Originally Posted by
Neil Miller
Those scales are pressed leather - cuir bouilli - and were fairly common as a cheap scale material. The diamond filing pattern was used a lot on penknives and other knives - see Wullie's post above. There used to be large cards with all sorts of penknife and pocket knives attached to it with elastic loops in the newsagents when I was a kid. All the older boys used to spend ages choosing one while the rest of us looked on in envy. How cheap they appear now, with their thin flimsy handle coverings and pressed steel parts!
I waited until I was older and got a giant dagger in a sheath. No one batted an eye at a kid with a knife, back then...
Regards,
Neil