Case quality

The only Case knives I've owned or own that have any problems are the more custom ones.

Tuxedo from the encyclopedia set, beautiful psychedelic black pearl but the main blade is so loose when closing it will end up on the wrong side of the other blade, both blades scratched badly. It crawls and mumbles instead of walking and talking. Seriously ridiculous.

Mid-folding hunter, again beautiful MOP and the 'TESTED XX' shield, blade rub and a lot of scratching from it.

Mammoth teardrop -fantastic scales, but some blade scratches.

Salesman's Sample Abalone small stockman -both blades scratched and rubbing.

It seems like they just throw the customs out there, but standard knives get the better F&F...or at least the fit, the finishes are all great on these.
 
chuckgp said:
The only Case knives I've owned or own that have any problems are the more custom ones.

Tuxedo from the encyclopedia set, beautiful psychedelic black pearl but the main blade is so loose when closing it will end up on the wrong side of the other blade, both blades scratched badly. It crawls and mumbles instead of walking and talking. Seriously ridiculous.

Mid-folding hunter, again beautiful MOP and the 'TESTED XX' shield, blade rub and a lot of scratching from it.

Mammoth teardrop -fantastic scales, but some blade scratches.

Salesman's Sample Abalone small stockman -both blades scratched and rubbing.

It seems like they just throw the customs out there, but standard knives get the better F&F...or at least the fit, the finishes are all great on these.
Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean by "custom" are they "limited production?" Even the Case-Bose runs are numbered in the 100s of knives. They do a second run of these in damascus, which is limited production and distribution. I believe the Case-Base knives are the only product that claims to have a higher level of production quality. The only custom Case I've seen are for a specific business and they are usually standard patterns with the only custom element being the business name and logo.

Either way, Case has a decent repair group, you should get them fixed since they bother you.
 
brownshoe said:
Not sure what you mean by "custom" are they "limited production?" Even the Case-Bose runs are numbered in the 100s of knives. They do a second run of these in damascus, which is limited production and distribution. I believe the Case-Base knives are the only product that claims to have a higher level of production quality. The only custom Case I've seen are for a specific business and they are usually standard patterns with the only custom element being the business name and logo.

Either way, Case has a decent repair group, you should get them fixed since they bother you.
Click to expand...

'Bother me'??? You enjoy shoddy work?

Do you know what the Encyclopedia sets or Saleman's samples are???
Mammoth is definitely limited run.

Bugger the repair group, just get them right BEFORE you put them on sale, Case.
Letting these things slip through should bother everyone.
 
chuckgp said:
'Bother me'??? You enjoy shoddy work?

Do you know what the Encyclopedia sets or Saleman's samples are???
Mammoth is definitely limited run.

Bugger the repair group, just get them right BEFORE you put them on sale, Case.
Letting these things slip through should bother everyone.
Click to expand...
What you say may be an ideal goal but remember the 1 million Case knives produced every year are still built, shaped, buffed and sharpened by hand. That means if they are 99.9% perfect there will still be 1,000 bad ones.
 
joeradza said:
What you say may be an ideal goal but remember the 1 million Case knives produced every year are still built, shaped, buffed and sharpened by hand. That means if they are 99.9% perfect there will still be 1,000 bad ones.
Click to expand...
What I don't understand is why the .1% seem to be the ones like I mentioned. Not custom but not standard production.

Like they know the cheap ones will be used so those are all good, but the safe-queens will just sit, so...

And there are 'bad' Case/Bose Collab. knives. There's been at least one discussion including pics of foul workmanship on those too. And I loved the perfect Coffin Jack I owned, all top notch.
 
Buzzbait said:
I feel as though Case has really stepped up its quality control in the last few years. I'm almost ready to start purchasing them off the Internet again, instead of searching out opportunities to hand pick them. The last few I've picked up have been nearly perfect.
Click to expand...
I have five Case knives. Very happy with them. Have also bought six for family members. Every one of them seems well made. I plan to buy more.
 
chuckgp said:
What I don't understand is why the .1% seem to be the ones like I mentioned. Not custom but not standard production.

Like they know the cheap ones will be used so those are all good, but the safe-queens will just sit, so...
Click to expand...
I think you're reacting to your own experience which seems to be bad luck. I buy my Case online and from their most inexpensive to their Case Bose collaborations I've had nothing but a good experience. That being said your mocking of their warranty seems misplaced. The fact of their QC being backed up by their willingness to stand behind and remedy their mistakes indicates to me they are cognizant of the need to fix their failures. A company like that gets my business.
 
No mocking of the warranty or repair dept. here, the one knife I sent for a scratched blade/blade rub was fixed back to new, mint condition. They'd come back fixed I'm sure.

