortment because I found it an attractive handle material my primary enjoyment of my knives is in the use of them every day. I didn't use my Acrylic handle knives because, "Yeah, well, it's "plastic" and probably will scratch and wear poorly." I have since found out quite differently.

When the #62 Easy Pocket Congress pattern was introduced in January, 2011, I bought a few in the differrent Acrylics and decided to put one of the Green Velvet Acrylics in my pocket. I have been carrying and using this knife daily for nearly four months. I am finding the Acrylic to be a tough and durable material, without the easily damaged appearance I had expected. I do take a bit of care to keep it by itself in my right front pocket while my keys, pocket change, etc. is carried in my left pocket, but it gets used several times a day for all manner of chores. The Acrylic material has held up very well and shows no wear what so ever.

The first thing I noticed about the Acrylics was the consistently fine fit of the material to the knife. An almost seamless fit at the scales and bolsters with no unsightly gaps, something I have not always enjoyed with some bone and stag. As I experience the toughness of this material I don't believe I will have to encounter any future cracks at the main center pin as is seen on so many of the really old time pocket knives, and it requires none of the routine maintenance necessary with the natural handle materials. An occaional application of Renaissance Wax, which I obtain from my friend and fellow iKC member Vince Roberts, over at Fort Henry Custom Knives, brings the Acrylic material to a shiny and pleasing luster. That's all I've ever done for it.

So when the #65 Ben Hogan knives came out I decided to really try out this stuff and started carrying and using one in the Sea Shell Perylic. I use this knife in place of the paring knife in my kitchen, use it as my table/steak knife, open hay bales and feed sacks, and all manner of rough work. I just returned from a 2 week camp in the mountains and used the #65 and the #62 as my only knives. I camp 19th century primitive, which means cooking over a campfire twice a day, fire starting and meal preparation, so the knives got used. I still cannot see any scratching, wear, or dulling of the Acrylic handle material. This is some amazing stuff!

As you may imagine, I am quite favorably impressed with the GEC Acrylics and I will not hesitate to get more of them. I just wanted to share some of my thoughts and experiences with this attractive and durable material and I would enjoy hearing from others about it as well.

Thanks for reading and adding your comments.

3 members like this

Replies to This Discussion

KnifeMakerPermalink Reply by Dave Taylor on May 7, 2011 at 18:01

The only Cranberry I have at present is the Cranberry Acrylic on one of my prolific little #62 Easy Pocket Congress knives and it is similar to the Cranberry Acrylic on the Moose and Big Jack knives of a couple of years ago.

I don't recall it, but I would bet that the Cranberry Swirl might be found on a Tidioute. They get pretty wild sometimes.

Jan Carter said:

Tim,

NKCA is actually alive and surviving with hopes of being better soon. If you look here on IKC there is a NKCA club and you can catch up on whats been happening with them. I am also curious about the difference between acrylic and percrylic. I figured I would ask Pat or Bill when we get to the open house this year but if you know please share. So the answer is yes, we wouldn't miss the open house for anything.

Alan,

I will find us a close up of cranberry swirl....Dave I have to check my inventory, do you have one?

KnifeMakerPermalink Reply by Dave Taylor on May 7, 2011 at 18:21

Jan,

I checked over at Greg's, TSA Knives site. All I could find was a Tidioute #541308 in Candy Red Acrylic and a picture of a very limited run of 5 #25's (posted 6/25/09 in the Photo Section) that shows one of these in an interesting red Acrylic pattern. Nothing listed as Cranberry Swirl but one of the #25's could be it. Maybe.

KnifeMakerPermalink Reply by Dave Taylor on May 7, 2011 at 18:24

I also found Alan's nice Sunfish knife and the Acrylic is called Copper Snake. Very attractive!

Permalink Reply by Tim Cassani on May 7, 2011 at 19:07

I've been wondering about the "Percrylic" term myself. Never heard it before. Might just be a trade name but I'll check it out next week.

TC

Dave Taylor said:

Thanks Tim.

There certainly is a lot to know about the various "plastics" and it's all interesting.

