Case quality

[CARRERA50]

I haven't bought into the GEC hype yet, but I was just thinking earlier today that this entire "Traditional Folders and Fixed Blades" sub-forum should be renamed "Fans of GEC Knives" forum.

Thought the same thing from time to time. I have eight GEC at this point and at least 20 Case knives; the GEC products are finished nicer than the Case examples but they are frequently dull upon reception( totally unacceptable)
with uneven grind lines.
I can sharpen any knife with little difficulty but that is hardly the point. A new knife is supposed to be SHARP right out of the box; my Case purchases usually are and the GECs are not. Disappointing considering the price
differential.

 

[joeradza]

Hype- "a deception carried out for the sake of publicity" Hardly applies to GEC.

Alan

 

[Cory Hess]

Hype- "a deception carried out for the sake of publicity" Hardly applies to GEC.

Alan

Hype - "To increase or seek to increase the importance or reputation of by favorable publicity"

In this context: "To increase the reputation of by favorable publicity". You don't think that GEC's reputation is increased by the favorable publicity they receive here?

 

[knarfeng]

Hype - "To increase or seek to increase the importance or reputation of by favorable publicity"

In this context: "To increase the reputation of by favorable publicity". You don't think that GEC's reputation is increased by the favorable publicity they receive here?

Is that your definition or did you have a source? Not all publicity is "hype". The normal definition includes "exagerated".

https://www.google.com/search?q=hype&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
HYPE
noun
noun: hype

1.
extravagant or intensive publicity or promotion.
"she relied on hype and headlines to stoke up interest in her music"
synonyms: publicity, advertising, promotion, marketing, exposure; More
self-promotion;
informalballyhoo, promo
"her work relies on hype and headlines"
a deception carried out for the sake of publicity.
plural noun: hypes

verb
verb: hype; 3rd person present: hypes; past tense: hyped; past participle: hyped; gerund or present participle: hyping

1.
promote or publicize (a product or idea) intensively, often exaggerating its importance or benefits.
"an industry quick to hype its products"

I have not seen GEC making any claims, exaggerated or otherwise. Nor is the "publicity they receive here" exaggerated. They make good knives.

However, I have more Case knives than GEC knives, and it is likely to stay that way.

 

[Sosa]

The case I own are of good quality. Every one has an insignificant imperfection such as slightly off center, air between backspring slight blade play. But I'm becoming more interested in the brand as the GECs are becoming hard to obtain for a reasonable price due to chronic flipping.

 

[pmew]

As I said earlier; I really like the case knives I have bought but I haven't bought many. Interestingly, I find it harder to come by the case patterns I want than the GEC ones. Largely because GEC's recent popularity here on BF means the exchange is flooded by them. And it's easier to buy them on the exchange than from many of the online dealers. (I have to do all my shopping online). Also - as a Brit, case tends to size their knives just a little larger than I want to carry. I was very glad to see earlier in the year another batch of cv coming out - then disappointed with the patterns they're putting them out with. The re-emergence of the 52 congress was music to my ears as I've been struggling to find a case congress for a while.

The other issue I have with Case is their poor website. They are a huge knife company with a very successful business and I don't understand why they can't categorise their knives in a way that enables you to find the pattern you want. They also have a tendency to list the dimensions of some of the patterns incorrectly, for example the same pattern ** stockman in different cover materials will be listed as 3 1/2, 3 1/4 and 3 5/8 closed length. Even something with the prestige of a case/Bose pattern is listed with different dimensions depending on the cover material; it's very off-putting when you have to buy unseen.

But to get back on topic - I have carried a cv peanut whilst on duty since 2012 and have nothing but admiration for it. The teardrop I bought this year has the nicest bone I have of any knife I own.

 

[NativeCraft]

pmew, yes the Case website absolutely sucks. I mean, whose brilliant idea was it to categorize their knives by handle color rather than shape?

 

[JD Bear]

I can't begin to express how much I'm in support of this thread and Case in general. I'm very happy with all my Case knives and they're one of two brands I actually "collect". I think the price is great for what you get. They're good looking, good performing, made in the USA knives. I've gotten some that had issues, sent them to Case and they've come back perfect. I've got a sowbelly being delivered to me at work in about three hours, and I already have about four more knives in my mental shopping cart.

 

[Cory Hess]

Is that your definition or did you have a source? Not all publicity is "hype". The normal definition includes "exagerated".

I'm not in the habit of making up my own definitions. I'm also not in the habit of putting quotes around a phrase unless I'm quoting something.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/hype

I have not seen GEC making any claims, exaggerated or otherwise. Nor is the "publicity they receive here" exaggerated.

I don't remember anybody saying GEC did make any claims here. Nobody said anything was exaggerated. That was you assigning your own definition to a word I used and then running off in the wrong direction with it. From my last post in this thread it was obvious that the word in my usage didn't include anything about exaggerations. Whether there are other definitions or which definition is more common became irrelevant once I clarified which definition I was using. If you have any more definition related questions go ahead and shoot them to me in a PM. There's no reason to further derail this thread with this.

