About ready to give up on Case knives

[JohnDF]

Would like to get my hands on a nice GEC though......

Your $20 Tinker will still do more than a GEC.

 

[jlomein]

I want to like Case knives but when I can get a Swiss Army Tinker for $20 that can do so much more and with excellent fit and finish I just can't do it. Would like to get my hands on a nice GEC though......

Love me some SAKs, and my nylon/cellidor SAKs have come with decent F&F. However I decided to upgrade to a fancier Alox Pioneer X and it had similar problems much like Case. It has increasing gaps towards the ends of the scales, and the sides of the scales have these unsightly jagged defects where the anodizing is missing. I've been told it occurs when Victorinox is using aged cutting dies for the scales and not replacing them frequently enough.

 

[littleknife]

I understand the OP's frustration.
Yea, for some people $40 is inexpensive, but for others, including me, that is quite a bit of hard earned money to waste on shoddy quality.
Case's quality might have been great in the past, but in my experience has been quite shoddy in the last 20 years.
From the 100+ Case knives I have handled in various stores (hardware stores, Case Outlet stores, HD etc.) less than 10% were excellent and maybe 20% were acceptable. The rest were really poorly done, inconsistently ground, with rubbing, poorly fit blades, cracks in the bone, springs sticking out or sunk when the knife open, extreme variability in the scales textures, colors, almost always very different scales on the two sides etc. Really sad.

With all the advise above how to tighten and even replace pins on wobbly knives, I think QC should have never let those knives out of the factory door in the first place, especially if we are talking about "working knives".
Rough Ryder has more consistent products in the fit and finish department.

Overall, I think Case knives are overpriced for the quality they provide.
Yes, they are made in the USA, but that alone is no excuse for the average mediocre quality they provide for the money they charge.
I like well made and inexpensive knives, but recent Case quality does not fit in those categories. IMHO. YMMV.

 

[bladeblabber]

I have been very lucky I guess... I’ve bought 10 case knives in the last 6 months with not one complaint.

 

[solphilos]

Your $20 Tinker will still do more than a GEC.

Yep. I carry traditional knives for the style and class they bring to my pockets, but outside that my Vic Pioneer is a far better knife in every regard compared to all of my other traditionals.
If I could get a Pioneer in SS bolsters, liners, pins and Ebony covers it would likely be the last knife I’d ever carry. A man can dream

 

[robertj298]

I understand the OP's frustration.
Yea, for some people $40 is inexpensive, but for others, including me, that is quite a bit of hard earned money to waste on shoddy quality.
Case's quality might have been great in the past, but in my experience has been quite shoddy in the last 20 years.
From the 100+ Case knives I have handled in various stores (hardware stores, Case Outlet stores, HD etc.) less than 10% were excellent and maybe 20% were acceptable. The rest were really poorly done, inconsistently ground, with rubbing, poorly fit blades, cracks in the bone, springs sticking out or sunk when the knife open, extreme variability in the scales textures, colors, almost always very different scales on the two sides etc. Really sad.

With all the advise above how to tighten and even replace pins on wobbly knives, I think QC should have never let those knives out of the factory door in the first place, especially if we are talking about "working knives".
Rough Ryder has more consistent products in the fit and finish department.

Overall, I think Case knives are overpriced for the quality they provide.
Yes, they are made in the USA, but that alone is no excuse for the average mediocre quality they provide for the money they charge.
I like well made and inexpensive knives, but recent Case quality does not fit in those categories. IMHO. YMMV.

Your expectations must be awful high if you think only 20% of case knives quality is acceptable. I only have 9
Case knives and I consider all of them are quality knives with very few minor flaws.

 

[littleknife]

Your expectations must be awful high if you think only 20% of case knives quality is acceptable. I only have 9 Case knives and I consider all of them are quality knives with very few minor flaws.

I am happy for you.
Maybe I just had a bad luck, or it could be, that my expectations are awfully high.

