Case Tony Bose Collabs pic and discussion thread.

I've been wrestling with the thought of purchasing a Case/Bose Colab. They are very pricey, but still they call to me. I've been saving my pennies and I'm about half way to the purchase price. I think I've narrowed down my choices to the Dogleg Jack and the Mini Trapper, both are favorite patterns of mine. For those have have these models, which would you recommend and are there any flaws that I should be aware of?
 
I don't have either of those you mentioned, but I have two Case/Bose collabs, and according to USPS Tracking, one supposedly coming in the mail today. I've never had a custom knife, but the two Case/Boses that I have are about as good as it gets, as far as I'm concerned. But, yes, they are pricey, and for that amount of money they should be good. And mine are all users. I don't buy knives to collect.
 
JohnDF said:
I've been wrestling with the thought of purchasing a Case/Bose Colab. They are very pricey, but still they call to me. I've been saving my pennies and I'm about half way to the purchase price. I think I've narrowed down my choices to the Dogleg Jack and the Mini Trapper, both are favorite patterns of mine. For those have have these models, which would you recommend and are there any flaws that I should be aware of?
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The wharncliffe trapper is probably the most useful of the two blade collaborations. I would shy away from the ebony unless I could inspect it, I’ve seen some with dished out spots from finishing. The antique bone is always a good choice.

The dogleg is okay but I thought it was bulky for an edc.

I like the Tribal Spear and Lanny’s Clip best of the single blades.
 
I've had the cattle knife and Norfolk, and currently the Wharncliffe trapper. I'm also staring pretty hard at the premium stockman lately, but that might just be 1/4" too big for my tastes.

All have been great knives, but with minor issues.

I found on the cattle knife that the pull for the main was a little low and hiding behind the secondaries a bit. Not so much I couldn't get it open, but always needed to be conscious of it when opening it.

The pen blade on the Norfolk I had was a bit of a heavy pull, but man do I sometimes regret selling that one. Was probably my favorite one, and I get all misty eyed whenever someone posts theirs ;)

My current Wharncliffe trapper will be a keeper for the foreseeable future. It's such a beautiful knife. But like with the others I've had, there's one minor issue. The backspring for the Wharncliffe is a touch low when the blade is closed. Still, I love this knife! I could probably send it in and have them correct it, but for now I can live with it.

All of mine have been bone covers. I've been tempted with the ebony, but the bone on each of mine has been excellent!

Still looking at the stockman, and saving up, but still undecided :)

And obligatory photo :D

MrmWQYw.jpg
 
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As already mentioned, I thought the dog leg was too bulky. On a personal note I didnt care for the geometry on the main blade in the open position. The tip arcs down too low for my liking. The WT is a timeless, classic pattern. I have the antique bone and it's a keeper and user! It loves field bresting wild turkey! While I do prefer and love the ebony covers on my other 2 Case Bose edc's, the Cattle Knife and the Eureka. I didn't care for ebony on the WT. Too flat and lifeless for such a nice knife.
 
I’m a fan of the Eureka Jack, spear is quite useful and the small wharncliffe is extremely useful.

On a side note, did Case ever release the backlock Lanny’s Clip?
 
JohnDF said:
I've been wrestling with the thought of purchasing a Case/Bose Colab. They are very pricey, but still they call to me. I've been saving my pennies and I'm about half way to the purchase price. I think I've narrowed down my choices to the Dogleg Jack and the Mini Trapper, both are favorite patterns of mine. For those have have these models, which would you recommend and are there any flaws that I should be aware of?
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My recommendation is to make sure you see the exact knife you are going to buy before you buy it. I wish I could say I had a great experience with Case's customer service/warranty, but it was just so-so.

I purchased a Case/Tony Bose Eureka Jack in ebony. When it arrived, I was pretty displeased with the ebony (it looked a whole lot better on the website). It had a lot of gray streaking which I honestly found unacceptable on such a highly priced knife. I sent them an e-mail, along with a picture, explaining that I wasn't very satisfied with the covers and that the wharncliffe blade sat just a little bit too high (visible in the picture), making the main blade very hard to open (it has a rather strong pull). I received an email back saying the covers should not look the way they do and I was promptly sent a pre-paid shipping label.