The fact that two other members have come on and stated that they've thought that this sub-forum should should be renamed "Fans of GEC Knives" forum points to the fact that their knives are being hyped up here. I'm ecstatic that people are so excited about their knives that they can't help but share their experiences. The point I took from Randy's post, and the point I was attempting to make myself, is that even though GEC makes a great product so do other manufacturers. It's OK to be proud of the Case knife in your pocket if that's what you prefer. It's also OK for somebody else to be proud of whatever knife they prefer to carry.

pmew, yes the Case website absolutely sucks. I mean, whose brilliant idea was it to categorize their knives by handle color rather than shape?

I agree that this is very frustrating. I end up going to vendor sites to find information on Case knives instead of their own site for this reason. The only reason for it, that I can imagine, is they must be having more collectors using their site than users and people that focus on collecting Case knives must prefer collecting specific handles over collecting specific patterns. It's the only way I can make sense of it. They're a large enough company to be reviewing traffic patterns on their site and identifying ways to make the content on their site more profitable. I'd assume that if people weren't looking knives up in this way they'd change the layout of the site.

 

[jec88]

There are actually 2 case knife websites, but I'm not sure if I can give out the name here, not sure if they are a sponsor. If you google "case knife by pattern", you can just pick the pattern and look at a pretty big selection. From that site, you can also click on "by Handle" at the top of that site and all the handles are by alphabetical order. If you want a peachseed jigged walnut bone, you can click it and see all the offerings.

 

[xtonesterx]

Sorry guys I did not intend for this to become a GEC vs Case thread. Both companies make great knives that we all can enjoy, carry, and use and that's al that matters.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JD Bear]

There are actually 2 case knife websites, but I'm not sure if I can give out the name here, not sure if they are a sponsor. If you google "case knife by pattern", you can just pick the pattern and look at a pretty big selection. From that site, you can also click on "by Handle" at the top of that site and all the handles are by alphabetical order. If you want a peachseed jigged walnut bone, you can click it and see all the offerings.

This is a good way to go. It's my main source :thumbup:

 

[JD Bear]

Sorry guys I did not intend for this to become a GEC vs Case thread. Both companies make great knives that we all can enjoy, carry, and use and that's al that matters.

No worries man. Everyone knows that's not what you intended. To each their own, right?

 

[NativeCraft]

There are actually 2 case knife websites, but I'm not sure if I can give out the name here, not sure if they are a sponsor. If you google "case knife by pattern", you can just pick the pattern and look at a pretty big selection. From that site, you can also click on "by Handle" at the top of that site and all the handles are by alphabetical order. If you want a peachseed jigged walnut bone, you can click it and see all the offerings.

That second Case site is not really an official Case site, but simply a dealer that sells Case knives. And I suspect this because that site often doesn't show some colors that I know are in current production by Case - it's like they only show the colors they have in stock. At least I think that's the "case".

 

[supratentorial]

I would prefer that the knives were listed by pattern. But the layout makes sense when you consider their marketing strategy.

I think it's intentional, not poor design. There are exceptions but the majority of their patterns are available all the time. They want to market each handle variation as something new. It's similar with Victorinox. Neither company is doing small runs of patterns individually. They're providing dealers with a somewhat constant supply of all their patterns. Changing the covers renews interest and draws repeat business.

A lot of folks buy multiples of patterns with different handle materials from Case and Victorinox. Same goes for GEC but the runs of each pattern are done individually.

 

[jec88]

That second Case site is not really an official Case site, but simply a dealer that sells Case knives. And I suspect this because that site often doesn't show some colors that I know are in current production by Case - it's like they only show the colors they have in stock. At least I think that's the "case".

Yes, thats right, but it is better than the official Case website in my opinion. I "think" it is pretty close to what is in production, but your right, not 100%.

 

[NativeCraft]

Yes, thats right, but it is better than the official Case website in my opinion. I "think" it is pretty close to what is in production, but your right, not 100%.

Yes, I strongly agree that it's better than the official Case site.:thumbup:

 

[Peregrin]

I would prefer that the knives were listed by pattern. But the layout makes sense when you consider their marketing strategy.

I think it's intentional, not poor design. There are exceptions but the majority of their patterns are available all the time. They want to market each handle variation as something new. It's similar with Victorinox. Neither company is doing small runs of patterns individually. They're providing dealers with a somewhat constant supply of all their patterns. Changing the covers renews interest and draws repeat business.

A lot of folks buy multiples of patterns with different handle materials from Case and Victorinox. Same goes for GEC but the runs of each pattern are done individually.

I agree with the above and will add this thought. Case makes a pretty big deal out of their "Case Collectors Club". I think the way they structure their website is directly geared to the collector. It's their marketing strategy. It works for them.

There are plenty of dealer sites that allow searching by pattern etc.

That being said we should get back to discussing Case quality. I own a fair number of Case knives, and with very few exceptions I've been happy with their products. I'll say the same for GEC also, although I don't own many GEC knives.

 

[Txjohn]

I was gifted a case stockman in stag a few years ago . There was large gaps between every spring. I believe it was a bad example but I moved on regardless.

 

[RDaneel]

I've bought and collected Case knives for about 30 years. The first knife I got and kept was a Case my Dad gave me (45 years ago). For the most part, I've been happy with my purchases over the years (except I bought too many!) But there have been some that disappointed me and some negatives trends that have been corrected. I had one direct interaction with Case about a knife I was not happy with some years ago. Their actions to correct the situation went over the top! And I mean that; they did all they could to make me happy and succeeded.

I'd recommend them to anyone who asked. My latest purchase that I received today is a great knife - especially for the price. :thumbup: