Leslie Tomville
Gold Member
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2016
- Messages
- 2,307
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I primarily collect Case and Great Eastern Cutlery. So naturally, when I had a chance to visit both factories last month, I could not resist.
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One of my great heroes in life is the legendary Tony Bose. He was the all time best traditional knife maker, but, even more importantly, he was an incredible human being. I miss him to this day. His son Reese, the current best traditional knife maker, invited me to attend a ceremony for his father at the Case Museum in Bradford. Case inducted Tony into their Hall of Fame which only has about two dozen members. This is not an annual event, Case reserves this honor for the cream of the crop. Tony was the first person so honored in over 20 years.
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Reese represented his father and his family beautifully at the ceremony. Case pulled out all of the stops. They created several beautiful plaques each containing a photograph of Tony and a Lockback Whittler. One will be hung in the factory, one in the museum, and the family got one. Case is top notch!
Reese agreed to sell me the stag Western Trapper he was carrying. Actually, I told him he would not be allowed to leave Pennsylvania with it! That made my trip.
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The next day I went to visit with the Wizard of Titusville, Bill Howard, and his right hand man, Randy Bell. You can see Randy working at his station if you look closely. Great Eastern Cutlery is only a fraction of the size of Case. GEC only has a handful of employees, Case has hundreds. GEC produces thousands of knives a year where Case produces millions. Here on the Porch, we love to compare Case and GEC, but they are not comparable. They have completely different business models. Believe it or not, I did not buy any knives at GEC, but I did get a Beer Scout pint glass.
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Here is my takeaway. Case is first class. Yes, we love to complain about the fact that they could build better knives; which is true, but they have to maintain profitability. Regardless, they deserve tremendous credit and respect for keeping it going for well over a hundred years. They have great employees who are tremendously proud of their company and it’s history.
As for GEC, we are fortunate that they even exist. It appeared to me that Bill Howard is single handedly keeping that operation running. It felt precarious. Anyone who thinks that Bill Howard is some devious manipulator who has a master plan to keep supply low and demand high in order to make a fortune is sadly mistaken. It appeared to me that he is simply a man who loves what he does and, more than anything else, he loves traditional pocket knives. We are so fortunate to be collecting during this GEC era, because I do not believe it will last forever.
In short, both Case and GEC have done what most traditional knife factories have failed to do, stay in business! They both deserve the benefit of any doubts cast their way.
I made this a thread so people could share their experiences and photographs regarding the Case and GEC factories and employees, focusing on the incredible knives they make. I know many of you have made similar pilgrimages so please share your experiences with the rest of us.
I primarily collect Case and Great Eastern Cutlery. So naturally, when I had a chance to visit both factories last month, I could not resist.
View attachment 2283415View attachment 2283416
One of my great heroes in life is the legendary Tony Bose. He was the all time best traditional knife maker, but, even more importantly, he was an incredible human being. I miss him to this day. His son Reese, the current best traditional knife maker, invited me to attend a ceremony for his father at the Case Museum in Bradford. Case inducted Tony into their Hall of Fame which only has about two dozen members. This is not an annual event, Case reserves this honor for the cream of the crop. Tony was the first person so honored in over 20 years.
View attachment 2283465View attachment 2283466
Reese represented his father and his family beautifully at the ceremony. Case pulled out all of the stops. They created several beautiful plaques each containing a photograph of Tony and a Lockback Whittler. One will be hung in the factory, one in the museum, and the family got one. Case is top notch!
Reese agreed to sell me the stag Western Trapper he was carrying. Actually, I told him he would not be allowed to leave Pennsylvania with it! That made my trip.
View attachment 2283471View attachment 2283472View attachment 2283473
The next day I went to visit with the Wizard of Titusville, Bill Howard, and his right hand man, Randy Bell. You can see Randy working at his station if you look closely. Great Eastern Cutlery is only a fraction of the size of Case. GEC only has a handful of employees, Case has hundreds. GEC produces thousands of knives a year where Case produces millions. Here on the Porch, we love to compare Case and GEC, but they are not comparable. They have completely different business models. Believe it or not, I did not buy any knives at GEC, but I did get a Beer Scout pint glass.
View attachment 2283492
Here is my takeaway. Case is first class. Yes, we love to complain about the fact that they could build better knives; which is true, but they have to maintain profitability. Regardless, they deserve tremendous credit and respect for keeping it going for well over a hundred years. They have great employees who are tremendously proud of their company and it’s history.
As for GEC, we are fortunate that they even exist. It appeared to me that Bill Howard is single handedly keeping that operation running. It felt precarious. Anyone who thinks that Bill Howard is some devious manipulator who has a master plan to keep supply low and demand high in order to make a fortune is sadly mistaken. It appeared to me that he is simply a man who loves what he does and, more than anything else, he loves traditional pocket knives. We are so fortunate to be collecting during this GEC era, because I do not believe it will last forever.
In short, both Case and GEC have done what most traditional knife factories have failed to do, stay in business! They both deserve the benefit of any doubts cast their way.
I made this a thread so people could share their experiences and photographs regarding the Case and GEC factories and employees, focusing on the incredible knives they make. I know many of you have made similar pilgrimages so please share your experiences with the rest of us.
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who knows, maybe the down line... Im lucky to have made it home last year tho.
