Case "Dark Red" Bone

I certainly see what you are driving at Randy, and the validity of it. But, when CASE calls its current Dark Red Bone Dark, they are being wildly inaccurate in my book.
 
btmccutcheon said:
I won't buy a Case anymore unless I get to coon finger it a bit first. I've seen too many issues with them over the past few years to trust buying one sight unseen. Older ones I have no issues with.
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I like to do the same when I can, but unfortunately I haven't found a local store that carries enough variety in Case knives to be able to do that with a lot of patterns I'm interested in. Most places carry hardly any CV (usually just one or two patterns in yellow Delrin)

Woodrow F Call said:
The Pocket Worn Old Red Bone generally comes pretty decent. But only in SS.
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I have a couple of stainless Pocket Worn Old Red Bone knives. I wouldn't quite describe them "dark red" either, but they're better looking than that Copperlock, at least IMO.

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Wowbagger said:
The silly thing is what they are pushing out the door doesn't match, even remotely, their own photos on their web site.
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That might be the most irritating part. Their photos aren't even close.

Will Power said:
It's not dark and it's not appealing. When you think how nice CASE Chestnut bone is, it is incomprehensible why they fail to produce dark red- one of their classics from not that long ago.

I'm surprised to hear Böker has the same trouble, the ones I've had have been a decent colour and uniform.

GEC manages to make nice dark red too.

So too does RR....

Odd.
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It does seem odd. The GEC's I have in Rust Red are great (and could much more accurately be described as "dark red" than the Case). That Case would look stunning of the color was anything like these (or even like the SBG above):

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Thanks for the suggestions and links of the dye process. Not gonna lie, it scares me a little. Might be something I'd be more apt to try on a Rough Rider first.

Meako, that stockman you dyed looks great! :thumbup:
 
Will Power said:
Whatever, they should in fairness call it Scarlet Bone, or Lipstick...:D
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Agreed Will. :thumbup::thumbup::D:D:D

(Maybe Case should hire a new bone dye girl like the one at GEC - she certainly takes her job seriously and her lips were sealed, calling it top secret info - no tours in the done dye department neither !) :D
 
Seems like I missed several replies while I was typing mine.

jc57, you definitely have some much nicer examples of the color. Thanks for sharing!

Primble, I love some of those older dark red Case knives I've seen photos of on this forum. (I think a lot of them are your photos. :D) I haven't come across any yet, but I may have to start looking harder. :thumbup:

Randy, I know exactly what you're saying. For the price of that knife (which was pretty fair), it really is a small disappointment. And 9 times out of 10, I can live with the small disappointments/quirks/imperfections in traditional knives. But since I this one from a very large website with a rather liberal return policy, and because I really don't like the color, I think it'll be going back.

Will Power said:
I certainly see what you are driving at Randy, and the validity of it. But, when CASE calls its current Dark Red Bone Dark, they are being wildly inaccurate in my book.
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+1 :thumbup:

Lastly, FWIW, I know this topic has probably been discussed in various places on this forum multiple times before. I did search thread titles for "Case Dark Red" before starting this thread. I found a thread about Dark Red Peanuts (which didn't seem like the right place to put this) and a couple very old pic request threads with few if any responses, so I figured a new thread would be acceptable. Thank you guys for humoring me with a discussion on the topic. I appreciate everyone's input!
 
Will Power said:
... When you think how nice CASE Chestnut bone is, it is incomprehensible why they fail to produce dark red- one of their classics from not that long ago.
...
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I agree that Case chestnut jigged bone is very attractive, but even that is quite variable in color. I have 3 fantastic chestnut bone knives, and one reason I was happy to get them was to make a "matched set", but they are all different shades and even differ in degree of uniformity of color from one end of a cover to the other. (My Rough Rider amber jigged bone knives generally match in a very satisfying way.)

- GT
 
Case is certainly are still capable of producing a rich, dark red bone if they want to. Not long ago there was a run of knives in their CCC Half Stop Old Red Bone family, which included just the knives that have square joints. I picked up the Mini Trapper from that family. It is a beautiful deep red bone with darker jigging that looks more like that bottom #15 in Barrett's post, above. Sorry that I don't have a pic of mine handy but if you check Google images you can find a few that are actual photographs.

A side issue about the stovetop RIT dye process - I don't recommend it with CV blades. Causes pitting. Learned from personal experience. No problems with the SS blades, though. So I won't try to dye a Dark Red CV but the Pocket Worn Old Red SS is safe. Or if you do, figure out a way to suspend the handles in the simmering dye pot and keep the blades out of the water.
 
My biggest problem with the series is that every picture of that series for sale is a nice red even color..... I have never seen one that was close to that. Other reds are done much better.


As far as vintage red bone knives, it's hard to compare as the knife can darken with age/use.... and the process was probably different, but less environmentally friendly.
 
I've got some old red bone Cases en route so clearly I'm also a fan of the old Case dye jobs, but it almost seems like the smooth bone knives in what Case calls "Rose" more closely approximate what we've come to expect by the phrase "Case red bone" than whatever they're actually calling "dark red bone" these days. Of course, there are variances, but perhaps they've had success selling the lighter shades and decided to give it a more "venerable" name?

Nothing quite like those mid-century through early '70s red bone Cases, though.
 
Some early '70s red bone:



As far as the newer Cases, I think the "fade to white" doesn't necessarily have to look bad. This might be another example of runaway QC. My 2014 Christmas seahorse:

 
i'm red/green color blind, and even to me some of that "red" bone is pink pink pink. ugly pink at that. the older knives do look better overall, at least to someone who doesn't see in that wave-length very well. Neal
 
So it turns out that I've got a very relevant order shipping soon.

In the next week or so I will be receiving one (1) recent Case "dark red bone" peanut along with one (1) 1980 Case red bone peanut. The older peanut is smooth bone while the recent one is jigged, but I think they might serve as a nice side-by-side comparison for the purposes of this thread.

Once I receive them I'll try to get some decent photos in good lighting and post them here. I know there are older peanuts out there, too, so some of you red bone collectors may want to get a few photos and we can put this question to bed once and for all. :)
 
Woodrow F Call said:
The Pocket Worn Old Red Bone generally comes pretty decent. But only in SS. I did just get a 6347, but it got a soak in Tea for a few hours and is fine now.

The CV Old Red Bone are generally pink in color. Not sure if the Tea will work, but I'm not hopeful.... Not enough red to begin with. I have never seen one that wasn't just pink. Case knows there is a problem, but they can't figure out which way to deal with it.... So I avoid this color.
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How does this one look? This is one of my favorite knife photos of those I have personally taken:

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Ed J
 
TLARbb said:
How does this one look? This is one of my favorite knife photos of those I have personally taken:

knives1103-005.jpg


Ed J
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Good looking knife! If the color of the Copperlock I got would've looked like that, I would've kept it. That being said… I still wouldn't call that "dark red" bone.
 
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