I've noticed GEC calls some of the handles "Acrylic" and some "Percrylic". Is there a differrence or just two names for the same animal??

Life was a lot simpler when all we had was Micarta! LOL.

Tim Cassani said:

Dave;

AMF is a customer of ours and I'll ask....but I beleive bowling balls are made of polyurethane. Polyurethane is a thermoset plastic like the Micartas (but not a laminate). Polyurethane can be cured to a variety of hardness' described by durometer.

I'll double check and let you know for sure.

Are a lot of members of this group attending the GEC open house this summer?

Heard anything about the NKCA being out of business. I tried to renew at the NKCA show in Fort Mitchell Kentucky last month but the show was cancelled.

Tim

KnifeMakerPermalink Reply by Dave Taylor on May 7, 2011 at 19:40

Thanks Tim.

A few of us are wondering about the Perylic material as compared to the Acrylic.

I must apologize for misspelling the name in my former post. Should have been "Perylic", at least according to the GEC Forum site.

It will be interesting to learn what you can find out about it.

Tim Cassani said:

I've been wondering about the "Percrylic" term myself. Never heard it before. Might just be a trade name but I'll check it out next week.

TC

Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on May 7, 2011 at 21:11

Hey Guys,

LOL, Dave I have the sunfish in a coppersnake, the color on Alans is much brighter than mine but I beleive you are correct. Very Nice!! I did not see a Cranberry in my inventory but did borrow a photo from Greg. It has been produced on 2 models in 2011, I checked the production lists from prior years and dont see any mention of it prior to this. That does not mean it did not come out in a test run or an orphan knife. On Jan 7, 2011it was introduced on the 620211 2 blade easy pocket congress under the Northfield name. On march 10, 2011 it was put on the 331211 bal conductor pattern Also by Northfield . The material is called Cranberry Perylic

KnifeMakerPermalink Reply by Dave Taylor on May 8, 2011 at 14:02

9/18/09: #54 Northfield, Big Jack pattern in Cranberry.

It is the same material as on this year's #62 and #33 patterns.

I had one of the Big Jacks and it was the same material.

I am probably wrong about the "Copper Snake" color, but it was as close as I could find. Sorry.

KnifeMakerPermalink Reply by Dave Taylor on May 8, 2011 at 14:27

In 2008 GEC made a run of Tidioute, #362208 "Sunfish" pattern knives in an Acrylic called "Copper Snake", 50 serialized and 6 unserialized pieces. Alan's knife appeared to me to be one of these.

KnifeMakerPermalink Reply by Dave Taylor on May 8, 2011 at 18:32

Interestingly enough GEC refers to the material as Cranberry "Acrylic" in their release photo of January 7, 2011 for the #620211 Easy Pocket Congress knife.

So what's proper? Acrylic or Perylic? Same material with dual names? Or two different materials?

Jan Carter said:

Hey Guys,

LOL, Dave I have the sunfish in a coppersnake, the color on Alans is much brighter than mine but I beleive you are correct. Very Nice!! I did not see a Cranberry in my inventory but did borrow a photo from Greg. It has been produced on 2 models in 2011, I checked the production lists from prior years and dont see any mention of it prior to this. That does not mean it did not come out in a test run or an orphan knife. On Jan 7, 2011it was introduced on the 620211 2 blade easy pocket congress under the Northfield name. On march 10, 2011 it was put on the 331211 bal conductor pattern Also by Northfield . The material is called Cranberry Perylic

Permalink Reply by biglmbass on May 10, 2011 at 7:24

...

Permalink Reply by biglmbass on May 10, 2011 at 7:37

I find the acrylics neat & interesting but I've not yet purchased one, though I've been tempted. I like how they run the gamut from mild to wild. A few that speak to me are rhubarb, purple haze, and the tortoise shell.

KnifeMakerPermalink Reply by Dave Taylor on May 10, 2011 at 9:08

I like all three of those too. Especially the Tortoise Shell because it is a close match to the real Tortoise shell used in some of the old time pocket knives. Seems to kind of go with what GEC does in the way of knives.