Case knives

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Gillis50

Joined
Feb 20, 2023
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New here, thanks for allowing me to join,.. I know Case knives are good, are they worth the extra money?, long term investment, etc ? My dad had purchased a couple, and gave me 3 as well.
 
Welcome to BF!

I've had mixed results buying Case knives sight unseen. When I can see the actual knife first, they're always great knives; when I can't, QC can be a crapshoot. I have a special fondness for their yeller Delrin. :)

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If you're comparing them to other traditional slipjoints made in the US, GEC certainly has them beat but GECs are also typically more expensive and harder to track down. Compared to a non-US competitor like Rough Ryder, even with occasional spotty QC you get more bang for your buck with RR. The breadth of Case's catalog, combined with their history and commitment to US manufacturing, is hard to match.

I don't buy knives as an investment, so I can't comment there.
 
Depends on the Case variant you are looking at, but honestly most knives are poor investments.
I’m a fan of the Case/Bose collaborations. They are more than GEC, but can be found regularly with little to no mark up or even steep discounts on some models.
 
Thanks, to some great answers, and opinions. My dad liked the RR knives, thought they were pretty good, for the price.
 
Dadpool said:
Welcome to BF!

I've had mixed results buying Case knives sight unseen. When I can see the actual knife first, they're always great knives; when I can't, QC can be a crapshoot. I have a special fondness for their yeller Delrin. :)

9tYrRNX.jpg


If you're comparing them to other traditional slipjoints made in the US, GEC certainly has them beat but GECs are also typically more expensive and harder to track down. Compared to a non-US competitor like Rough Ryder, even with occasional spotty QC you get more bang for your buck with RR. The breadth of Case's catalog, combined with their history and commitment to US manufacturing, is hard to match.

I don't buy knives as an investment, so I can't comment there.
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Pretty ole Case. I grew up using Buck, Schrade, etc. My grandfather had store , so he would give me a knife, quite often!!
 
el gigantor said:
Extra money compared to what?

Also....WELCOME TO BLADE FORUMS!
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Guess I was a little “vague” 😁. Most of my knives are Buck, Schrade, heard that Case are one of the most collectible of knives,.. I know they’ve been in business a long time
 
Really want to like, may try again in carbon, but the finish disappointed me as I have Rough Ryders that are perfect for $15 outta China. If they can, Case can. Victorinox does it every time. Other cheaper knives from all over, too.

Gave my only one away to a fellow who fit some PM2 scales for me, it was a very pretty blue/purple Corleone, but the grind was wonky, if sharpened right, will be great, but that was hard for me at least, the stainless.
 
Hashishiin said:
Really want to like, may try again in carbon, but the finish disappointed me as I have Rough Ryders that are perfect for $15 outta China. If they can, Case can. Victorinox does it every time. Other cheaper knives from all over, too.

Gave my only one away to a fellow who fit some PM2 scales for me, it was a very pretty blue/purple Corleone, but the grind was wonky, if sharpened right, will be great, but that was hard for me at least, the stainless.
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Since you mention it, I gave a blue Tru-Sharp peanut to my internal hub guru who converted a 4-speed Dyna-Hub to five speeds for my Raleigh DL-1 rod-braker. For a while there, I had wanted to accumulate a range of peanuts, but the urge passed and I am happy with just a couple.
 
Gillis50 said:
heard that Case are one of the most collectible of knives,.. I know they’ve been in business a long time
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I feel like people say Case knives are one of the most collectible not because of their overall desirability, but because of the shear breadth of their catalog. If you focus on nothing but trapper pattern knives you can get 100s of variations in size, blade material, covers, and blade shapes. So if you're the kind of person that collects to "completeness" you'll be busy for a very long time.
 
I think people sometimes expect way too much from Case knives. I think they are wonderful knives for the asking price of $50-75

The Case Bose collaborations are outstanding knives and worth their higher price. IMHO.

Case also offers lifetime warrantees. I have had a couple of Case knives repaired under warrantee and I can attest to their excellent service.

This may or may not have any bearing on your buying habits, but I also like supporting a USA company - particularly one with a rich heritage like Case.
 
I like them because they are American made in my state, PA. They have tons of classic designs, cool details like the tang stamps and emblems and I appreciate their place in knife history. Apart from blade and handle shapes, they use cool materials and colors for the handle scales. They are known for their bone handles.

Now for the downside. Their signature bone/stag handles are not consistent and don't always look as good as the example photos they obviously cherry pick. They try to argue that this gives each knife a unique appearance. Bull. Mismatched or featureless stag scales, sloppy dye blotches, colorfully dyed bone scales with big white patches are unlikely to be desirable. You never see this kind of disharmony or sloppy effects in the marketing photo for a pattern, but look for real life examples on Ebay and you'll see some truly ugly stuff that they let leave the factory.

I still like them, but they are a mass-production company and you have to be careful if you have picky tastes.
 
For reasons related to Human Rights mainly, I try to avoid Chinese origin products. That being said, I was gifted a Rough Rider slip-joint that is a much better quality knife than most of my Case examples and, they cost 20~25% of what the similar Case model did.

Case Knives are collectible for many because of the broad range of their catalog and the huge number of variations of each pattern.

As an "investment"? Terrible overall. Sure, some may appreciate significantly but most won't resell for their cost new.

In terms of usability, I find Boker to offer a lot for my money in a knife made in the EU, Spain mostly. Buck Knives for whatever reason never really appealed to me in a slip-joint, even though I am a huge fan of their 110 Lockback!
 
Case makes a good classic knife but their modern flippers like the Kinzua are worth looking at too.
 
I can afford them and they will cut. I must love them because I have more than I'll ever need and they keep showing up. I like their traditional knives and their modern flippers and they are adding more current steel like S35VN now too. I don't buy to sell though, just to enjoy and use.
 
Dadpool said:
Welcome to BF!

I've had mixed results buying Case knives sight unseen. When I can see the actual knife first, they're always great knives; when I can't, QC can be a crapshoot. I have a special fondness for their yeller Delrin. :)

9tYrRNX.jpg


If you're comparing them to other traditional slipjoints made in the US, GEC certainly has them beat but GECs are also typically more expensive and harder to track down.
Click to expand...

I’ve come full circle and been trying traditionals again including GEC’s and Cases. Case has a much wider range of options from $30 - $500+

After trying a handful of each, I am selling off all of my GEC’s and carrying a Case Bose Bullnose in 154CM along with a Hinderer. The Case 154CM outperforms GEC’s 1095 by a substantial margin. Of course, it cost more than the GEC’s.

Sample of Case Bose patterns -

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