Sunday, December 16, 2012

Alox madness

Cellidor scales are nice, nylon scales more practical, but alox is just perfect! Strong, durable AND appealing... First off let's look at the history of this magnificent material. Since 1961 the soldier knife changed to Alox handles. The first commercial use of Alox isn't very clear, but on the Aloxworld website I've found some models made in 1957. The name ALOX stands for ALuminum OXide. This material has a high hardness and a very high melting point, compared to basic aluminum. The textured alox scales are still in production, but not as much as in the past. The newer alox models are using smooth alox. The textured alox knives are often used as a limited run (50-100 pieces) and thanks to their appealing looks, allways a succes. The one disadvantage on these knives are the missing back-tools like a corkscrew, a reamer and the small exterior tools in the scales like the tweezers and toothpick. 



It is no miracle that I prefer these knives over the classic scales, but it is almost impossible to find or buy these in Belgium (except the silver ones). The saddest part is that most of my alox knives are bought in America on Ebay. So think about this.... I live about 700 km from Ibach (believe me, I've been there ;) ) and I'm obligated to buy alox Swiss knives in another continent... The possitive part is that I've collected a lot of nice knives, wanted and searched for in Belgium. Here are a few of my knives.... 




3 comments:

  1. I see you have the same problem with the lack of availability of alox in our countries. It is a paradox to live in Europe and buy alox in the U.S., Canada or South Africa :-)

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  2. Exactly! But, whenever you find some rare alox, it's worth more... supply-demand... In Belgium, most collectors stick to the cellidor knives, but are always eager to buy one, if they find one. Just to see the bright side of this... :)

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