a "CASE" of Titanic

[yobbos1]

This line of knives could go a long way toward bringing 'steerage' along to 'middle class'.
Here's a pic of my Lamborghini just for good measure.
Lately I don't go anywhere without either of these.

 

[GRIM 62]

The only traditionals I have purchased in the last couple of years have been Case knives.What can I say,they float my boat.-Jim

 

[FarmKid]

Maybe it is a regional thing. Besides farming our family is contractors as well and on construction sites here very few carries taticals anymore. The only people that carries them are hikers and survivalists. Now ten years ago we all carried spydercos and gerbers and the reason most guys that I know quit carrying
Them was bc of the clip getting caught on stuff. Now I do think region
And culture plays a big role in what knife people carry. I have family that lives in Toledo Ohio and everybody there carries a tatical style knife. But I do think case is doing good bringing out the calibers and GEC the same with the new farm and tool. I know that when I take a bunch of knives on construction sites that yellow handle cases is the best sellers and buck 300 series the next.

 

[wouldestous]

i work in the environmental industry and all ive ever carried is some sort of traditional styled knife. though i do not doubt their utility i do not care for modern style folders.

as far as the thread topic, ive never owned a case knife. ive had a couple schrade over the years but reading around here has suggested that the schrade of today is not the same company that once was. so be it.

for me right now a knife is worth thirty-forty bucks or less. my current favorite knife is an opinel #7 which cost about fifteen bucks. ive lost knives by laying them down and forgetting them, dropping them out of my pocket and loaning one to someone who would proceed to lose it for me. my knives (and machetes) get grit all over them, dropped in creeks and ponds, dinged against rocks and so on. thirty or forty bucks is what im willing to risk losing or getting torn up. the more good knives case makes in this price range the more likely i would be to try one.

 

[pinnah]

Midnight Flyer and Farmkid, what sort of tasks do you see guys using pocket sized slipjoints for when they have larger folders on them? Not arguing. Just not understanding.
H
Flyer, of the Bucks you see on the job site, what percentage of them are from the 110/112 family (brass or Ecolite)?

As for SAKs, I share your dim view of them but a skiing bud of mine who retired out of the USFS fire fighting swore to me that it was a favorite in those ranks. Used the screw driver for quick adjustment to saws, not unlike their original military use (servicing guns). I've known others who carried them or small multi- tools as a companion to a larger folder. Makes sense to me, which why I carry a Micra regularly, along with a Buck folder.

Wouldestes, the Opinel is a great work knife. I've found the Buck Ecolite to be better for my tastes. Usually around $30. But really hard to beat an Opinel.

Other than the sodbuster, I have a hard time seein any Case as a work knife, much less GEC.

 

[Lycosa]

My old boss, at a pool company, carried a Case Trapper, as his work knife.

 

[midnight flyer]

Midnight Flyer and Farmkid, what sort of tasks do you see guys using pocket sized slipjoints for when they have larger folders on them? Not arguing. Just not understanding.

I never took your honest question as argumentative. I recognize that there are two distinctly different groups of knife user. I work at a Savings and Loan, then for Norwest Bank for about 5 years or so (managing part of their construction portfolio, of course) and saw a different strata of knife guys. After about 20 years in the trades in some way or another, I had encountered guys that didn't even own a knife, much less carry one!

As a small general contractor, I wear a lot of hats and these days actually do a lot of the work on my jobs. My traditional folders wear a lot of hats, too. Take for example my medium stockman of the day. I use all the blades for different things, but use them all. I sharpen my pencils to a needle point for marking wood trim, I shave moldings for that perfect fit, the spey makes a perfect blade to cut off imperfections in wood as you can control the depth of cut without having to get the knife flat to the surface. I open small packages that have switches, controls, goodies for kitchens, light fixtures (cut too deep into too many boxes to not be careful) and cabinet knobs and accessories. I trim off a splinter here and there from a cut that is a bit rough or a hole I drilled that raised the wood around it. I cut an occasional piece of fruit in half to split it with a friend. If it is my stockman with a turkish clip main blade, it has a needle point on it I use it to dig out splinters (mine and others!) lance an infected spot that pops up from using pressure treated wood or dig out a piece of swarf from a finger or hand that dug in when drilling a hole in metal. If I am repairing cabinets and need to plug the small screw holes, I use the sheepsfoot to make the nicest most perfect fitting plugs you an imagine. It has performed emergency service such as cutting tar felt paper when I drop my utility knife off the roof. Then, at the end if the day if the spey still has an edge, I use it to notch my cigar before smoking. That's partial list of duties... anything that you would use a "knife" to do. And in emergency situations it has done a lot you would rather not use your knife on such as cleaning battery terminals on a piece of equipment, using the spine to scrape thick mud off your boots, using the blade to cut gummy adhesives off carpet nap, opening bags of caustic chemicals, etc.

Flyer, of the Bucks you see on the job site, what percentage of them are from the 110/112 family (brass or Ecolite)?

As far as the bigger knives go, a lot of guys still carry the 110. It was the traditional knife of construction folk for decades. Somewhere in the mid to later 70s for a while around here they were so popular (deep south Texas - everyone carried them) that they were hard to get! Ranchers, farmers, construction guys, hunters and fishermen, oil field workers, you name them and they carried it. Everywhere you went you saw one on a belt sheath and probably almost that many more were in pockets.