Perhaps they should run all the knives through the repair dept. on the way to shipping, just to nip those .1% rascals with cloaking devices that I have to QC for Case for free later....heh-heh-heh
 
chuckgp said:
No mocking of the warranty or repair dept. here, the one knife I sent for a scratched blade/blade rub was fixed back to new, mint condition. They'd come back fixed I'm sure.

Perhaps they should run all the knives through the repair dept. on the way to shipping, just to nip those .1% rascals with cloaking devices that I have to QC for Case for free later....heh-heh-heh
Click to expand...
There ya’ go.
 
28jzdwp.jpg

From the top, '76, '20-'40, 74,85,2011,2015, '71. With the exception of the 3rd from the top fit and finish is excellent on mine. Only reason I'm excluding that one is it was pretty beat up when I found it. The 5592 from '85 does have a small amount of blade rub on the sheepsfoot and clip, but to be fair it has 5 blades and its a tight fit. Also I think its been caused by to much side ways pressure by people opening the clip from before I had it.
 
chuckgp said:
No mocking of the warranty or repair dept. here, the one knife I sent for a scratched blade/blade rub was fixed back to new, mint condition. They'd come back fixed I'm sure...
Click to expand...

Since you haven't got the unsatifactory knives fixed, they appear to not be bothering you too much :)
 
brownshoe said:
Since you haven't got the unsatifactory knives fixed, they appear to not be bothering you too much :)
Click to expand...

I bought them for the handle material, and don't plan on selling or using them.

Its just sad that they couldn't have done them better. That you can go buy a perfect cheapie, but toss a coin on the nicer ones. Deluxe materials slapped together.

I worked with steel and CV, we always checked finished product. Imperfection was rejected.
But that was a small company.
I guess I'll never get it.
 
I've been waiting to toss mt two cents into this thread...

In the past few weeks, I've been blessed with the opportunity to buy some new knives. Specifically, five brand new Case offerings.

1. Mini Copperlock in amber bone
2. Mini Trapper in 6.5 bone stag
3. Canoe in Caribbean blue bone
4. Medium Stockman in navy blue bone
5. Cheetah in red Kirinite

I'm new to Case, but not new to knives, so I know what I want in fit/finish, materials, build quality, and overall (perceived) value.

On my Mini Copperlock, there was one "sharp" spot on one side of the lock cut out. It was a result of the bone jigging. It created just the right thinness and angle to be noticeable. I put sharp in quotations as it wasn't anything in danger of cutting me, just pronounced and noticeable. But only when you put your thumb in the notch just right. At any rate, just a few minutes and some very light touches with 600grit sandpaper and it was easily resolved. I'm not sure in a quick QC inspection they would've ever noticed it. Other than that, I will say the emblem side has a beautiful amber bone scale but the other (pile?) side is much paler and it has to be in pretty bright light to see the coloration.

For me, all five of the knives are finished quite well, especially at this price point. Yeah, I can feel a tiny bit of a pin here or a whisker of a corner there but that's really searching for things. I can find things like that on most of my sub-$100 knives and even some over that. Honestly, I think Case does quite well here based on my examples.

The fit on mine are overall very good. The Canoe does have blade rub. It doesn't bother me, but it is there and might bother others. The Canoe also has a tiny bit of side-to-side play on the main blade. But all the others have no play whatsoever. I don't find gaps or burrs, springs are tight with good snap and the general feel are well built working knives.

By and large, the edges are passable I reckon for production offerings. My Mini Copperlock was actually pretty good but all the others are, well, so-so. Not a big deal for me because I sharpen them anyway but just something to mention. As that goes, I find this with most of the production knives I have. As much as I like Spyderco, the worst edge I've ever received on a new knife was from them. It happens.

Based on the examples I've received, I have to issue buying these sight unseen. I've encountered nothing egregious enough to make me want to send a knife of these prices back. I have to look for things to criticize and if I never read the internet I don't think I'd ever care.

For cutting tools that make me smile and don't make my wallet cry too hard, I love these things.
 
Last edited:
This is one of the burnt amber bone trappers in 154CM. Both blades are pushing into the mark side liners. I just submitted a warranty repair request. I’m not sure if they’ll accept it for warranty repair but I’ll keep you posted either way.
6C037D6F-7D86-4230-8BE2-3737F26CBA0A.jpeg
 
CASE Slimline Trapper, pocket worn old redbone. True I dyed it more with a tea-bath but otherwise F&F 100% great, centred, no play, no gaps, loud snap. I zipped through some large cardboard boxes before putting them out in the bin. Bear in mind, I'm in Europe so this one had to travel, I couldn't pick it out by hand.

ifQPHEf.jpg
 
totally beautiful jigging and color. very rich looking. any side to side play? slimline I just got has a bit.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top