Mint Holler Heer Bakelight Handle?

[heers68]

Looks to be a very correct late Holler type 3. You don't see solid trolon that has remained white often! Seems that they formulated very little trolon that was color stable and perhaps it was very brittle judging by the chips in yours and others I have seen. There was also the milk based "galilith" but this doesn't look like that to me. Nice dagger with a lesser seen grip type. Congrats, Kevin.

[M Wipf]

Looks like the grip was wire wrapped at one time.

[fdodge]

Looks like the grip was wire wrapped at one time.

Definitely something going on there, and the fact it has been disassembled for photos kind of queers the rig now.

[Wim Vangossum]

Looks like the grip was wire wrapped at one time.

It indeed reminds me on the double wire wrapped Army dagger pictured in one of the Johnson books but I thought that was done by one maker and it was not Höller??


Regards, Wim

[daggers]

OMG, the old, ridiculous and baseless grip wire discussion....
Each experienced dagger collector does know that the certain traces on the grip shown here are traces from the machine which did cut the grip grooves. Filled with remnants of dirt of about six decades.
Greetings, daggers.

[Frogprince]

Whatever else it might be, I don't think that it's cast or molded Bakelite. FP

[clestuff]

question, why did you disassemble this dagger???looks like it was untouched till you got hold of it ...just wondering .... EC

I wanted to see what the handle was made of. I also wanted to clean the grease off the blade so I could get a better look at it. Didn't think it was a big deal. I don't think it ever had wire. There are no holes where the ends of wire would have been tucked in [at ends]. And the material is so hard wire would not have left an impression. It looks to me like it was cleaned up after it was molded by some type of deburring tool. The reason why I think it's bakelight is because I have had some experience with the material in the past while dealing in antiques. The feel, the weight and a particular smell. The smell can be produced by rubbing with your finger. The friction causes a slight amount of heat and a very distinct smell develops. Bakelight is also very hard and when molded it would have to be cleaned up causing the distinct "deburring" marks this handle has. It also has clean up marks on the ends where some kind of tool was clearly used.

[Frogprince]

I wanted to see what the handle was made of. I also wanted to clean the grease off the blade so I could get a better look at it. Didn't think it was a big deal. I don't think it ever had wire. There are no holes where the ends of wire would have been tucked in [at ends]. And the material is so hard wire would not have left an impression. It looks to me like it was cleaned up after it was molded by some type of deburring tool. The reason why I think it's bakelight is because I have had some experience with the material in the past while dealing in antiques. The feel, the weight and a particular smell. The smell can be produced by rubbing with your finger. The friction causes a slight amount of heat and a very distinct smell develops. Bakelight is also very hard and when molded it would have to be cleaned up causing the distinct "deburring" marks this handle has. It also has clean up marks on the ends where some kind of tool was clearly used.

Briefly: Because of a lack of satisfaction with the the cast phenol formaldehyde resins (Bakelite) during that period that changed color, IG Farbenindustrie also was engaged in manufacturing a later type of thermosetting formaldehyde based resin (Melamine). But the military buildup caused a diversion of raw materials, and Solingen makers were forced to adapt to other substitutes. FP

[J. M. C.]

Nice looking dagger. I try to never take them apart.

[cogwheel]

I think this is in fact a galalith grip. I have one here in my junkbox that looks just like this one.

[Frogprince]

Prefacing with the standard disclaimer of: "don't try this at home", "not responsible for anything that happens" etc. one of the tests used by some folks to determine a type of plastic is to place the item under hot running tap water and smell it.

If it has a chemical type of smell it's probably Bakelite. If it smells like camphor (ie: Vicks VapoRub ®) it's probably Celluloid. And if it smells like burnt milk it's probably Galalith. FP

[Schlange]

For Heer dagger grip bakelite test, it enough to just keep dagger grip a couple of minutes in hand. (Gently surrounds the whole fist around the dagger handle.)
After few minutes, its should smell like bakelite.

Schlange

http://www.mojalbum.com/schlange88/albumi