After about three months I received a call saying that the knife met their standards. When I asked about the gray streaking, I was told that sometimes the ebony doesn't take the dye very well and it causes streaking. I then gave my opinion that a knife costing $400 - $500 should not have ebony covers that need to be dyed. I also let them know that none of the several $100 - $300 knives I own with ebony covers are dyed, and none of them show streaking like the Eureka Jack. From there it was escalated to the head of the repair department. He called me back and said he had done some research and that the covers were in fact, not dyed. He then let me know that the streaking is a natural part of ebony wood and that he did some further research and agreed that jet black ebony is more in demand and is considered a more premium product. I let him know that I feel a $400 - $500 slipjoint is a premium product and that the Case/Tony Bose line is among their highest end knives. I also let them know that Boker, GEC, and a plethora of others are able to use jet black ebony on their knives that range in the $100 - $200 range so I didn't really understand why Case couldn't on a knife that cost two and a half to five times as much. I was then told that there was just nothing they could do for me and the knife was shipped back after being in their possession for three months.

Granted, I could just be an extra picky customer... But I really don't think these covers are acceptable on a knife priced as high as this.

pwCzFcz.jpg
 
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Generally speaking, CASE Ebony or Stag is not to my taste, they excel in bone I feel.

Ebony WILL vary and that's why Blackwood is often preferred by many, more consistent and jet like- if you like that, grey brown streaks are normal in Ebony. But CASE Ebony looks kind of 'dry' to my eye.

The nick access for the Master blade is frankly poor on Fixall Fixall 's example. I think the GEC Eureka, which came out first, is the better version.
 
Will Power said:
Generally speaking, CASE Ebony or Stag is not to my taste, they excel in bone I feel.

Ebony WILL vary and that's why Blackwood is often preferred by many, more consistent and jet like- if you like that, grey brown streaks are normal in Ebony. But CASE Ebony looks kind of 'dry' to my eye.

The nick access for the Master blade is frankly poor on Fixall Fixall 's example. I think the GEC Eureka, which came out first, is the better version.
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Oh I definitely understand that ebony has variations. I have quite a bit of it on hand right now actually. I guess I just expected Case to be hand selecting the darker pieces on a knife at this price. It’s not like the pieces need to be very large for the covers.

But again, I could just be an extra picky customer and I can accept that.

Too be fair on the nail nick, they may have fixed that, but I’m not sure. I’ll have to pull it out and compare later.
 
Fixall said:
My recommendation is to make sure you see the exact knife you are going to buy before you buy it. I wish I could say I had a great experience with Case's customer service/warranty, but it was just so-so.

I purchased a Case/Tony Bose Eureka Jack in ebony. When it arrived, I was pretty displeased with the ebony (it looked a whole lot better on the website). It had a lot of gray streaking which I honestly found unacceptable on such a highly priced knife. I sent them an e-mail, along with a picture, explaining that I wasn't very satisfied with the covers and that the wharncliffe blade sat just a little bit too high (visible in the picture), making the main blade very hard to open (it has a rather strong pull). I received an email back saying the covers should not look the way they do and I was promptly sent a pre-paid shipping label.

After about three months I received a call saying that the knife met their standards. When I asked about the gray streaking, I was told that sometimes the ebony doesn't take the dye very well and it causes streaking. I then gave my opinion that a knife costing $400 - $500 should not have ebony covers that need to be dyed. I also let them know that none of the several $100 - $300 knives I own with ebony covers are dyed, and none of them show streaking like the Eureka Jack. From there it was escalated to the head of the repair department. He called me back and said he had done some research and that the covers were in fact, not dyed. He then let me know that the streaking is a natural part of ebony wood and that he did some further research and agreed that jet black ebony is more in demand and is considered a more premium product. I let him know that I feel a $400 - $500 slipjoint is a premium product and that the Case/Tony Bose line is among their highest end knives. I also let them know that Boker, GEC, and a plethora of others are able to use jet black ebony on their knives that range in the $100 - $200 range so I didn't really understand why Case couldn't on a knife that cost two and a half to five times as much. I was then told that there was just nothing they could do for me and the knife was shipped back after being in their possession for three months.

