Case quality (recent)

akadave2

akadave2

Joined
Jun 21, 2008
Messages
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Every year, I travel to East Tennessee to visit relatives. Always on the list of things to to is to head to SMKW to buy a Case slipjoint to commemorate my trip. When there last year, I picked up a Queen Whitler on recomendation of one of the "Slipjoint Experts" on staff. He made the comparison that Case quality had slipped and Queen is the knife that Case used to be. For the most part the Case knives that I get are for a collection and I dont use them but is he correct? Does Case still make a good working knife?
 
Frankly, I would not pay too much attention to what sales staff say, they are not exactly without motivation. Think of cars for instance.......

You are the best and final judge. I've been generally well satisfied with recent CASE knives, most Queen knives are ones you would not want to let go but a couple of mine have had quality issues. To say x is the knife that y used to be is sales pitch.

Regards, Will
 
I have to admit I have been pleasantly surprised about Case quality. Over the past year my Daughter as bought 6 Case knives as gifts. I was worried because she has no idea what to look for prior to buying the knife. She got me a small yellow soddy in CV a yellow peanut and a yellow trapper also in CV, a stag bone medium stockman and both mini copperheads all in stainless. No gaps anywhere, all blades centered, no rubs and every one was hair popping sharp, great pull and snap on all blades, fit and finish is amazing. I'm a happy camper.:D

Best regards

Robin
 
If it's a working knife you want, Case does just fine. No company has prefect QC. Some companies seem to have less bad knives getting through, but they also make fewer knives. For a company that puts out the volume Case does, I think they do very well. And they are backed by excellent customer service and a lifetime guarantee. Matters of preference are separate from matters of quality. Some people don't want SS, etc. But that's not a quality issue. IMHO.
 
Every dog has its day. Case had downturns in quality in the mid 1980's and mid 2000's; but are making a great knife for the money today (value does vary from pattern to pattern). Queen, is suffering a little in some lines right now (has been for 30 months or so) and really didn't have a viable collector product prior to the mid-1980's (and then it was Winchester labeled). But the knives Queen made for themselves and for other brand names from the late 1980's to early 2000's were top notch. For some reason their ACSB line seems to be a really nice knife even today. All personal opinion....
 
I love both Case and Queen but for different reasons.
Both make great working knives, but Queen knives have a handmade look to them, all the edges are crisp and the grinds look to be done by hand. I've always imagined this is how a knife was made years ago.
Modern Case knives have a machine made pristine look ( not all but most). Although the workman series has a handmade look to them.
 
I was a little hesitant to order one sight unseen given all the reports you see on the forums of shoddy quality.

Fortunately the only issue it had had when it arrived was an uneven bevel on the main clip point blade, that was easily fixed. Otherwise the f&f is very nice.
 
I love Case knives, my first real knife was a Case. I have been getting the Tennessee Corian handled knives on my trips. Ill be picking up a couple this next trip.
 
As usual I'm a decade behind. My newest Case knives are from 2000, they're all solid performers. The two Queens (S&M) that I have are both excellent. I use the case knives, the Queens just sit around and look pretty.
 
Case still makes a great knife, for work or play. The sales person who made that comment needs a good talking to. OUt of the 5 Case peanuts I have bought in the past two years as gifts, only one was not up to pare, and that got sent back to Case who replaced it with a very good one with no questions.

Every knife manufacturer out there makes some bad ones now and then. It's a matter of odds when you make thousands of knives, that some are going to get by with a flaw. Case and Buck are two of the American knife makers that I will buy sight unseen from either catalogue or internet. Not that I expect that I will get a perfect one, which I do. But I know that either of them will address a flawed knife with no problem.

I'd like to hand that so called expert one of the butter knife dull Queen's I've had to spent hours sharpening in the past.

Carl.
 
The most marked change I've noticed in newer-generation Case knives is in the quality of the edge bevels post-2000. Case seems to have 'seen the light', kind of like Buck Knives did, in that they went to a more acute edge grind sometime after 2000, it seems. I have a few '90s-vintage Cases, on which the edges were noticeably blunter (more obtuse). I started to avoid them at that time, for that reason. Aside from that, other f&f issues appeared relatively unchanging (to me), from '80s forward. The '70s and earlier vintages were in a different league, in many respects.
 
I've had more QC issues with Queen than I've ever had with Case.One was a large bone handled Stockman that had a clip blade with rediculous side to side play.The other was a Cattle King with uneven grinds.Also,as Carl noted,the blades came Extremely Dull.I had to completely reprofile the edges on my Diamond bench stones,and it still took a long time(D2).The Case knives I've gotten over the last few years have all been top notch.-jim
 
It's been a year or more now, but I had a series of Case knives that were poorly finished. The most common flaw was coarsely finished blade edges, but some also had very weak springs and blade play.

Comparing to Queen, I'm not sure. My only recent Queen is a fixed blade and the finish is excellent. But of course fixed blades rarely have problems with things like springs and blade wobble. ;)

I have a short list of new Case knives I'd like to see in person. And if, as planned, I drive by Shepherd Hills this week I'll report back which ones were worth buying.

The best traditionals, as far as consistent good quality at a reasonable price, are Boker. My experience anyway.
 
I think between Case and Queen you get what you pay for, but Queen even more so because of the excellent D2 steel. Yes, sometimes they don't come with the best edges, but that can be pretty easily remedied, and then you have a knife worth way more than it cost. Queen's D2 is on a par with Case's 154CM, and I don't think you can get any Case with the upgraded steel for under $125, and most even more. You can get two Queens for that.
 
akadave2 said:
I love Case knives, my first real knife was a Case. I have been getting the Tennessee Corian handled knives on my trips. Ill be picking up a couple this next trip.
Click to expand...

It's been my experience that I will pass on more Case knives than I will buy, but I am pretty picky. I will not buy any new Case knife sight unseen, unless I have no other choice.

I just want the blades pretty well centered, no gaps that I can see through, blades that are reasonably "tight" (no bad wobble), springs that are close enough to flush when open or closed that they don't stand out, scales that match pretty well, blade pull somewhere between 3-8 with blades that will snap shut reasonably well, smooth cam action/nice half-stops, and blades ground like a knife blade and not a chisel. And yes, all of that on the same knife. I don't think it's too much to ask.
Sharp blades are a plus, but not necessary since I can sharpen reasonably well. Case knives come plenty sharp in my experience, so that really shouldn't be a problem.

Since you are going to be able to inspect before you buy, and if they have at least 4 examples in stock of the model you want, you should be able to find a nice one.
Just ask to see a few of them to examine. If you hit on a "perfect" one, great. If not ask to see another, and another until you find the right one or they run out. If you don't like what you see choose another pattern, or color.
Don't buy something that will always be "flawed" in your mind, have a few back-up patterns in mind in case you get let down by option "A".

Bottom line is Case still makes real nice knives. You just have to dig around or get lucky to find one (I prefer to dig).
 
Bob W said:
It's been a year or more now, but I had a series of Case knives that were poorly finished. The most common flaw was coarsely finished blade edges, but some also had very weak springs and blade play.

Comparing to Queen, I'm not sure. My only recent Queen is a fixed blade and the finish is excellent. But of course fixed blades rarely have problems with things like springs and blade wobble. ;)

I have a short list of new Case knives I'd like to see in person. And if, as planned, I drive by Shepherd Hills this week I'll report back which ones were worth buying.

The best traditionals, as far as consistent good quality at a reasonable price, are Boker. My experience anyway.
Click to expand...

What about GEC? They make a mighty fine knife...their patterns are on the large side though.
 
25, 26, 33 and 68 are compact GEC patterns. Very good knives, but they cost more.
 
I didn't even start buying traditional knives until late last year. I've bought most of mine in the 2012 year. The oldest one I have is 2008 per the box. If they're putting out bad stuff I must be super lucky. Out of 38 that I've purchased I've not had issue with any of them. Of course some of the peanuts have a little bias on the main blade but none of them rub. Since they're users to me, as long as it doesn't interfere with the function of the knife, I'm okay with it. Someone super picky might not be as pleased.
I also haven't spent over $40 on most of them, so I consider them a good deal for the price. The few I did spend more on for a nicer handle material are actually pretty much flawless as far as fit and finish. Again, I'm a happy customer.
Buy one if you like. From what I understand if you aren't happy with it, Case will make it right.
 
For the most part, my recent Case experiences have been good. I got a hunter green trapperlock last year that is as good as I could
possibly imagine; perfect grinds, sharp as hell, flawless blade action, lockup and centering. Last week I rec'd a slimline trapper in antique
bone; same thing, just perfect all the way round. The only disappointment was a pocket worn sbj I got a few months ago--off-center blade
and a rivit that showed a little to much of the "pocket worn" influence. Kept it as a edc/user so no big deal.
 
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