Zippo/Case Museum and Cutco/Ka-Bar visits

TPVT

TPVT

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Feb 14, 2012
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I just got back last night from a camping trip in Bradford, PA. good friends and good times. i had planned to hit the Zippo/Case museum, but decided i would also stop at the Cutco/Ka-Bar museum, as well. after all, i may not get back that way for quite a while.

i decided to take some pics and post them here for those that may be interested but do not have an opportunity to visit. i was super impressed with the Zippo/Case museum. really nice facilities and plenty of history lessons.

First, here is a pic of the Kinzua Dam. i did not take many pics - there was no service, so i did not even have my phone on me (kinda nice). but Sunday, we cruised up to the top of Jake's Rocks to get service and call our dads.
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now, on to the museum!
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that flag is made up of all Zippo lighters.
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thought this was a pretty cool old ad.
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there was also plenty of Case knives and other stuff to buy. i spent about 1.5 hrs there and could have spent longer, if i didn't have a 8.5 hr drive ahead of me.

i was not as impressed with the Cutco/Ka-Bar visitors center. there was not much there. a couple walls of timeline events, some old cutco knives in a case, and a small retail assortment. what i did think was cool was the huge facilities behind it. and, they did confirm that all Cutco knives were made right there. right on.
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Pretty lame photos to most, i'm sure, but i grew up with these sets in my house (the 20 series set and the kitchen utensils). my folks still have them. my dad worked as a cutco salesman either in or right out of college. he was given the sets after he sold so many. he also had a hunting knife, which unfortunately has been lost over the years.
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here is my haul (a Seahorse Whittler and a couple of paring knives).
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I live in Olean (moved here in '05) and I will agree, the Cutco/KaBar visitor center is much to be desired. With the history of KaBar alone you'd think there would be a cool museum.

Now you're right though, the Case/Zippo museum is top notch. They have made a few changes here and there but nothing substantial. They did upgrade the entrance to show off more of their knife product.

Glad you had a good time. Not much else to do in the area haha. The whole Allegheny National Forest area is great. Did you happen to walk out on the dam and see the monster carp!?
 
Jsega51 said:
I live in Olean (moved here in '05) and I will agree, the Cutco/KaBar visitor center is much to be desired. With the history of KaBar alone you'd think there would be a cool museum.

Now you're right though, the Case/Zippo museum is top notch. They have made a few changes here and there but nothing substantial. They did upgrade the entrance to show off more of their knife product.

Glad you had a good time. Not much else to do in the area haha. The whole Allegheny National Forest area is great. Did you happen to walk out on the dam and see the monster carp!?
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Everyone else i went with was a "local", and they told me about the carp. but, we didn't see any, which they were surprised by. but, we did not go out on the dam. come to think of it, one of the wives took some kids down to the marina one day and they did see some off the dock.
 
^ yeah you have to walk out on the dam. They hang in a school in the 100's and there are some as big as a person...no lie. People bring bread or cereal to feed them. You should see the frenzy.

Did you happen to take a picture of the gigantic trapper knife that they have in the museum??
 
Well here it is just in case (no pun intended and these are borrowed pics as I don't have them myself)

It measures 24" closed and it's made from all the real materials the regular knives are, bone scales and all. The scales are actually made from several pieces as you can see. The stand is etched with all of the employees' names that worked on it.



 
Jsega51 said:
^ yeah you have to walk out on the dam. They hang in a school in the 100's and there are some as big as a person...no lie. People bring bread or cereal to feed them. You should see the frenzy.

Did you happen to take a picture of the gigantic trapper knife that they have in the museum??
Click to expand...

i don't recall even seeing it. :o i guess that answers your question. :D
 
Jsega51 said:
Well here it is just in case (no pun intended and these are borrowed pics as I don't have them myself)

It measures 24" closed and it's made from all the real materials the regular knives are, bone scales and all. The scales are actually made from several pieces as you can see. The stand is etched with all of the employees' names that worked on it.



Click to expand...

really cool! thanks!
 
Thank for the pics. I need to get there one day myself.
 
I enjoyed my visit to Case also but I didn't have a chance to visit Ka-bar/cutco so it was cool to see your photos.
 
There's a cool fact/mystery about the zippo car. The first one that they had made (by a company that specialized in product-mobiles out of a 1947 Chrysler) was sent to a dealership in Pittsburg to have the chassis rebuilt sometime in the 50's. After years of it not being completed, Zippo called up to retrieve it in the 70's only to find out that the dealership had gone out of business and the car was missing. The car has never been found. They had a 2nd one built out of another '47. I think this one has like 180k plus miles on it from driving it all over the country to events and promotional stops. Pretty cool to think that the first one is sitting in a barn or garage someplace. Or it was scrapped long ago!
 
Jsega51 said:
There's a cool fact/mystery about the zippo car. The first one that they had made (by a company that specialized in product-mobiles out of a 1947 Chrysler) was sent to a dealership in Pittsburg to have the chassis rebuilt sometime in the 50's. After years of it not being completed, Zippo called up to retrieve it in the 70's only to find out that the dealership had gone out of business and the car was missing. The car has never been found. They had a 2nd one built out of another '47. I think this one has like 180k plus miles on it from driving it all over the country to events and promotional stops. Pretty cool to think that the first one is sitting in a barn or garage someplace. Or it was scrapped long ago!
Click to expand...

that's a neat story. wild.
 
Thanks for the report and great pics, looks like a fantastic place to visit :thumbup:
 
A road trip I want to take, including Queen, GEC, Case and CSC, now add Kabar to the list. From western PA to NY back to Maryland. Thanks for sharing and getting the traveling bug going.

I didn't realize how close Olean was to Bradford, just looked on Google Maps. The Case brothers had a hand in everything, huh? Edited again to add, the Google maps van hasn't even made it up there on the back roads. The only street views are on the major interstates. Looks beautiful up there.
 
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