Case Knives

[somniloquist]

Welcome mgdisco!

Many folks here have strong feelings one way or the other about the stainless v. CV debate. I'm generally happy with either but I have noticed a far greater variety of models in stainless, so most of my Case knives are stainless.

Either type of steel should serve you well and many of their models are quite robust. I have an orange G-10 seahorse and it has a very thick, substantial blade and excellent fit and finish. I personally feel like it was a real bargain at the 50 or so bucks I paid for it and I am confident it will handle most any task I ask of it.

I hope you'll stick around and participate in this forum. There are lots of friendly and knowledgeable folks here!

 

[zerogee]

Frankly, I'm not too keen on Case stainless knives -- too much traditionalist I guess - I do tend to look at the CV knives as the real knives. However, their stainless is a good choice for many people for EDC - fine grained, easy to sharpen/resharpen to a very fine edge, strong - not brittle like many of the higher rated stainless blade steels. Case knives usually come with at least a decent starting edge (and often with a fairly sharp edge) - one you can get to really sharp pretty quickly without resorting to major work on coarse diamond stones.

I do get frustrated to see great bone handles only available in SS -- right now my frustration is directed at the smooth chestnut bone and smooth antique bone lines - they really need to have a few of these in CV (it's especially frustrating that they already make some of the same patterns in their current CV lines - just slap on some of the new bone instead guys, you won't have any problems selling it).

 

[neeman]

First of all I am a knife user and not a collector. Does anyone else here feel that Case caters more to the collector than the user. All I'm saying is that some of there most usable patterns are only offered in stainless and not cv. I have a few SS versions of of theirs that I don't use for the simple fact that for my use they perform poorly compared to there chrome vanadium blades.

Welcome to the forum.

I think 99% of the folk here are collectors, but not saying they are not users.

We read delightful and poignant stories about our one-knife Grandpas, whether it was from poverty, understanding all they needed was one knife, or miserliness.
But we do not say 'I have a knife therefore I do not need another', because we have shifted into an affluent society, where we have more than one of lots of things, where we collect things, we accumilate things, and we can afford to.
And our consumer society encourages this way of spending, it is good for the economy and makes us rich., and makes us collectors.

The pocket knife manufacturer is faced with a shrinking market base of men with knives in their pockets, and some of these folk want a knife to reflect the present not the past.
So modern locking knives are made at very reasonable quality and price are on the market.

Case takes an ordinary pocket knife, and understands they have to sell more than one knife to the same person, focuses on our 'collecting' tendencies, and then does some marketing shuffle and sales increase.

And Case survives change....
And Case will produce Pink Bubble Gum scales if it sells more, and they will continue to produce nice clean shiny blades in SS, more than some esoteric request for CV that gets black and dirty.

Enjoy the Forum and all of us addicted collectors, where we can spend the time discerning the subtle differences between cutting ability of SS and CV

 

[zrfunited]

Case is very limited in what they offer in CV. I doubt one could find a CV version in 'most of their patterns'. Once in a rare while, they might offer it as a limited release (sometimes, VERY limited). With many patterns, it might actually be easier to find CV in older knives from Case. I like the large sodbuster, large '75 pattern stockman, sowbelly stockman (see my avatar), and the '65 pattern Folding Hunter. None of these are available in CV in Case's current lineup.

Thanks for the info Dave. My experience with case is still very limited. Most of the patterns that I am buying these days are fortunately able to be found with the cv (slim line trapper, canoe, stockman, swayback). I would darn near kill for case to make a Barlow in CV.
-side note: I wish I could just be a collector. It drives my wife crazy when I hit the safe to find the knife I am going to carry for the day. You are all a bunch of enablers.