Now the Ecolites and their ilk have moved in. Belt clips that lay flat are big, lightweight is big, and since folks like Buck can make a decent lightweight knife and will stand behind it they are moving in. Strangely, I see the Ecolites, Avids and such as being carried in the back pocket by old timers. They never carried a knife there before, but a lot of the older fellas (70s and up) are doing it now. They love the Ecolite style of knife because the lightweight handle materials will finally take the whipping they are going to get.

Other than the sodbuster, I have a hard time seein any Case as a work knife, much less GEC.

Within their limits, I think CASE still has models that would make fine workers, especially if used in tandem with another knife. These days we have the option to carry a nice traditional style knife and a beater and not break the bank. That's what I do. On the other hand, I have a couple of older CASE work knives that are head and hands above anything I see from them these days.

As far as GEC goes, the ones I have handled are for the most part nice, but not exceptional. Most seem very ruggedly built and I think some patterns would make very good work knives. However, think of the pain that you would encounter if you were using it and dropped your GEC in a can of solvent or paint, you lose you footing on a roof and drop onto the concrete below, you burn a gap in the blade while stripping wire that was supposed to be dead, or overstress the blade and break it. Those knives seem to me to be designed on the premise that "you could if you have to". Like owning a motorcycle to get around town on that will go 200mph.... you won't, but....

I would have to give a hug to a guy that had a fossilized mammoth handled, serialized, etched, limited to 500 knife pattern that met the fate of one of those scenarios above. You can't carry the knife in your pocket as that would eventually rub off your serial number. You can't really get the blade dirty as the resulting discoloration would obscure the beautiful etchings. You need to have it in and out of your pocket dozens of times a day, but you better make sure your hands are clean (no construction grime or other stuff) since the scales cannot easily be cleaned and they wouldn't look the same after using brake cleaner or paint thinner as a cleaner on them anyway. Nope, GEC knows their market. To me, without better steels and materials (injected plastic doesn't count) even these new "work knives" seem to cater more to the weekend set. Trust me, there is no way a GEC soddie will EVER out sell a CASE.

On the other hand, this is where BUCK has it going on. I know guys that have carried medium sized BUCKs, the same one, for 30 years. I just finished a remodel for a guy that has the BUCK he carried on an aircraft carrier during Vietnam! They last and last, and perform.

And I have almost never seen anyone give a BUCK any quarter. They are used as cutters, scrapers, mini screwdrivers, small pry bars, wedges, and anything else you wouldn't use a knife to do. I have seen broken BUCK blades that have been reground on belt sanders, scales that have cracked and fallen off that have been reattached with construction adhesive, and some even missing blades. But the guys that carry those knives would give them up even for the time it would take to get them in for warranty. When I remarked to the guy that broke his spey blade off that BUCK would probably fix or replace it, he told me he was going to regrind it into a small, flat screwdriver/prying tool. Never occurred to him to send it in, and after consideration he decided he didn't want it out of his hands that long.

I realize that all of this is probably much more than you asked and even care about, but it is raining here for a change so I have more time to sit than usual. I just put on another pot of coffee and it is indeed knife tune up/sharpening day. Time to go fondle all my old working friends and get them ready to go out again.

Robert

 

[Lycosa]

I love Case knives but let me say this about Buck knives. I was just gifted a Bucklite 422 and the quality of this knife surpasses more expensive folder that I own. There is nothing this 422 cannot handle and all at a 1/4 of the price of one of my more expensive folders.

 

[ConBon]

My Case medium stockman had mushy snap, big gaps between the liners, and semi uneven grinds. I think I'll send it in, but I will not give up on Case, not ever.

 

[pinnah]

The exception is BUCK. Affordable, reliable and bulletproof, it is still out there in the millions as a medium EDC for all trades.

This has been my experience in spades.

I find it easier to take a few moments to get the real article out of my little kit as opposed to the ones on the multi-tools which don't work as well for me.

This has been my experience as well. For me, multi-tool means stripped scews, barked knuckles and foul language. The exception to this has been the Leatherman Micra, whose scissors make great mini-shop shears. I carry one all the time in my LFP with a traditional locker in my RFP. Great pairing for me. I work with military guys occasionally and it's very common to see multi-tools on their belts.

All, thanks for sharing the different perspectives. This topic is almost worth its own thread. Fascinating stuff.

 

[Bowman1911]

After defending Case, I broke down & bought another GEC. Hope this one walks & talks to my likin'!

 

[Lycosa]

Broh! ^ Variety is the Spice!

 

[markpmc]

Okay I'm in Healthcare IT, I'm the only one I know that carries a traditional slipjoint. Most of the other guys have kershaws clipped to their front pocket.

The guy at work who most admires my stag GECs told me last time that he still needed to oil his knife since he just ran it through the dishwasher. Turns out the he's a hobbyist mechanic and his knife got messy one weekend. I pretty much fell over. But it works for him and the users of newer 100% man made stainless knives.

The good thing about the experience is that I can stop thinking about giving that guy the stag #48 I just picked up.

 

[trevytrev]

It's hard to be Buck, not only do they put out a quality product at affordable prices but they throw in a Forever Warranty that is backed by world class customer service. That said, the Cases I own are very nice, especially my swayback jacks. Love my sodbuster Jr's and just ordered a few more:thumbup: