Case - normal or defect?

B

burns

Joined
Jul 31, 2012
Messages
64
Hi folks,

I had only ever bought one Case, and that was around 1990, so it's been awhile. On a whim, I ordered two Sodbuster Jr.'s from Amazon. Since reading here in the last hour, I'm regretting buying from Amazon, though at least returns are really easy.

One of the two Sodbusters, in Chestnut, had a pretty significant amount of glue around the edges of the "Case" medallion, some of which had gotten up on top of that medallion and impacted the polish. This seems to me to look like a factory second, never seen this on a knife before.

The other, in Caribbean blue, looks pretty good. I'm curious though, see on the spine (attached photo) where there is a lack of dye as compared with the whole rest of the knife? I'm guessing this is normal and just has to do with how the bone take the dye, as opposed to being a defect, is that right? I probably wouldn't have thought twice about it if the Chestnut one didn't have the glue issue.

Again, after reading here, I'm done with Amazon for knives. I appreciate any feedback. Thanks. Images here: https://imgur.com/a/hoRC1a3

Burns

hoRC1a3
 
Not that unusual, but I think you'll be more pleased ordering from a Case knife dealer. Most will inspect the knife for you, and I've had pretty good luck. They are mass produced. Some won't buy a Case without inspecting it in hand.
 
Those look completely normal to me. Case doesn’t specialize in high-end knives, and anytime you get one that’s near perfect is just good luck. Some patterns seem to be consistently good, some less so.

The shields are often set uneven and wonky, and I’ve seen that glue issue before. The dye jobs are also not always the best and uniform color isn’t the norm for them.

Also, in my experience the Sodbuster Jr.s are typically less refined than some of the other patterns, perfectly functional but will have some minor finish issues; blades not centered, gaps, etc.
 
Amazon surely won't check them out for you before shipping, like some of the better knife dealers will. That said, as others have mentioned, this is sadly normal for Case knives and many of us won't buy Case knives except in person so we can inspect them. Unless you have a good dealer who will honestly check them out before shipping and send you one that is up to standard.

What most people won't say is that Case quality has taken a severe nosedive over the past (few/several) years. Older Case knives were built to a higher standard than current ones, and that's a shame. I really want to support U.S. companies, but some of them don't make it easy. The reason some people won't say that is because it usually causes a crap storm of angry replies. I don't understand that, either. It's not like people are making up bad things to say. It's unfortunate reality.

burns said:
On a whim, I ordered two Sodbuster Jr.'s from Amazon. Since reading here in the last hour, I'm regretting buying from Amazon, though at least returns are really easy.
hoRC1a3
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