Case edge grinds

Case's heat treat is very good, especially on the Tru-sharp steel. As long as the knife's blade is heat treated properly, I can reprofile and sharpen it into a great outdoor knife. Having to reprofile knives has really helped me understand what works and what does not work. Again, Case get's the stuff you can not correct right. Learn to hand sharpen and have fun! I even reprofile buck 110 knives in S35vn. These are semi custom Buck's.

Geoff
 
worst are their straight edge blades - sheepsfoot and wharncliffe's. Absolutely no attention to detail with the factory grinds - they round over the tip EVERY time. I have to file them back to straight and then lansky them up - it's an exception to have a Case with a decent edge grind, but reprofiling is fairly easy. Just wish whomever does the grinding took a bit of pride in their work ...
 
You’ll have to resharpen the knife at some point if you are going to use it, so it makes little difference.

The only time it bothers me is when it makes your edge bevel too wide (no brand is exempt from this), and the only way to fix that is to grind the blade down.
 
I wouldn’t buy a new car and have to fix the transmission even if I was capable. I don’t appreciate buying a beautiful new knife and having to fix it. I am not being paid to do that. They have people who are. If they want me to do it then pay me.
 
My demands on this level are quite modest: if it shaves hair out of the box I approve.:D
If it's toothy like a lot of Trusharp is, swipes on a diamond rod usually take care of it very quickly.

Some people are more obsessed by the sharpening/reprofiling procedure than the knives themselves, the need to obtain some ultra edge seems to be the quest.
 
When I purchase a new knife, Case or whichever brand, I sharpen all the factory marks off the edge.

All my Case knives have been hair shaving sharp out of the box.
 
I posted this in another thread, it applies to this thread also.

Different markets, different pricing and both GEC and Case work. If you want Case to be as quality as GEC, you will pay GEC prices. Or would you have Case pay there workers $5 an hour so you can have GEC quality at Case prices. BTW, in the field there is no difference. I have a 9 GEC knives and love them for the work of art they are. But in the field Case produces a great looking knife that works great and if you loose it you will just buy another one.
 
For everyone complaining about Case edge grinds, buy one of these:

Norton Combination Crystolon sharpening stone. It will sharpen/reprofile any blade steel you might have.

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Or failing that:

Diamond stones
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Crock Stick sharpeners - no matter the shape
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BUT it's much easier to reprofile on the Crystolon stone.
 
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To be fair, this extends well beyond Case. I've encountered grind issues on many brands. The worst grind I've ever received was on a Spyderco.

The ragged, burred edge, I don't mind so much as I always sharpen my knives when I get them anyway. But uneven is more difficult.
 
Fixall said:
The majority of the Case knives I've purchased have had wicked burs and hit or miss grinds... But the first thing I do with a keeper is put my own edge on it so it has never bothered me. Personally, I'll take a poorly finished edge over poor fit and finish on any other part of the knife since it's so easy to fix and will be a non-issue with usage anyways. I still find Case to be an absolutely fantastic value for what you get. I'd be a bit bummed if they improved their blade grinds and had to increase their prices to GEC levels as a result of the extra finishing time needed.
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Lansky1 said:
worst are their straight edge blades - sheepsfoot and wharncliffe's. Absolutely no attention to detail with the factory grinds - they round over the tip EVERY time. I have to file them back to straight and then lansky them up - it's an exception to have a Case with a decent edge grind, but reprofiling is fairly easy. Just wish whomever does the grinding took a bit of pride in their work ...
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I find myself agreeing with both of these comments.
Sharpening is something I can do, so as long as everything else is right about the knife, I'm happy. Case steels are easy to reprofile, especially compared to some of the raggedy sheared-off edges from Queen in D2!
But I would prefer it if they didn't tumble off the tips.
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r8shell,

You are right about the Case tips. Everyone except my 2 bade large hunter I had to work on to be sharp. But, like I said, I do not mind reworking the blade to my standards as long as everything else is good and the heat treat is good.

Geoff
 
My experiences with Case factory edge grinds have been varied. Sometimes, they have a pretty rough but sharp grind that just needs deburring. Some have needed a fair bit of work. A few have been pocket-ready right out of the box. One of those, oddly enough, was the lowly $20 black synthetic Sod Buster Jr. Cut like a laser, didn't even need stropping.

I did put in the time and effort to learn how to sharpen properly, so very few factory edges are as sharp as I can achieve. Hence, anything I carry is going to get sharpened anyway. As long as the basic grind is good enough to where I don't have to do any major thinning or reprofiling, I don't mind a coarse grind or a burr.

A couple of Queen D2 knives really taught me to up my sharpening game. Man did those need some work. Also taught me to not be afraid of coarse stones, and to learn to love SiC (i.e. Norton Crystolon) for when you gotta get rid of some metal. Though again, I have another Queen knife that is on par with the best GECs I own, with excellent grinds and a super-sharp factory edge that needed no work.

But yeah, I have had some Rough Rider and even Taylor LLC Old Timers that were usably sharp with good edges right out of the box, better than many (but not all) Case knives.

I don't think I have bought a new Case knife in over 5 years so I don't know what the current crop is like, though.
 
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Most of mine have been fine, generally shaving sharp out of the box. Certainly much better than the low-budget knives like Schrade, Old Timer, Rough Rider, and the Chinese-made Bucks. Like many others, I generally adjust the edge to my preferences fairly soon after they arrive, so if there are any problems they don't last long.
 
All of my Case knives were purchased new from legitimate dealers.

I've probably purchased 6 or so over the years and they all had the same issues. That includes probably 4 different patterns, so I don't think it's limited to a particular design. Maybe 2 were CV and the rest were stainless. All that tumbling and buffing simply isn't good for tips. The last Case I bought was the whittler pattern, and all 3 blades were blunt and dull. As someone mentioned earlier, they seem to have a hard time keeping wharncliffe style blades straight as well.

I can re-grind the tips and bring them back up to a mirror finish pretty quickly, so it's not a total deal breaker. I really don't understand how they can't seem to sharpen them though. I feel like any knife company should be able to get that right by now.

The odd thing is that they do really well when it comes to fitting the handle material, which is a more laborious and error prone process IMO.

I'll still keep buying patterns I like because I can fix the flaws.
 
DocT said:
I wouldn’t buy a new car and have to fix the transmission even if I was capable. I don’t appreciate buying a beautiful new knife and having to fix it. I am not being paid to do that. They have people who are. If they want me to do it then pay me.
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Every knife I purchase I expect to have to put a new edge on.
Modern and traditional folders alike come with pretty horrible factory edges.

Most have uneven edge grinding and there is always work to be done at the heel.
I kinda equate it with putting gas in my vehicle.
 
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