Case Tiny Trapper in Blue Bone

MostMenAreRuthless

MostMenAreRuthless

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Sep 27, 2011
Messages
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I recently received my first Case knife in the mail. I ordered a tiny trapper with navy blue bone. I was quite excited as this was not only my first Case knife, but one of my first slip-joints. I own and collect several other types/brands of knives, but recently Case caught my eye and I decided to place an order. The handles are beautiful, the blades are nice and tight with no wiggle, and nearly everything looks and feels great; however, a fairly small, but largely important detail was overlooked in the quality-control department for this knife—the blades are as dull as a butter knife! I literally couldn’t even cut open an envelope or cut the tape on a package. I ran my fingernail across the edge and I can feel a small fold or burr along the majority of the length of the blade. This is on BOTH blades. Needless to say I am quite disappointed. I went online to see if others had similar issues and it seems as though mine might be an anomaly—most folks said their Case knives were literally razor sharp out of the box.
I don’t want to take the time or have the expense to send it all the way back to PA and wait 6-8 weeks for a repair—I will just go ahead and have a professional sharpener here fix it for me. I had several other Case knives on my “want-to-buy” list, but now I am a little skittish about future purchases. Any others with similar experiences?
 
i have about 3-4 case knives, and all of them came out of the box sharp enough to cut me
in fact all but 1 of them actually did cut me.

i think you just got a lemon, i wouldnt necessarily worry that the next one will have the some issue

just my experience
 
I think you just got one that the sharpening process was a bit hurried. I have not found many factory edges that suit me regardless of manufacturer. You will be well served to learn to sharpen it yourself as it will need sharpening from time to time. I only have one tiny trapper and it is a beautiful little thing, but I feel more comfortable myself with a slightly bigger knife.

You could return it to Case and have them sharpen it for you. But that's only a short term solution to having a sharp knife. I'm sure you are sharpening your other knives; just go ahead and sharpen this one up too.

Ed J
 
I dunno. I normally put little emphasis on sharpness out of the box. The first thing I do with any knife is sharpen it to my satisfaction. Case Tru-Sharp sharpens so easily it will take you only a couple of minutes to fix it up, even if all you have to sharpen it on is the unglazed bottom of a coffee mug. (Tru-Sharp also loses its edge pretty fast, so you really do need to know how to sharpen it if you are going to actually use it.)

All that being said, most Case knives I've handled just out of the box have been sharp enough to cut an ill-placed finger.

I frequently carry a Case Tiny Wharncliffe trapper at work because it is small enough to meet my company's regulations for legal knife carry.

Edited to add photo:
100_2820.jpg
 
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MostMenAreRuthless said:
I recently received my first Case knife in the mail. ... the blades are as dull as a butter knife! ...

I don’t want to take the time or have the expense to send it all the way back to PA and wait 6-8 weeks for a repair—I will just go ahead and have a professional sharpener here fix it for me.
Click to expand...

It's a bummer you got a dull one. I haven't had that problem with Case knives I've ordered sight unseen, but it's a drag that you ended up with that. However, I'd urge you to buy a medium size sharpening stone if you don't have one already, and just put an edge on the blades yourself. It's really not hard, and you'll get a lot of satisfaction in doing the job. There are lots of how-to threads here at bladeforums that can teach you how to do it. And even if you need to completely re-profile the edge, it shouldn't be a difficult job on Case's stainless.

-- Mark
 
I've purchased ~ 5-6 Case knives over the past couple months and they were all quite sharp. I agree with the others on yours must have just somehow skipped over quality control.
 
Psyop said:
Do you have pics of it?
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I can take some shots of it, but I'm afraid it looks normal and you won't be able to glean much from them. Quite a disappointment, but not the end of the world. I took it to a local "professional sharpener", but unfortunately he was about 108 years old, attempted to sharpen it, and muttered something about "all Case knives are now made in China and use Chinese steel so it won't sharpen all that well." It is still dull and feels like the edge is still folded--I am afraid I have probably voided Case's warranty by sending it to this sharpener fella. I like the idea of getting my own sharpener as suggested by MNBlade, but I just don't have the time or desire to do do it myself at this point. If I did buy a sharpener I would probably get the Sharpmake by Spyderco, but that is a discussion for another thread. I appreciate everyones input.
 
Richard can do a great job for you. And that Case knife was not made in China. It was just a poor sharpening job from the factory. It can be fixed. - Ed J
 
Yes you really need to learn to sharpen them yourself, otherwise you'll spend too much money and time having someone else do it. Case's knives are still USA made, not using Chinese steel. Sounds just like a grumpy old man.
 
Django.cj said:
Yes you really need to learn to sharpen them yourself, otherwise you'll spend too much money and time having someone else do it. Case's knives are still USA made, not using Chinese steel. Sounds just like a grumpy old man.
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Agreed on the need to learn to sharpen my own blades. And DEFINITELY agreed on the grumpy old man comment!
 
MostMenAreRuthless said:
I took it to a local "professional sharpener", but unfortunately he was about 108 years old, attempted to sharpen it, and muttered something about "all Case knives are now made in China and use Chinese steel so it won't sharpen all that well."
Click to expand...

At that age it's hard to tell if it's dementia or if he's smokin' crack. :rolleyes:

-- Mark
 
I discovered the Tiny Trapper pattern yesterday during a visit to our local True Value. Not a bad price, for either a blue bone or a white jigged synthetic, I was sure to point it out to my wife. I don't know if she took the hint or not, but I think I'm gonna have to take matters into my own hands, especially after seeing Frank's with wharncliffe secondary!
 
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