Bose/Case Lockback Whittler, stag scales and clip point blade ;-)

Gary W. Graley

Gary W. Graley

“Imagination is more important than knowledge"
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Mar 2, 1999
Messages
27,518
Hi folks, well, it's been a whirl wind tour of the Bose Case knives lately for me, recently a rousing run with the SeaHorse pattern and lastly with the Coffin Jack, all ended up moving on to new families, where I'm sure they are being well cared for as I type.

Now, please don't quote me, as I know some of you will, but this might be the one for me at this point least wise. A few words regarding the knife, it's from the 2005 yearly produced run from Case Brothers of a design by Mr Tony Bose, I've always wanted one over the past 10 years and have only as late I was able to find one. When it arrived, I was less than enthused with the smaller blades, both had side to side play and the springs were notoriously weak on that particular model, being as it is a very difficult pattern and Tony inferred he was pleased that they took the task on and made it, not an easy endeavor! But the springs for these two smaller blades are not overly weak, but not nail breakers either, I'd favour to just below being just right, so a little light but not bad. I oiled the joints and the coping blade's play has calmed down considerably and the pen blade is not as much as it was, but still there. While I could send it back, I've received council that Case would make it right, I'm more of the bird in the hand kind of guy and as these are not easily found, I'd not want to part with it now, so, it tis what it tis.

Also the main blade's nail nick was below the spine of the pen blade, while not a big problem, but you have to use the portion of the long pull near the pivot, not the handiest. So, I took matters into my own hands and ground down the kick on the pen blade, allowing it to drop into the handle just ever so much as to allow access to the main blade and still have access to the pen's nail nick. It worked out famously ;)

I'm quite taken with this knife, the handle shape is convenient for many types of grips.

Closed it measures 3.89" long
Spine to spine at the widest point is .75"
and a thickness of about .5"

I've no way to weigh it, but it's a solid feeling folder, with that tang thickness of the main blade starting at .20" it's substantial !and locks up solid as well.

All three blades arrived moderately sharp, but the smaller blades needed attention and I have sharpened both up nicely, the main blade I only stropped on leather and it is shaving sharp so I'll leave that until needed.

This older model sports ATS-34 for the blade steel, while the newer releases are 154CM, I am not sure of the differences between them but this steel sharpened up nicely, hair whittling sharp in fact.

Now the scales, they are strange to me and at first I was a little put off from the photos but, they've grown on me and I do like them, I can see some dyeing along the very edges or burning? but it is suppose to be stag scales, in either case, they are trim to the folder and work nicely to grip.

Here are some photos of the knife;

BC_W_closed.jpg~original


BC_W_closed_back.jpg~original


BC_W_partial.jpg~original


BC_W_Layout.jpg~original


BC_W_all_out.jpg~original


And as it always does, the T. Bose imprint doesn't fail to bring a smile ;)

BC_W_Tbose.jpg~original


Please feel free to post your Bose/Case Whittlers in this thread as well, notice I lead with Bose and then Case, just because...
Thanks again Tony for working so hard to bring these to our door steps and also thanks to Case for taking on such daunting tasks.

G2
 
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Looks like a great knife Gary, the clip point and wharncliffe hit it out of the ball park. Especially with that stock and lockback.
 
One picture you don't see very often is looking down at the main blade open and the two secondaries closed. It's fascinating to see the channel that is formed between them. There's your homework for the evening Gary!!

Great looking knife by the way and I know what you mean about sending it back. I've done it with a knife before and was worried the whole time that i'd never see it again or a different knife would show up at my door.
 
Yes Tim the lock is as thick as the current issued Wharncliff version

And I almost took that shot but didn't ;) I've put the stuff away so it will be for another nite or another person to post a shot of theirs
G2
 
Thanks Ernie, here is an earlier shot that shows a little of the spines of the blades;

Whittler_spine.jpg~original


G2
 
Nice looker you got there! Great photos, as well. I especially like how you have them lit from beneath. Dramatic.
 
Thanks Daniel, it is a very nice knife, the pic's use an old slide light box with a piece of smoke Plexiglas to reduce the direct light on the knife, while providing a reflection, above the knife is a roof of mylar taped to some cardboard to throw light back down, so it's a fairly inexpensive setup but it does provide that dramatic look, oh and a sheet of black felt set back a little to provide a solid backdrop.
G2

I took this one, as she was resting on the arm of my chair in our living room, sedate setting but I like the look of it too;

bose_case_whittler.jpg~original
 
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Spine shot, the grind is pretty cool on the main blade, really nice work there;

Whittler_spines.jpg~original


and, while in Hobby Lobby, picked up a few busts of presidents and thought I'd put them in every now and then into a photo ;)

Whittler_presidents.jpg~original


G2
 
Really lovely knife. That pattern ticks off a lot of my wants in a traditional folder.
 