 

[Modoc ED]

Yep, Case makes some wild and crazy things (to my mind) but they seem to sell em as soon as they make em. Case seems to have something for everyone -- collectors and users which many other makers don't have and Case has a reputation for LISTENING to their customers. Their warranty is second to none as is their customer service department. Other companies would do well to follow Case's lead. My .02¢

 

[silenthunterstudios]

Over the years, I've become a steel snob. In trying to break my habit, and use a myriad of steels, I have learned that not all of the supersteels are great for me, and not all of the so called "low grade" steels are inferior.

I've been using a Victorinox Pioneer and a Case Bose backpocket as part of my EDC rotation for about a month now, the Pioneer longer. My backpocket is SS, and has gotten a few touchups since I've gotten it. Presumably the equivalent of 420HC, it fairs almost as well as the Buck 301's I've had. The SAK has about the same quality steel, and the knife doesn't get anywhere near as much love as the BP.

I held off picking up different Case knives, mainly because of the lack of CV steel in models I wanted. However, of all of the CV models I bought, every single one was either returned, sold or traded, maybe one or two that were given away.

Unless you're using your knife daily to skin and dress animals, unless you're putting it through abuse that a traditional slipjoint should not be put through, the SS will serve you well.

 

[zerogee]

.... I like the large sodbuster, large '75 pattern stockman, sowbelly stockman (see my avatar), and the '65 pattern Folding Hunter. None of these are available in CV in Case's current lineup.

Dave, I just wanted to point out that the 6375 *is* available in CV in amber bone in the current line - not a limited issue either.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Thanks for the info Dave. My experience with case is still very limited. Most of the patterns that I am buying these days are fortunately able to be found with the cv (slim line trapper, canoe, stockman, swayback). I would darn near kill for case to make a Barlow in CV.
-side note: I wish I could just be a collector. It drives my wife crazy when I hit the safe to find the knife I am going to carry for the day. You are all a bunch of enablers.

We're here to help. Welcome to the dark side!

Case has a pretty good lineup of offerings in CV. It still remains a fairly small portion overall, but that's because Case has SO MANY patterns (and even some variations within patterns). I would like to see some of my personal favorites in CV, but it has more to do with the aesthetic qualities others have mentioned (patina), as opposed to performance issues.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Dave, I just wanted to point out that the 6375 *is* available in CV in amber bone in the current line - not a limited issue either.

Thanks for the head's up, sir. I'll have to look into that. I knew they were offering one of the relatively 'large' stockman knives in CV (like a '47 pattern, I think?), but hadn't noticed the availability of the '75 in CV. Part of my problem right now is a shortage of $$, so I've sort of made an effort to stop looking for 'em, lately.

 

[mgdisco]

I wasn't expecting this kind of response, thank you guys! to go a little further, as far as scale material not really a concern. I can swap that out as I have a few I'm working on now. I'm not a steel snob but I just really cant get into stainless blades even though I have and use them. When a carbon blade starts to patina that shows love, stainless just scratches. As far as the patterns I would want in cv, Large Saddlehorn Trapper that's the only one

 

[Quick Steel]

To the best of my knowledge Case is the number 1 collected knife among traditional pocket knives. I have many of them, mostly trappers. However, dispite their popularity I have been growing disenchanted. I was thinking just the other day of writing them a friendly letter about it.

While I like carbon blades, the SS blades are certainly adequate for use. But I have switched to Queen and their Schatt & Morgan mark for both use and collecting. They may not appreciate in value as much as Case, but I want to follow what I perceive as better quality. Queen made a major advance when D2 steel was introduced into the line. This is now my favorite using steel. Probably every one knows that D2 is almost, but not quite, stainless. I would encourage others to give it a try on at least one using knife if you have not already done so. I think you will be favorably impressed. Of course opinions can and do differ.

As for Schatt & Morgan, I normally find the fit and finish to be superior. When Case charges (relatively) big bucks for exotic handle materials I think it is important that the entire knife be worthy of the price point.

My comments are not intended to knock Case. I think we should support Case and all those companies continuing production in the U.S. I'd just like to see Case ramp things up a bit; not coasting on their handle materials.