The History of Zytel

Zytel constructed knives were created for the Central Intelligence Agency for covert military operations.
Zytel constructed knives are now used by various Secret Service Agencies in connection with black operations and covert assignments do to its physical construction.
Special Agents and Green Beret Special Forces have used the Zytel constructed knives for covert operations to infiltrate criminal organizations.
It can be used with live electrical lines and is completely indiscernible.
 

The Blackie Collins is 30% Nylon 66 and 70% Zytel

Zytel is used for a number of different high strength, abrasion and impact resistant thermoplastic polyamide formulations of the family more commonly known as nylon.
Zytel is often used with a fiberglass filler because it adds additional stiffness. Zytel is a trademark owned by DuPont.

Nylon represents a family of synthetic polymers, a thermoplastic material, invented in 1935 by Wallace Carothers at DuPont. The first product was a nylon-bristled toothbrush (1938), followed more famously by women's stockings (1940). It is made of repeating units linked by peptide bonds (another name for amide bonds) and is frequently referred to as polyamide (PA). Nylon was the first commercially successful polymer and the first synthetic fiber to be made entirely from ingredients: coal, water and air. These are formed into monomers of intermediate molecular weight, which are then reacted to form long polymer chains. It was intended to be a synthetic replacement for silk and substituted for it in parachutes after the United States entered World War II in 1941, making stockings hard to find until the war's end. Nylon fibers are now used in fabrics and ropes, and solid nylon is used for mechanical parts and as an engineering material. Engineering grade Nylon is processed by extrusion, casting & injection molding. Type 6/6 Nylon 101 is the most common commercial grade of Nylon, and Nylon 6 is the most common commercial grade of cast Nylon. The most common variant is nylon 6,6, also called nylon 66, which refers to the fact that the diamine (hexamethylene diamine) and the diacid (adipic acid) each donate 6 carbons to the polymer chain. DuPont patented nylon 6,6, so in order to compete, other companies (particularly the German BASF) developed the homopolymer nylon 6, or polycaprolactam — not a condensation polymer, but formed by a ring-opening polymerization (alternatively made by polymerizing aminocaproic acid). The peptide bond within the caprolactam is broken with the exposed active groups on each side being incorporated into two new bonds as the monomer becomes part of the polymer backbone. In this case, all amide bonds lie in the same direction, but the properties of nylon 6 are sometimes indistinguishable from those of nylon 6,6—except for melt temperature (N6 is lower) and some fiber properties in products like carpets and textiles. Nylon 66 is a trademark owned by DuPont.

Answers To Some Typical Questions

1.        Yes, You’ll probably want to sharpen the knife.
2.        No you can not widdle wood figurines with the knife.
3.        No it is not a replacement for a standard metal stainless steel knife.
4.        The blade of course will have wear just like a steel blade if used with inappropriate situations.
5.        Yes, the blade will wear faster than a standard stainless steel blade.
6.        It is easy to sharpen, you can re-sharpen with a nail file.
7.        You can also sharpen it just like a regular steel blade.
8.        To sharpen knives use a sharpening stone, file, or table mounted grinder with a fine stone.
9.        You can purchase a sharpening stone at any Army/Navy surplus or Wall-Mart or K-Mart.
10.      Use a fine file on damaged areas when you’ve used the knife in those inappropriate situations.
11.      You can use water or oil to aid with the sharpening stone.
12.      If you have very fine grinding stones on a table mounted grinder, watch the speed setting that you use.
13.      Yes, it can be used to strip live wires, that’s why it’s non-magnetic as well as non-metallic.
14.      Yes the spring is metal it is Beryllium Copper which eliminates the magnetic signature.
15.      Zytel is a form of thermoplastic made by DuPont.
16.      Nylon 66 is a form of thermoplastic made by DuPont.
17.      No this model was not used by the CIA.
18.      Zytel was invented for the CIA and the construction of stealth knives was implemented by the CIA.
19.      No,  Zytel is not more durable than stainless steel.
20.      Ceramic knives are the best non metallic knives, they are typically made by Boker and start at $75 range
21.      Ceramic holds an edge 10 times longer than stainless steel
22.      Zytel is not Ceramic do not confuse the two.