Thanks, that it is.

Well, I couldn't take it any longer, while it is maybe a minor issue for some, blade play for me is not something I would hang on to, so I shipped her back to Case to have them take a looksee and possibly fix it up.

Now it would take a miracle for them to take the knife apart without damaging those scales, as they are quite thin and those pins are peened pretty good, I told them there wasn't anything of sentimental value so I would take it that they might just replace the stag scales. I asked Tony Bose about it and he thought maybe the middle liner may be a bit too thick and thought they could fix her up for me. Fingers crossed that it goes just that easy!

G2
 
Thanks, I can't imagine that they could remove those peen'd pins without harming the scales as they are fairly thin scales as it is. And I really hope that they can correct it without adding something new into the process. The package shows delivered but not in their system yet, they said to check back next week, ugh the wait is killer !
G2
 
Just got notification that the Case repair dept has her in hand, that's the good news, the bad news is, they list a 4 to 6 week repair time frame, hopefully it won't be that long, but I certainly wouldn't want them to rush on this, fingers crossed she'll come back all fit and dandy!
G2
 
Gary , how much blade play was there ?
Up - Down - Side to side ?
Do you think it was like it from new , or has it developed over time ?

Ken
 
Both had side to side play and apparently right from the gitgo as the knife appeared to have been new in box. I posed the question to Tony Bose and he guessed that possibly the center liner was too thick and figured it could be repaired.

G2
 
Gary, just so i am understanding properly, this knife is the 2005 annual Case/Bose knife that costs 4-5x the price of a regular Case knife ?
You state: "I oiled the joints and the coping blade's play has calmed down considerably and the pen blade is not as much as it was, but still there". I have not tried this, but how can oil decrease blade play ?
I have bought a few of the Case/Bose annual knives and the only one that came without any issue is the Norfolk which is an outstanding knife. My Lanny's Clip was disappointing with it's blade play and is the last one i will buy. I have many GEC knives and none have blade play or any significant issues. The AGR annual Texas Ranger folders cost a fraction of the Case/Bose knives and have the finest fit and finish of any production knife and better than all but the top custom made knives.
This forum has a great many posts citing problems with the C/B annual knives that i am surprised that Mr. Bose allows the relationship to continue. I doubt these knives will continue to sell out now that we have so many great GEC knives to spend our money on.
kj
 
kootenay joe said:
Gary, just so i am understanding properly, this knife is the 2005 annual Case/Bose knife that costs 4-5x the price of a regular Case knife ?
You state: "I oiled the joints and the coping blade's play has calmed down considerably and the pen blade is not as much as it was, but still there". I have not tried this, but how can oil decrease blade play ?
I have bought a few of the Case/Bose annual knives and the only one that came without any issue is the Norfolk which is an outstanding knife. My Lanny's Clip was disappointing with it's blade play and is the last one i will buy. I have many GEC knives and none have blade play or any significant issues. The AGR annual Texas Ranger folders cost a fraction of the Case/Bose knives and have the finest fit and finish of any production knife and better than all but the top custom made knives.
This forum has a great many posts citing problems with the C/B annual knives that i am surprised that Mr. Bose allows the relationship to continue. I doubt these knives will continue to sell out now that we have so many great GEC knives to spend our money on.
kj
Click to expand...

Just for the record. My experience is exactly opposite. I've owned seven of the Case/Bose collaboration knives, including the 2005 and 2014 Whittlers, all purchased off the web, none of them had a problem. I'm not going to compare them to other manufacturers knives, but in my experience they are as close as you'll get to a custom knife without being hand made.

I will agree with your comment on the Norfolk. It's a wonderful knife. I've also purchased a number of A.G.'s branded knives and they are right up there with the best.

I hope Case gets it done for you Gary. I'm sure you will let us know.
 
Thanks Gary, I figured the complaints verses the number of knives made are quite low. From reading I have heard that the 2005 models were suspect of weaker springs or snap of the two smaller blades, it could be they might be too tight, where this one is too loose, a knife like this is very tricky to build.

As to the oil helping out, my guess is the knife sat for a very long time in it's padded case, no oil that I could see on the joints at all. So when I applied some nano oil, it filled that very small void or gap and the one blade you didn't feel the side to side as much as you could still feel on the other. I not forcing the blades side to side, just a gentle push at the tip of the blades, the coping blade barely moved but the pen was still fairly loose fitting.

I will find out...ugh ;) in several weeks, how it all ends up and I'll certainly report back on the repair.

And to add to Gary's post, I've owned several of the Bose/Case models and none had any problems and all were pretty close to some or most customs if compared side by side.

G2
 
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