What happened to Case?

Past few weeks I've been re-discovering my CASE knives and really enjoying carrying & using them. They've been giving great pleasure and their utility & beauty are right up the user's street.

Big Stockman, Medium Stockman (the car knife, so it stays hidden but must face temps + 30c to - 30c.) Delrin Penknife, Swayback Gent, Bone Sodbuster, Tribal Spear lockback plus 2 Collabs have all been contributing. If this is what's happening to CASE, enabling a re-assessment and appreciation for their knives, then I'm pleased. Nor do I intend this to be read uncritically either, as for the OP he seems to have vanished after 4 posts...I think he should give CASE another try.

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Case knives manufacturing is still in business? I thought they went under like Camilus, Queen Cutlery and Schrade cutlery.
 
Well, the planet traditional I am familiar with is all about Great Eastern Cutlery products. I guess I missed the Case part of it.
I guess you don't visit the large Outdoor sporting stores like Bass Pro, Cabela's, or places like Tractor Supplies or a lot of local hardware stores. There are many many places that carry Case knives plus do a internet search and you find many links.
 
That should probably tell you something.

It tells me one of two things....either I'm crazy for expecting such an expensive knife to be well made or Case doesn't know what they're talking about. I actually think they didn't have parts to fix it and they blew me off since that was mentioned in a phone call. I inquired if they could swap it with something else and apparently I thought that was a better idea than they did. It'll end up in the trading forum when I stop being lazy...
 
This has been an interesting thread to read through. A few months ago I started a thread asking about everyone's experience of A. Wright & Sons knives. The end result was that most people seemed to describe their flaws about the same way, but for some people those flaws made the knives completely unappealing, and for others they were all minor and they loved the knives.

There's a lot more variety when talking about Case quality (from 'poorly made, worse than Rough Rider' to 'flawless, better than GEC'), but I suspect that there are a couple of factors going into why everyone thinks about this differently. One issue is how much impact fit and finish variations have on the customer's appreciation of the knife. How much actual variation the manufacturer allows past QC is a separate issue. Finally, there is an emotional / sentimental / identity element that definitely colors these conversations.

Customer's View of F&F - fit and finish really matters to some people, and even bringing it up seems to irritate other people. So the exact same knife may be viewed as a failure by one person, and admired as nearly flawless by someone else. This could explain why J JD Bear was unhappy with their knife, and Case QC thought it was fine - perhaps JD has a more stringent standard than Case does. Doesn't mean either one is wrong - but good for the customer to know when a company doesn't share their minimum expectations.

Manufacturers Variance in F&F - poor QC doesn't mean that every knife is equally defective - it means that there is a lot of variation. Poor QC might result in one knife that has high F&F, and another that doesn't. So, just because yours was flawless, doesn't mean that someone else must be wrong when they observe low quality.

Emotional / Sentimental / Identity -
if someone likes knives, and looks at a Case, they may not have any factors involved other than the knife itself. But if someone has "I'm a Case knife fan/collector" as part of their personal identity, there's a lot more at stake than just the knife in their hand. Any criticism of Case is now received as a personal attack, not just a discussion about a knife. (This is hardly unique to Case - it happens with any brand that inspires this kind of emotional connection.)

All the Case knives people are posting in this thread look great! I never had Case knives growing up, and my Dad didn't carry Case, so I don't have much connection to them other than thinking they look good and I like that they are American-made. I've thought on several occasions to buy a Case, but every one of them at the store had enough F&F flaws that I didn't get one. I want to like Case, and the older Case knives I've seen seem pretty solid. But I just haven't held a new one in my hands that was worth the money for me. I need a knife to be functional, and all the Cases I've looked at would pass that test. But I also want it to be aesthetically pleasing (which very much includes F&F for me), and none of the new Cases I've handled quite made it there for me. I think the ones I looked at would also have looked really good in forum photos, but when there are gaps or centering problems or whatever, it just kills it, for me. YMMV.

-Tyson
 
I guess you don't visit the large Outdoor sporting stores like Bass Pro, Cabela's, or places like Tractor Supplies or a lot of local hardware stores. There are many many places that carry Case knives plus do a internet search and you find many links.
Actually, I do not visit those stores very often. I do a lot of shopping via the internet. I like having stuff delivered to my door.
Regardless it is good to hear that an American knife company is still in business.
 
I also have been really enjoying Case the last several months. I’ve only had one that I sent back due to issues (blade play) and I have purchased 25 or more since early spring. I have some that I would say the quality is above the price point, most of them, I find, the quality to equal the price point, and none other than the aforementioned, that in my estimation is below the price point. I love buying GEC when I’m lucky enough to find one at a price I’m willing to pay, but Case, Boker (especially the Barlows) and the occasional Rough Ryder do a great job of keeping the mail coming!
 
I just missed another GEC drop, gone in under 10 seconds. I think I'm just going to stick with Case. I think if they limited a new release to 200 per cover they'd be gone quickly also.
 
One thing I will say that I like about case more than GEC is how the jigging rarely extends into the bolsters which gives it more contrast which I prefer. I have several Chestnut jigged bone (swayback, peanut, teardrop) that are flat out beautiful.
 
I have several Case knives, one from the XX era,several from the 1970s era, 1 or 2 from the 80s,couple from the 90s and a few from 2000 to present. The 70s ones are all almost dang near perfect, in MY opinion. But in someone else's opinion they might not be. 3 of them have blade rub, but hey those three are a canoe with 2 blades on one spring, ditto for the baby copperhead, and the third is scout knife. I don't consider a little rubbing on knives with such tight fitment to be a defect,others may not tolerate it. The scout has some minor play in the screwdriver/cap lifter blade,more so when closed. Its the only Case example I have but the Rough Rider that is a direct copy of the Case scout has play in the same blade to almost exactly the same degree. I think its inherent to this particular design of scout, I could be wrong though. One of the ones from the 80s also has blade rub, "AH HA!" would cry the would be Case detractors, "see Case can't make knives without the blades touching and messing up the polished blade!" Well to be fair its a three spring FIVE blade medium stockman, they really packed'em in there. I feel blade rub is one of those "defects" brought about by collectors who want their unused knives to remain flawless for all eternity. Knife companies wasn't concerned with a little rubbing on a product they made to *gasp* cut stuff:rolleyes: Ok now for my own personal worse Case defect on a knife I own,and I do feel this qualifies as a defect.
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The knife on the left is a 1994 model,and the shield inletting is a bit on the rough side and poorly fitted. With a noticeable gap and rough edge. To add to this the glued in shield popped out when I dropped it on a laminate floor. I super glued it back in and it doesn't bother me too much really. I could understand it better if it was in a gnarly cover material like stag, but in regular old delrin o_O
But honestly I have bought all of mine in person with a few exceptions of some that were gifted to me. Online buying seems to be a crapshoot, but sometimes necessary. I feel this is also why I've had good results with Rough Rider, buying in person means I can pass over a knife with a defect. And even though this isn't a RR thread I've only looked at one that I passed on due to a loose wobbly blade. I pointed it out to the young man at the counter and he put it in the box,flipped it over and wrote "defective" on the box with a sharpie. :thumbsup: Sure Case has had rough patches and some lemons, but dang how many THOUSANDS of knives do they make in a yearo_O some duds are bound to slip through
 
I couldn’t agree more! I like to use my knives, sure I have a few that I consider “safe queens”, event knives and things like that, but mostly I’m using them especially the carbon ones. I’m a patina lover, I don’t force them, but I don’t turn down an opportunity to use one for food prep, even if it isn’t the best one for the job!
 
I did some googling which of course led me back to Blade Forums :rolleyes: Found an old thread where someone asked the "how many knives a year " question about Case in 2013. Seems the answer is about a MILLION :eek:
Edit to add: Can we take a moment to appreciate what a vast repository Blade Forums is for knife information, and history, and all the knowledgeable people who freely contribute to that knowledge. Almost every time I google for information on anything with a blade it leads right back here.
 
What? Only just read this, can't let it pass;) You live in a place with land around it, country or suburban and by stealth RODENTS will be in there fouling the place, gnawing stuff, despoiling foodstores, ruining wiring :eek: A Cat about the house (mine anyway) will clear them right out & keep them away. You realize that RODENTS might even gnaw your CASE and other knives???:poop:

Without Cats defending our food stores, keeping plague rats away, without Dogs defending livestock & the hearth we humans might never have evolved. Possibly attractive in certain cases ;)

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Very true. Before I had Vincent, I didn't know I had mice. Now I know that I don't have mice.
 
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