Disappointed in Exotic Case Peanut

H

HickoryStick

Joined
Feb 20, 2007
Messages
8
I bought a Case Mahogany Obsidian Peanut last week and was very disappointed in it and sent it back today. There were a few problems. The smaller blade was very hard to open and actually felt like it was grinding metal on metal. When closed, the larger blade rubbed against the liner. Also, when I opened either blade only 1/4" from the closed position, neither one would "snap" back to the closed position.

I expected much better quality from such an expensive knife. The only Case knife I currently own is the one that my Mom gave me that her Dad gave her. That knife is older than I am and it is in better working condition than the expensive new one that I had to return.

I am new to this forum but would like to know if this is typical of today's Case knives? If so, who makes a high quality knife at a reasonable price?
 
I have the same knife and have had no problems with it. It has been my EDC knife for eight months now.
 
As with all production knives you can find sub par quality. In alot of those knives you are paying for the exotic handle material slapped on a standard production knife nothing more. At least that's the way they appear to me. I agree you should get what you pay for. If you buy online its impossible, but I usually try to buy at a store, so I can look at and handle several knives in the same configuration(style, handle etc.) In doing that you can pick the best one they have. If you're unhappy you should return it to the seller or if that's impossible you should send it back to Case and have them make it right. And they will make it right.
 
Send the knife back to Case Customer Service, and mark it attention Shirley with a letter explaining what is the problem.

It will be fixed.
 
flyfishrman said:
exotic handle material slapped on a standard production knife nothing more.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I received. I suppose I was naive to think (given the price) that I was purchasing a knife that received a little extra care and workmanship. Your advice is much appreciated.
 
I've had quit a few case knives, most have been excellent, worst I had was still acceptable, just a bad grind or maybe a little play in one blade, overall a good knife for the money imo.
 
Odd,
All the new Case knives I have bought in the past 6 months are pretty tight.
The two peanuts, yellow CV and red bone CV are tight as you would want.
The spring ends are dead even, the blades are straight and the snap is robust.
I did have to clean out some grit and then oil them as well as hone the edges to shaving sharp but all in all they came in great shape.
My yellow CV Med stockman had a sloppy grind and has some minor blade rubbing but is still well finished; great snap. All of my Case knives are sub $50 and worth every penny.
Do they finish "users" better than patterns with fancy handles that are expected to be safe queens? All my CV knives (yellow, amber, red) came with an excellent finish except for the edges that had burs.
Bill
 
I purchased four Case knives last year.
• Crandall Green bone peanut
• Chestnut bone peanut
• Med. Amber bone Texas jack (CV)
• Antique bone doctor's knife
The first three were just about perfect needing only a blade touch up.
The Doctor's knife looked perfect but has lost all snap and developed a blade wobble after two months. Overall the quality of my recent Case knives is much better than my first Case nearly 20 years ago. I'm going to be sending off the Doctor's knife for some warranty work soon. Seems impossible to make a perfect production knife.............unless you're in Switzerland. Fortunately Case has Excellent customer service.
 
I was a little dissapointed with my recent purchase of a Case mini copperhead w/amber bone handle.The main blade (a wharncliffe) is scratched due to rubbing by the smaller pen blade. The pen blade has no snap at all when opened. The knife is clean and lubed. I'm not a collector looking for perfection, and the knife's imperfections aren't drastic enough (to me) to warrant a return or exchange. Just expected a better product for the money spent and Case's name sake.
 
How has Case's Customer Service been through all of this? I have talked to a lot of the Case reps on the Legacy tour last year and they were top notch. They listened to everything you said. I'd be surprised if you had any problem with the customer service.
 
I bought my first (and last) 4 Case's last year and all 4 had (to me) major problems. Plus the company did not return 2 emails addressing the problems so I will never buy form them again and will not endorse their product. I have been told that their customer service is great when contacted over the phone but come on its 2008 and if a company can't be bothered to respond in writing then that shows a lack of customer service to me!
Rant off!
 
I have three Case knives: One from the 50's or 60's, one dated 2000, and one dated 2003. The 2003 was as close to perfect a production knife as I've seen. The 2000, I think that somebody tumbled the blades a little too long, because there were a couple of rounded areas I think should be a little bit sharper, but that's NBD. Both the newer knives have some areas where I think they're better than the old one, and the old one has some areas I think are better overall than new production.

The old one, the bolsters are actually curved, not just rounded on the edges. I prefer that method of finishing and blending the bone to the bolsters. But the finish work on the hinge portion of the blades aren't as clean as the 2003, though they do compare to the 2000.

I emailed Case about replacing a blade on the old one. Their response was prompt and polite.
 
Thanks for all the responses. Please note that I did not contact Case. I simply returned it to the retailer for a refund.

This was the first Case knife that I have purchased. In all fairness, it was a terrific "looking" knife...absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, I was hoping to actually use it too.

I have purchased many (approx 40+) folding knives (not slip joints) most in the $70-$150 range from many different companies and they were all in good working condition. This is the first knife that I have had to return. I was hoping to find an American company that made a traditional pocketknife of similar quality to that of my modern Benchmade folders.

After looking into things a little further, it appears that Case makes a bunch of variations of their $40 folders...seemingly geared towards collectors... For example, they make only 500 Peanuts with this handle material, and only 500 Peanuts with that handle material, and another 1000 with this shield, and so on....Charging different prices for the same knife with nothing more than some cosmetic differences and no actual differences in quality. So paying $150 for a $40 knife with a fancy handle seems rediculous. Am I missing something or is this pretty accurate?

To use Benchmade as an example, there is a noticable difference in my $70 folders versus my $140 folders...smoother opening and closing, better steel, better handle material, etc. That's why I was expecting more from Case when paying so much for this knife.

Sorry for the rant...I'm just still trying to get over my disappointment. I was really looking forward to start collecting traditionals and got excited at the selection that Case offered only to realize their Business Plan is to market the same knives with different handles in as many "limited" variations as humanly possible so collectors will never have collected all of them.

I'd like to find a company that makes high quality traditional pocketknives in various "shapes and sizes" at reasonable prices (whatever that means) made in America. Would you recommend I look a Canal Street, Queen, etc or are they all pretty much on par with Case?
 
Queens are great. There are some older model schrades that were made in the US that are still out there. You can bet that Case makes or has made almost every pattern out there. I like Bokers too, but I'm not sure if they are made in the USA. Second, in some cases, on the same level as US made knives are the German knives.
 
Case is more geared toward collectors. I'm a user and my father is a collector. He hates to see me buy a limited edition case knife and use it. I don't go for all the exotic and colorful handles though.
 
Case is actually the large majority of my collection. I also use almost all of my knives. I usually look a knife over pretty good before I buy it, so I don't have any with the problems you mention. The one reasonably consistent thing I see though is blades hitting each other or the liners. Nothing drastic, but enough to scratch the blades. Since they're users I don't get too worried about it. If I were more of a hard core collector it would be an issue though.
 
Seems like a crap shoot today when buying current items from many companies. A sad sign of the times. If I can, I avoid buying sight unseen on anything.
 
I don't consider the blades rubbing to be a major flaw unless you want the knife in perfect mint condition as a collector.
As Case says; their tools not jewels.
Yes the only difference with most Case knives is the handles. If you are buying a user and paying extra for a fancy handle it is a choice since Case's regular bone and synthetic handles work just fine.
I would suggest keeping it simple or otherwise spend more and get a Case/Bose version; they use ATS-34 steel on some of those.
Bill
 
billym said:
As Case says; their tools not jewels.

Bill
Click to expand...

If that truly was the case, then you would think they would offer more of there knives in CV.

OP: I have only one case knife and it doesn't have any of the problems you had. The only thing was that when I first got it, it seemed to have some gunk in the joint that I had to wash out, oil, wash out again then oil. Other than that I couldn't be happier with mine. But as others have mentioned, with any mass produced product there are bound to be lemons, but any half decent company will have to problems fixing it or replacing it. If they ignore you or reject your request to fix or replace, then you have reason to be dissatisfied with a company.

As far as Queen goes, I do not own one, but a lot of people seem to like them, but a lot of people have noted that the edges almost always need to be re-profiled.
 
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