I am coming from traditional single blade slipjoints in Europe, low end custom made work slipjoints made of Krupp 4116 steel and stag, plastic or walnut scales, which would be characterized as inexpensive in the US. Overall they were better and more consistently made than the single blade equivalents from Case. The only features which are superior on the Case knives are that Case knives are easy to pull and have more functional kicks.

My other reference are the F&F on the Victorinox SAKs, which I understand is not a fair comparison.

The first case knives I got were 20 years ago from a Case factory outlet store, purchased online. I paid near full retail plus local taxes and finally seeing and handling them in person, I was sorely disappointed. The blade rubs, blade play, proud springs when the knives open did not meet my "high expectations".
I still have a few Case knives, but I made sure I bought them after carefully handpicking them in person, due to my poor experiences, "unrealistically high expectations" or poor luck, whatever you call it.

My impression was that most of the Case knives were made in a rush by careless employees and QC was wide asleep when those knives left the factory.
This refers to both the delrin handled work knives as well as the bone handled "collector" series. CV knives on average had a litter bit of better F&F, but many of those were poorly ground, with the blades rubbing too.

In contrast, most of the US made Schrade Old Timers or Uncle Henry knives I came across had good to excellent F&F, and were much more consistent too.
I had good luck with some Queen and Schatt & Morgan knives too, all internet purchases. Those were IMHO more variable than the Schrades but on average better than Case, for just a slightly higher price (2000-2012 period). I gifted them to friends and relatives as examples of high quality production cutlery made in the USA.
I have a few really cheap Camillus slipjoints with delrin scales and stainless or carbon steel blades, which I got between 2001-2003 from SMKW, and without exception, they all had a much better fit, walk & talk, and in some cases even finish, than the Case knives that cost many times more. I also have a Camillus made Craftsman folder with wooden scales purchased from SEARS, which is just about perfect in my opinion.

 

[sopwithcamelus]

I am happy for you.
Maybe I just had a bad luck, or it could be, that my expectations are awfully high.

I am coming from traditional single blade slipjoints in Europe, low end custom made work slipjoints made of Krupp 4116 steel and stag, plastic or walnut scales, which would be characterized as inexpensive in the US. Overall they were better and more consistently made than the single blade equivalents from Case. The only features which are superior on the Case knives are that Case knives are easy to pull and have more functional kicks.

My other reference are the F&F on the Victorinox SAKs, which I understand is not a fair comparison.

The first case knives I got were 20 years ago from a Case factory outlet store, purchased online. I paid near full retail plus local taxes and finally seeing and handling them in person, I was sorely disappointed. The blade rubs, blade play, proud springs when the knives open did not meet my "high expectations".
I still have a few Case knives, but I made sure I bought them after carefully handpicking them in person, due to my poor experiences, "unrealistically high expectations" or poor luck, whatever you call it.

My impression was that most of the Case knives were made in a rush by careless employees and QC was wide asleep when those knives left the factory.
This refers to both the delrin handled work knives as well as the bone handled "collector" series. CV knives on average had a litter bit of better F&F, but many of those were poorly ground, with the blades rubbing too.

In contrast, most of the US made Schrade Old Timers or Uncle Henry knives I came across had good to excellent F&F, and were much more consistent too.
I had good luck with some Queen and Schatt & Morgan knives too, all internet purchases. Those were IMHO more variable than the Schrades but on average better than Case, for just a slightly higher price (2000-2012 period). I gifted them to friends and relatives as examples of high quality production cutlery made in the USA.
I have a few really cheap Camillus slipjoints with delrin scales and stainless or carbon steel blades, which I got between 2001-2003 from SMKW, and without exception, they all had a much better fit, walk & talk, and in some cases even finish, than the Case knives that cost many times more. I also have a Camillus made Craftsman folder with wooden scales purchased from SEARS, which is just about perfect in my opinion.

Your experience is similar to my own. I usually buy pre 1980 Case knives when I can. I had decent luck at the turn of the century. Recently started buying new Case knives. Out of four in the last two months, three were unacceptable due to excessive blade wobble, or weak snap. I tightened up one and kept it. I have older Camillus and Schrades, and the QC on them was excellent.