Granted, I could just be an extra picky customer... But I really don't think these covers are acceptable on a knife priced as high as this.

pwCzFcz.jpg
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I do believe that GEC dyes their ebony. Their ebony knives used to have a lot of color variation and some were quite brown, rather than black. More recently, the ebony knives are uniformly jet black and people have reported dye bleed with time and use.

I don’t mention this to distract from your expectation for the Case Bose product, I just wanted to add my observation regarding GECs ebony.
 
Fixall said:
Oh I definitely understand that ebony has variations. I have quite a bit of it on hand right now actually. I guess I just expected Case to be hand selecting the darker pieces on a knife at this price. It’s not like the pieces need to be very large for the covers.

But again, I could just be an extra picky customer and I can accept that.

Too be fair on the nail nick, they may have fixed that, but I’m not sure. I’ll have to pull it out and compare later.
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No, I don't think you're being picky at all. Clearly, there's no such thing a perfect knife and it's an absurd notion and over-used word generally. However, knives of this price range and aspiration should only rarely be going back to the manufacturer for fixes. It seems it's not that rare though, but they do make a large number of them c 600 per handle choice or so.

I'm keen on the two I have, though the Norfolk has some questionable issues. I would not buy one unless I could see good pictures or handle it in person, then OK great.
 
Thanks for all the input, I'm very much on the fence about these knives. I've never paid anywhere close to these prices and I'm afraid I'd be very upset if I didn't get a pretty perfect example. Seems like you all think the Dogleg is chunky so perhaps I'll just focus on the Mini Trapper. We will see if one of these ever land in my pocket.
 
I'll echo the others on the dogleg. I love mine (stag) but it is on the bulkier side for an EDC. I'd say out of the ones I own, I find the lanny's clip and norfolk to be the best two (EDC wise). The ebony on my norfolk is quite dark, I think the older ebony they used was better than more recent runs. I usually prefer wood on knives, but not with Case particularly.

One that might get overlooked as a smaller EDC is the coffin jack. I quite enjoy carrying this one. It is smaller than you would think. Winchester made a pattern that is much more economical and widely available if you decide to try one out. It is nearly identical in size to the Bose collab.

Here's my family photo. The only one missing is my Lanny's Clip.
rrkuE5c.jpg
 
JohnDF said:
Thanks for all the input, I'm very much on the fence about these knives. I've never paid anywhere close to these prices and I'm afraid I'd be very upset if I didn't get a pretty perfect example. Seems like you all think the Dogleg is chunky so perhaps I'll just focus on the Mini Trapper. We will see if one of these ever land in my pocket.
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I can accept some minor issues, but there are some I won’t.

Reese is still taking orders....his list is 5 years out. While the collaborations are very good values, there is something about owning a knife from Wilford Works.
 
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kamagong said:
That might be possible with single blade knives, but multiblades? Rare is the custom maker who offers multiblade springknives at the Case/Bose price point.
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I don't disagree with you, it would be easier to get a single blade custom for comparable cost, but when I inquired with my favorite custom maker a couple years ago about making me a stockman, the price he quoted me was comparable to the Case Bose Premium Stockman.
 
I recently bought this Premium Stockman NIB from a member here & it has some lighter streaks on the shield side, otherwise it's perfect. Since it's going to be a user anyway, and I paid nowhere near MSRP, I'm fine with it.
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IMG_0936-X4.jpg
 
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I forgot that this thread was here and I've been meaning to inquire about a knife that has caught my interest. I know this might fall outside the realm of interest for some of you fellas but do any of you have any experience with the TB612007 - a Coke Bottle with Swing Guard and lock back? I have a keen interest in the Coke Bottle pattern in general and have yet to add a Case/Bose knife to my collection. Despite not caring for the swing guard too much, this still looks like a finely made knife.

Not my picture - one pulled off the web.

wXJamrW.jpg
 
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